إِنَّ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ
[يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمِ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا]
[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا] وشر الأمور محدثاتها وكلّ محدثة بدعة , وكلّ بدعة ضلالة , وكلّ ضلالة في النار
Verily all praise is for Allah, we praise Him and seek His aid and ask for His forgiveness, and we seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and our evil actions. Whomever Allah guides there is none who can misguide him, and whomever Allah misguides there is none who can guide him, and I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah Alone, having no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islaam. [Soorat-ul-Aal-i-‘Imraan ayah 102]
O mankind! Reverence your Guardian-Lord, Who created you from a single person, created, of like nature his mate, and from them twain scattered countless men and women; reverence Allaah, through Whom you demand your mutual (rights) and (reverence) the wombs (that bore you): for Allah ever watches over you. [Sooratun- Nisaa’ ayah 1]
O you who believe! Fear Allah, and (always) say a word did to the right that He may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins: He that obeys Allah and His Messenger, has already attained the highest achievement. [Soorat-ul-Ahzaab ayaat 70-71]
Verily the most truthful speech is the Word of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), and the worst of affairs are the novelties and every novelty is an innovation and every innovation is a going astray and every going astray is in the Fire.
I respect all religions, faiths and sects to the best of my ability within the reasoning of my own religion. But I refuse to wish anyone ”Merry Christmas” for it goes against the teaching of my own religion and my own love for our Prophet Jesus (May peace be upon him). He was a messenger sent by the Almighty to spread the word of God. But I do not believe in celebrating something which has been innovated. For our Prophet Muhammad SalAllahu Alayhi wasalaam said ”And beware of newly invented matters in the religion, for every newly invented matter is an innovation. Every innovation is a form of misguidance and misguidance is in the fire”
Wishing someone a ‘merry Christmas’ means that you agree with the belief that Jesus, the ‘son’ of God, was born on December 25th.
Ya Muslimeen! How can you congratulate with this saying when Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has clearly stated in His Noble Book, the Qur’an, that He is ONE, with no partner or offspring?! Here in some ayat of Surah Maryam, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala tells us:
88. They say: “(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!”
89. Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!
90. At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin,
91. That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious.
92. For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a son.
93. Not one of the beings in the heavens and the earth but must come to (Allah) Most Gracious as a servant.
94. He does take an account of them (all), and hath numbered them (all) exactly.
95. And everyone of them will come to Him singly on the Day of Judgment.
Indeed, the worst sin in Islam is Shirk (polytheism). It means taking partners in worship with Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala tells us about shirk in Surah Luqman:
“…join not in worship (others) with Allah. for false worship is indeed the highest wrong-doing” (ayah 13)
Ya Muslimeen! Do you wish to make defective your Tawheed (monotheism)?
Ibn Qayyim (rahimahulla) said in Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah: “Congratulating the kuffaar on the rituals that belong only to them is haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying ‘A happy festival to you’ or ‘May you enjoy your festival,’ and so on. If the one who says this has been saved from kufr, it is still forbidden. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that. It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realize the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or bid’ah or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allah.”
Taking part in Christmas festivities is not permissible because this entails imitating or resembling them, and “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood).
Interestingly, the holiday of Christmas is in fact a pagan festival, and not Christian.
In ancient pagan times, the last day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere was celebrated as the night that the Great Mother Goddess gives birth to the baby Sun God. It is also called Yule, the day a huge log is added to a bonfire, around which everyone would dance and sing to awaken the sun from its long winter sleep.
In Roman times, it became the celebrations honouring Saturnus (the harvest god) and Mithras (the ancient god of light), a form of sun worship that had come to Rome from Syria a century before with the cult of Sol Invictus. It announced that winter is not forever, that life continues, and an invitation to stay in good spirit.
To avoid persecution during the Roman pagan festival, early Christians decked their homes with Saturnalia holly. As Christian numbers increased and their customs prevailed, the celebrations took on a Christian observance. But the early church actually did not celebrate the birth of Christ in December until Telesphorus, who was the second Bishop of Rome from 125 to 136AD, declared that Church services should be held during this time to celebrate “The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour.” However, since no-one was quite sure in which month Christ was born, Nativity was often held in September, which was during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets (modern-day Rosh Hashanah). In fact, for more than 300 years, people observed the birth of Jesus on various dates.
In the year 274AD, solstice fell on 25th December. Roman Emperor Aurelian proclaimed the date as “Natalis Solis Invicti,” the festival of the birth of the invincible sun. In 320 AD, Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Considering how many Christians around the world celebrate Christmas to this day, it is interesting to know that the Bible has no mention of ‘Christmas’ anywhere. The only exception is that the Bible makes mention about the decoration of a tree. The Bible itself criticizes the decoration of the (Christmas) trees:
“The customs of the people are worthless, they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel, they adore it with silver and gold, they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter” (Jeremiah 10-3,4).
Some Muslims may wish their Christian friends and colleagues a ‘merry Christmas’ only because they have wished them a happy Eid. Please note that because they wished you a happy Eid does not make it obligatory on you to wish them well on their holidays.
And with Allah is success.
Deen Islam 