     KHALIF | Tuesday, November 28, 2000 - 04:46 am
I WANT TO KNOW IF WE CAN CELEBRATE OR TELL PEOPLE HAPPY CHRISTMAS OR THANKSGIVING OR THING LIKE THA?
I DON'T MEAN ONLY CHRIATIANS BUT ANYONE OTHER THAN MUSLIMS. |
| 2 kumi | Tuesday, November 28, 2000 - 08:29 am
you can say happy "anything" to anyone. Don't nitpick- otherwise someone will quote some hadith to you that forbids "speaking" !!!!
Ramadan Kariim! |
| Anonymous | Tuesday, November 28, 2000 - 08:47 am
No you can't |
| us marine | Wednesday, November 29, 2000 - 04:22 am
Greeting the kuffaar on Christmas and other religious holidays of theirs is haraam,
by consensus, as Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy on him, 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 Allaah."
Congratulating the kuffaar on their religious festivals is haraam to the extent described by Ibn al-Qayyim because it implies that one accepts or approves of their rituals of kufr, even if one would not accept those things for
oneself. But the Muslim should not aceept the rituals of kufr or congratulate anyone else for
them, because Allaah does not accept any of that at all, as He says
(interpretation of the
meaning):
"If you disbelieve, then verily, Allaah is not in need of you, He likes not
disbelief for His slaves. And if you are grateful (by being believers), He is pleased therewith for you. . ."
[al-Zumar 39:7]
". . . This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour
upon you, and have chosen for you Islaam as your religion . . ."
[al-Maa'idah 5:3]
So congratulating them is forbidden, whether they are one's colleagues at work or otherwise.
If they greet us on the occasion of their festivals, we should not respond, because
these are not our festivals, and because they are not festivals which are
acceptable to Allaah. These festivals are innovations in their religions,and even
those which may have been prescribed formerly have been abrogated by the
religion of Islaam, with which Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) to the whole of mankind. Allaah says (interpretation
of the meaning):
"Whoever seeks a religion other than Islaam, it will never be accepted of
him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers." [Aal 'Imraan 3:85]
It is haraam for a Muslim to accept invitations on such occasions, because this is
worse than congratulating them as it implies taking part in their celebrations.
Similarly, Muslims are forbidden to imitate the kuffaar by having parties on
such occasions, or exchanging gifts, or giving out sweets or food, or taking time off
work, etc., because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: "Whoever imitates a people is one of them." Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn
Taymiyah said in his book Iqtidaa' al-siraat al-mustaqeem mukhaalifat ashaab
al-jaheem: "Imitating them in some of their festivals implies that one is pleased
with their false beliefs and practices, and gives them the hope that they
may have the opportunity to humiliate and mislead the weak."
Whoever does anything of this sort is a sinner, whether he does it out of
politeness or to be friendly, or because he is too shy to refuse, or for whatever
other reason, because this is hypocrisy in Islaam, and because it makes the
kuffaar feel proud of their religion.
Allaah is the One Whom we ask to make the Muslims feel proud of their religion,
to help them adhere steadfastly to it, and to make them victorious over their
enemies, for He is the Strong and Omnipotent.
(Majmoo'ah Fataawa wa Rasaa'il al-Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen, 3/369) |
| SurReal | Wednesday, November 29, 2000 - 05:00 am
I thank you immensely for taking the time to write all that. I was one of those ignorant people who wishes her friends "Merry Christmas", because I felt obligated to do so, when they wished me a "Happy Ramadan" . Yet with a clear concise way you have shown me the error of my ways, and so no longer will I be ignorant of this. Thanks again!!
Some times when people have questions concerning some matter in our faith, the majority of the people without putting any thought or research into that question, make the person feel bad or stupid for asking. I thank anyone who has enough knowledge about Islam to be patient with the ignorant and instead of throwing the rules at them, tell them of how they came to be, and most importantly back up your statements with a Hadith or with a verse from the Quran. Take us marine for instance, he didn't have to write such a length response, for he could have simply said no you are not suppose to wish the nonbeliever merry christmas. Instead, he wanted us to understand the reasoning behind such a response and for that I feel in debt. May Allah reward you for your knowledge. |
| us marine | Wednesday, November 29, 2000 - 05:11 am
sureal .
anyday sis, you are welcomed to ask any question i make sure i will answer to the best of my knowledge.in islam we can not answer question by what we think like most of other religion leader might answer someone. in islam we have the quran and hadith which is really easy to understand. thanx to Allah we have pretty religion.
thanx for the visit and thanx to khalif for bring up this motion, coz i know there is alot of people who wish good holiday to non muslims.
take care all. |
| Nika | Wednesday, November 29, 2000 - 09:00 am
I too would like to thank us marine for the knowledge he has exemplified here in this particular chat.
However, I have a different dilemma. I recently took shahadah (august 2000) but am living with my Christian family. I celebrated Thanksgiving Day with them, for it is not a religious holiday, but rather an American holiday. A day of giving thanks to Allah for the blessings he has bestowed upon his people. I had no problem celebrating Thanksgiving with a clean conscience.
But, my true dilemma is whether it is haram to have Christmas dinner with my family. I have already discussed with them that I will not be partaking in the gift giving festivities for it is no longer a belief of mine, but am wondering if it is haram to eat dinner with them on this occasion. I am cognizant of the fact that this is our holy month of Ramadan but due to my pregnancy have been unable to fast, so the issue of fasting is irrelevant in this situation.
