http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503546370&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar
Name of Mufti
Muzammil Siddiqi
As for your question, you have to bear in mind the fact that it is wrong to
let your kids celebrate Christmas for many reasons. The most important one is
that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) once saw people
celebrating non-Islamic holidays, and he disapproved of the act and explained
to them that Allah has given Muslims two better ones (i.e., `Eid al-Fitr and
`Eid al-Adha). Therefore, we should obey the Messenger (peace and blessings be
upon him) and develop a Muslim identity in ourselves and our children.
In addition to this already sufficient reason, you have to dissociate your
children from the Christmas spirit, even if you dont celebrate it for Jesus
(peace be upon him). Actually, Jesus was not born on that day. It was the Roman
god Mithras birthday that was celebrated on that day and the Christians made
it Christs birthday to compete with the popular Roman holiday.
Therefore, your children should learn the truth, and at the same time, you can
exchange gifts on other occasions, such as during the Islamic holidays, or on
other occasions such as at the end of the school year. If you start celebrating
Christmas with your children, even as a non-religious holiday, you will be
setting a wrong example for them and you will be creating a conflict that they
will suffer from in the future. They take you as their role model and you
should live up to it. As insignificant as you may think it is, in reality, it
is not.
Dear brother, try to get your children out of the holiday spirit by spending
quality time with them, by traveling with them (if possible), and by decreasing
their exposure to the holiday influence on TV and in shopping malls.
The above Fatwa is excerpted, with slight modifications, from:
www.islamicity.com
Nevertheless, Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, President of the Fiqh Council of North
America, states:
I do agree that our little children are deeply affected with the
festivities and glitter of this holiday. We should try to take them to some
Islamic camps and conferences at this time and give them some other alternate
programs and activities. But Muslim families should not have Christmas trees in
their homes, nor should they put up lights inside or outside their homes at
this time. We should tell our children that we are Muslims and this is not our
holiday. This is the holiday of our Christian neighbors and friends. We may
give greetings to our Christian friends and neighbors on their holiday, but we
should not make it our own holiday.
Instead of celebrating Christmas, Dr. Siddiqi further says:
You can celebrate Ramadan and `Eids with lights and decoration of your home
and exchange gifts with your children. This is very thoughtful, indeed. It is
good to decorate our homes and masjids during Ramadan and for `Eids. It is
mentioned in one of the Hadiths that even the heaven is especially decorated
during the month of Ramadan. Allah Almighty closes the gates of Hell and opens
the gates of Paradise during the month of Ramadan. We Muslims should give
special attention to our own Islamic holidays. In this way our children will be
attracted to our own celebrations rather than looking at others.
Unfortunately, there are some Muslims who do not pay any attention to Ramadan
and `Eids. Some of them do not even come to `Eid prayers and even if they come,
they do not take their day off from work. Thus their children have no idea
about Islamic holidays or they think that Islam is a religion without any
festivals and celebrations.
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