Perspective on Christmas

I received a response to my previous post in which I posted an excerpt cautioning against Muslims both participating in non-Muslim festivals (as they might do with Eid)and of accepting newly innovated matters (as occured in Christianity).

The commenter,a Muslim herself, responded that she saw nothing wrong in Muslims gathering together on Christmas day to eat festive foods and to share stories of Jesus' life because Jesus (peace be upon him) has a special staus for Muslims.

Below is the response which I sent to her:

Dear (name removed),

Whist I agree with you on very many issues, this is one matter in which I will have to respectfully differ.

You are right, there are certainly Christians (as well as agnostics and atheists) who reject the consumerism of Christmas. We have, for example, in recent years seen the rise of Oxfam's Gift Aid certificates, whereby money, which might normally be spent on a cringe worthy jumper instead goes to folk in the third world.

But really, whether Christmas is commercialised or not is neither here nor there because our rejection of a matter is not based on the extent to which it has been commercialised. It could equally be applied to Eid which, as Kamilah points out, brings in an income for many businesses, especially garment and fabric retailers.

So, objectionable as the commercial side might be, it only adds weight to the main basis on which we, as Muslims, should be against the adopting, or partial adoption, of Christmas..

So, on what basis should Muslims avoid Christmas?

Well, firstly, it is, at base, a holy day. Prophet Muhammed may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him said

,"our holidays are two"

Since this is clearly a reference to the two Eids which we celebrate as part of our Islamic faith, it obviously therefore excludes those eids or recurring holidays associated with other religious traditions. Allah has defined which days are to be singled out for celebration and it is not for us to do that. The following hadith and short commenatary can quite clearly be applied to the issue of Christmas:

"The Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ) reached Madinah, he noticed that the people of Madeenah used to celebrate two specific days. The Prophet(may the peace and blessings of be upon him) asked them, “Why are you celebrating these two days?” They answered, “We used to play and have fun on these days during the pre-Islamic period.” The Prophet ( may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ) said: “Allah has replaced these two days with something better, ‘Eed Al-Fitr and ‘Eed Al-Adh-Haa.” [Ahmad and Abu Daawood] The interpreters of the Hadeeth stated that they celebrated these two days only because the weather was moderate at the times they celebrated them and not for any religious purpose. Yet, Islam abrogated them".

If that is not enough to convince, the second point to mention is that Christmas has developed as a time to commemorate the birth of Jesus (peace be upon him) who, in the Biblical account, is described as God's son(!) Allah, in the Quran, denounces this claim as ascribing partners to Him. This is the most heinous of crimes in the sight of Allah:

"Verily, Allah forgives not that partners be set up with Him [in worship] but He forgives other than that to whom He pleases; and whoever sets up partners with Allah [in worship], he has indeed invented an enormous wrong" (Qur'an 4:48)

As a festivity, it is, at base, intrinsically linked to the entirely fictitious claim that God had a son. Even amongst secular folk, it is common to have a star or an angel atop a Christmas tree, which obviously tie in with the Biblical account. This differs markedly from the Quranic account of Jesus' birth. We should not lend our support to blasphemy or even appear to endorse it. There are a number of Christian denominations who choose not to to engage in Christmas on this very basis.

I don't dispute that revelations preceded the quran or that other scriptures also contain revelation from God. I do however disagree about there are many paths to God:

"Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers." [3:85]

Whilst there is certainly some concordance between Islam and the teachings of Orthodox Judaism and Christianity, the Quran also condemns some of the tenets which have over the ages, by human agency, crept into the Gospel and the Torah.

Both the Gospel and the Torah were revealed books, proceeding from the same God who revealed the Quran, but because of the extent to which they have been altered, it would be impossible to tread the path of Allah with reference to these books and the teachings derived from them. The Quran is God's last testament to humanity, sent by The Most Merciful, confirming some of that which is contained in the previous revelations.But, more than that, also correcting and clarifying other matters (which the hands of men altered or removed entirely).Furthermore,the Quran and hadith literature also provide fresh guidance and instruction not covered or lost in the previous revelations (such as detailed information on prayer and ablution).We know that prayer is an essential pillar of faith. To follow a path other than Islam will lead to perdition.


The final point I wish to make is that we, as Muslims, should be reflecting on Jesus frequently as there are many references to him and his mother in the quran as well as in the hadith literature. We also know that Jesus, since he didn't die on the cross but was only made to appear to have died, will return. As well as to kill the anti-christ, we learn from the hadith literature that he will break the cross.

"By He in whose hands my soul rests, Jesus, the Son of Mary, is to descend amongst you as a just ruler. He will break the cross, kill the pig, abolish Jizya and wealth will increase to such an extent that one prostration will be more valuable than the whole world and all that it contains."

A similar Hadith on this issue is:

"By Him in Who’s hands my soul rests, surely Jesus, Son of Maryam (Mary) will soon descend amongst you and will judge mankind judiciously, by the law of the Quran, as an honest ruler. He will break the cross, kill the pig and abolish jizya. Money will abound in such excess that no one will wish to accept it. A single prostration to Allah, in prayer, will be better than the whole world and all it contains." Abu Hurayrah, the narrator, added, "If you wish, you can recite this verse from the holy Quran :" "And there is none of the people of the book, but must believe in him (i.e. Jesus as an apostle of Allah and a human being), before his death, and on the Day of Judgement, he will be a witness against them." Quran 4/159

Do we really wish to associate ourselves with a festival that Jesus himself, as a messanger of God, would surely disassociate himself from? We know that, as God's messenger Jesus, like all the prophets who preceded him and came after him, held God to be

"above His creation"

and

"unlike His creation."

Jesus, as a pure monotheist, would certainly uphold the belief that God neither

"begets not nor is He begotten".

I would like to leave you with the following quoute from Gai Eaton (may Allah have mercy on him) who,even if i disagree with him on a couple of points, incuded in his books statments of immense profoundity, especially on the nature of humanity in the present era.

I like this especially:

"The people, on the other hand, the real people who ask almost shamefacedly for faith, hope, and caritas, true love, get little comfort from men as uncertain and insecure as themselves. All they are offered is a bland religion which has fitted itself only too well into the framework of contemporary civilization, a civilization which derives its basic assumptions, its values and its logic, from profane sources; from the humanism and rationalism of the French ‘Enlightenment’, from the Titanic self-assertion of the Renaissance and, more remotely, from the worst features of two ancient cultures, those of Greece and of Rome, which were already decadent in terms of human norm when they bequeathed to us our classical heritage and over which Christianity triumphed all to briefly.

The further people have drifted from the truth, the greater is the temptation to water down the truth, glossing over its less palatable aspects and, in short, allowing a policy of compromise to become one of adulteration.

Standing, as it were, at the pavements edge with his tray of goods, the priest reduces the price until he is offering his wares for nothing: divine Judgment is a myth, hell is a wicked superstition"

wa alaikum salam