Friday, December 22, 2006

Kuffar Celebrations

Kuffar Celebrations

Would a Muslim participate in any Jewish religious occasion? Would he join the Christians or people of any other faith in a religious ceremony? The obvious answer is “no” since this would compromise one’s faith and belief. One cannot compromise faith, otherwise one will eventually have no faith at all. Indeed on a humanitarian level one must treat every human being with dignity, kindness and compassion, but without transgressing the boundaries of Imaan..

RELIGIOUS CELEBRATIONSOne of the very common ways in which the boundary of belief is compromised is by means of participating in the religious celebrations of other creeds. For instance, Christmas is a Christian religious celebration. This is clearly ascertained from the following: “The Roman Catholic Church chose December 25 as the day for the Feast of the Nativity in order to give Christian meaning to existing pagan rituals. For example, the Church replaced festivities honouring the birth of Mithra, the god of light, with festivities to commemorate the birth of Jesus, whom the Bible calls the light of the world. The Catholic Church hoped to draw pagans into its religion by allowing them to continue their revelry while simultaneously honouring the birthday of Jesus.” (Encarta) Therefore if one participates in any way in Christmas celebrations, actively or passively, he will in reality be aligning himself with that creed. A Mu’min cannot align himself with any creed other than Islam.

PASSIVE PARTICIPATIONAmong the ways of “passive participation” in Christmas celebrations is by means of adopting the Christmas symbols – decorating one’s home or business with Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, wishing people “merry Christmas,” etc. Christmas is a celebration of the faith and creed of Christianity. Included in this is the worship of the so called “son of God”??? Would a Muslim wish a Christian “happy worship of the son …”? It is simply not possible. The same ruling will apply to wishing one “merry Christmas.”
May Allah Ta’ala keep us steadfast on the Straight Path. Aameen.

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