If anyone has positive as well as relevant responses to this question, please respond at your earliest convenience. Thank you in advance for your constructive contributions. |
| us marine | Wednesday, November 29, 2000 - 10:17 am
salam siter nika.
it totally haram to celebrate thanks giving with then. i am muslim my roommate is not the whole company i work with there is only another muslim the whole battalion has only a total of 4 muslim marines. we never celebrated thankx giving with them because it is not recognised in the quran or the sunnah.if any think is not based in the quran and the sunnah of our prophet (saw) that means it is bid'ah.and min bi'dati dhilah wa min dhilalati finar(correct me in spellings pls).so sister it is not only you who deals with that kind of situation. i have being invited in so many thanks givings but i told them i don't believe in that . cut and clear.
we muslims we had our little barbique.
is that enough |
| Cubayda | Thursday, November 30, 2000 - 02:17 am
Alaah subxaanu watacaala said. Change your hand with gufaaris, If you can't change with you hands, change with you tangue and if you can't change with you tangue, atlease hate in your heart. So how could you say to kufaaris happy sin. beause all the things that they celebrating are sin. and we should stop. but the world today we don't have that power but atlease we can hate them our heart that is our weakness imaan.
so brother is haraan celebrating with kufaaris.
sister Cubayda |
| MAD MAC | Thursday, November 30, 2000 - 04:48 am
Whoa, whoa, whoa. As the lone Kufaar here on the net, I have to humbly disagree with US Marine and the rest (even though I like US Marine). First of all, certainly celebrating thanksgiving is most assuredley not any more Haram than celebrating labor day. It is not a religious holiday - pure and simple. It's symbolic giving of thanks to God (the God of Abraham) for our blessings. I emphasize the word symbolic here. It is not celebrated anywhere in Europe. It is not a Christian holiday. Muslims have just as much to give thanks for as other Americans. On top of that, minus the ham there should be no food served that is Haram. So that shouldn't even be an issue either. As for Christmas, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Issa is one of the four great prophets of Islam. Celebrating his birth with a "Merry Christmas" can hardly be Haram. Obviously, you can not celebrate him as the son of God, but you can certainly celebrate his birth without crossing the line.
Allow me to quote the great Mulsim Scholar Abdullah Yusuf Ali here. "In Surah 5:85 we are told that the nearest in love to the believers among the people of the book are the Christians. I do not agree that this does not apply to modern Christians as they are 'practically atheists or free thinkers.' I think that christian thought (like the worlds thought) has learnt a great deal from the protest of Islam against Priest domination and sectarianism, and its insistence on making this life pure and beautiful while we are in it. We must stretch a friendly hand to all who are sincere and in sympathy with our ideals."
If you want other people to listen to what you have to say, if you want them to respect you, then you must take the time to listen to them and respect them. If someone wishes you a Merry Christmas you must come up with a short reponse to this greeting that shows respect. When someone say As Salam Alekum to me, I respond with Alekum Salam. What's wrong with that? That's just simple courtesy. With all due respect to Ahkaam ahl Al-dimmah (whom I've never heard of) I think he was off the mark on this one.
I don't know your position on this, but I have been invited to Mosques to pray and discuss Islam before. And I have had Muslims come to our Church to pray before. Of course, my Muslim friends are quick to point out they have different beliefs (bear in mind, I go to church to humor my mother, I'm not christian). that didn't mean that the congregation there didn't welcome them just the same. I mean, let's not forget we're all praying to the same God here. But that doesn't mean coming to church and praying is wrong. How can honest prayer to God ever be wrong? And if it is, then your great mosque, Al-Aqsah, is Haram to pray in, because it was a Church before it was a mosque and the foundation was that of a synagogue before that. |
| us marine | Thursday, November 30, 2000 - 05:42 am
MAD MAC.
one thing i don't believe is hate. i disagree with the brother up there who said we can hate the non muslims.the other think is we can not celebrate the birth of issa, even if the the christian brothers beleive he the prophet of allah.
Mohammed (saw) is a prophet and we cannot celebrate his birth day. and as muslims we don't celebrate birthdays at all.if you saw some doing it maybe there are in there own programm.
thanksgiving is not named in the Quran and who brought thanks giving. slave masters. i tell my black American friends why do they celebrate thanksgiving. they were slaves when they started thanks giving day? they just get there freedom and Americans use to celebrate thanks giving while blks were slaves. this was paganistic holiday just like valentines day.
you said you go to the church with you muslim friends. first muslim is not suppose to go church. i can't remember the exact hadith , but there was a time the prophet mohamed(saw) come to visit this king and he told him to meet him at the church but the prophet (saw) said he can't meet him at the church and they had to meet somewhere else. his follows asked him why he said that? he don't want his people later to make excuse that the prophet want to church one time so it is ok to visit the churchs. so that is totally wrong for a muslim to go to church.i invite them to the masjid , but i don't go to their church.
one time we had a memorial service of a marine, they were doing at the church and we were told to be there for the memorial service. i called the islamic chaplian and asked him about it is ok to go to church for this reason and he told me that is haram and he showed me the hadith not to go to the church. i showed that to my boss and since then i never being to memorial service. i can go if it is at another place but not in the church.
i have christian roommate and the people i work with are all christians. i respect them so do they. i am not about hate but it is strictly about business. |
| rose | Friday, December 01, 2000 - 02:33 am
HEY IS IT TRUE THAT, CHRISTMAS WAS ACTUALLY USED TO CELEBRATE THE END OF THE YEAR IN ANCIENT TIMES AS IT GOT DARKER? AND THAT SOMEHOW ALONG THE PASSAGE OF TIME IT WAS TURNED INTO A CHRISTIAN CELEBRATION? AND THAT THEY DON'T REALLY KNOW THE PERCISE BIRTH OF CHRIST (OR SHOULD I SAY JESUS?)I MIGHT BE WRONG SO CORRECT ME.
AND I USED TO GET PRESENTS& CARDS FOR MY BEST FRIENDS AT CHRISTMAS, DAMN. |
