"Merry Christmas" sign on halal store door

[DanyalSAC]

Asalaamu alaikum -

Yesterday after jumuah a bro and I went to one of our area's larger halal stores to do our weekly shopping. There on the door in bright crayon colors was a hand-made sign declaring "MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!". The other side of the sign, visible from inside the store, it said "HAPPY HOLIDAYS!".

My brother in Islam and I were very offended. This is a Muslim owned & run (and patronized) establishment. Even though many non-Muslims shop in these stores we are still not to wish them greetings for their holidays.

We asked them to remove the sign...and got treated very snobbishly afterward (the man ringing up my groceries started tossing them instead of just setting them down).

Needless to say it was very disappointing. I may shop elsewhere from now on.

 

[alf2]

I have no Halal shops near me. Yet most of the gas stations/petrol stops are ran by Pakistani Muslims. For example, the one right next door sells Playboy, Alcohol & Lotto. Yes he has a sign up that says "Merry Christmas" but that really doesnt bother me.

In the line of "atrocoties" made by Muslims in America, a merry xmas sign is not the worst. I wouldnt even think twice.

 

[deen ul islam92]

Ive seen store which was muslims owned and had a flashing merry christmas sign on the glass. i mean yh we should treat their christmas with respect but why go to the extremes of buying christmas lights because you wouldnt do the same at Eid!

n yh bro dnt shop der again

 

[eminbey]

I have no Halal shops near me. Yet most of the gas stations/petrol stops are ran by Pakistani Muslims. For example, the one right next door sells Playboy, Alcohol & Lotto. Yes he has a sign up that says "Merry Christmas" but that really doesnt bother me.

In the line of "atrocities" made by Muslims in America, a merry xmas sign is not the worst. I wouldnt even think twice.

thank you Brother,May Allah reward you brother, but don't you think that the sale of Playboy magazines and wine is easier than celebrating the festivals of the Christians?
Because the sale of taboos and things considered as sinful do not erase the Muslim's faith, but decreases it, but the most serious is the celebration of Christians saying abusive things (like trinity) about our Lord Almighty, and that kind of acts makes the person love Christians ... when arriving to that state of Iman... Wow very dangerous zig
...

Ive seen store which was muslims owned and had a flashing merry christmas sign on the glass. i mean yeah we should treat their christmas with respect but why go to the extremes of buying christmas lights because you wouldnt do the same at Eid!

n yh bro dnt shop der again

Could you give us an evidence on that special point brother?
because celebrating kufr isn't increasing your iman for sure ,
there is a difference between showing respect to a Christian person, and showing respect to his religion
their religion was revealed by Allah, but not usable anymore adding to that its Distorted...
waiting for the Evidence?



AnyWay thank you br's for your concern abt Islam

 

[hana*]

ah! if only it was just a sign...i recently moved to an area where there are next to no muslims, except myself and my neighbour. however, my neighbour actually celebrates christmas with the decorations, christmas tree and santa clause statue. i feel really downhearted and disappointed at the plight of the muslims. why is it so easy for us to follow the non-muslims in negative things e.g christmas, dating, immodesty, etc, yet we can not follow them in good things e.g their work ethics, honesty, punctuality etc?
it reminds me of a hadeeth that we the muslims will follow the non-muslims to the extent that if they went down a lizard hole, we would follow down with them..

 

[Tabassum07]

^ How very very true. I got into a disagreement the other day with muslims who said there isn't any harm in sending some christian friends a Merry Chrismtas greeting card. At least they just sent out a "Happy Holidays" card instead, but still.....

 

[arzafar]

The reason for this sort of behavior is due to the lapse of a very important principle and that is hating kaafirs because of their religion. Since Muslims nowadays believe in equality and peaceful coexistence etc., they dont see any thing wrong with adopting kaafir traditions.

It has become very difficult for a Muslim to say and follow the truth even amongst other Muslims.

 

[alf2]

The reason for this sort of behavior is due to the lapse of a very important principle and that is hating kaafirs because of their religion. Since Muslims nowadays believe in equality and peaceful coexistence etc., they dont see any thing wrong with adopting kaafir traditions.

It has become very difficult for a Muslim to say and follow the truth even amongst other Muslims.

Why should we hate them? If Prophet Muhammad (saw) had hated all of the Kaffirs he wouldnt have made treaties with Christians or Jews.

Qur'an says..

"Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians -- whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor shall they grieve" (2:62, 5:69)

"..If God had not driven some people back by means of others,
monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques, where God's name is
mentioned much, would have been pulled down and destroyed. God will
certainly help those who help Him - God is All-Strong, Almighty.
(Quran (22:40)

We are told that even Christians & Jews may have their reward in the hereafter, we are told to respect their Holy places, does that tell you to hate them?

People on this site say to hate the Kufr, but you totally ignore Surahs like this in the Qur'an that promotes otherwise.

 

[BrotherInIslam7]

:salam2:

Hate the disease, not the person..

Sister Alf2, your conclusion based on your understanding of the verse 2:62 and 5:69 is incorrect.

As mentioned in the following thread, all mankind is to follow the deen of Prophet Muhammad SAW. The Christians and Jews of today are kaafir and mushrik and have to be encouraged to accept Islam (ie to make dawaah to them to our best ability).

Link : http://turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74366

However, you rightly pointed out that we have to treat people of the book in a good manner.


And argue not with the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), unless it be in (a way) that is better (with good words and in good manner, inviting them to Islamic Monotheism with His Verses), except with such of them as do wrong, and say (to them): "We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you; our Ilah (God) and your Ilah (God) is One (i.e. Allah), and to Him we have submitted (as Muslims). [29:46]

 

[BrotherInIslam7]

@ brother Danyal

May Allah azz zawajal reward you and your friend (our brother in faith) for the good intention and deed of giving naseeha to a fellow muslim. Ameen..

You have done your bit, now it is up to the individual(s) to change and give up their unIslamic practices, in this case their trying to appease the non muslim to gain monetary benefit or get social acceptance in non muslim society.

As for being treated poorly or harshly, a scholar of Ahlul Hadeeth from Pakistan said that the people who stick to what was revealed (wahee) and advice others to the same (ie give dawah to the correct practice in Islam) will be mistreated just as the way the followers of Muhammad SallAllahu Alleihi Wa Sallam were abused and mistreated. So rejoice .. for it is a great company to be among !

May Allah azz zawajal guide all the muslims to the right path and give us success in our dawah efforts. Ameen

Wasalaamalaykum waa rahmatullahi

 

[saifkhan]

salam alaikum

01. as a Muslim we can't greet with marry christmas or something like this. not even putting banner in shops or lighting a candle in the window or door. it is forbidden for us.
02. the highest we can do, we should not hurt anyone(non-Muslims) by saying something aggressive , we should rather act like nothing is going on.
03. if we have more taqwa, we should do dawah or make them understand that, there is nothing like christmas in Christianity, nothing in the bible about the birth date of Jesus, may Allah be pleased with him.

may Allah protect our eeman and guide us
as well as help us to be with our identity and let us caring about His pleasure; rather than caring others' religion and their feeling(what would they/he think, where is a prob to greet/ why?)

wa-llahu ta'la alim
wassalamu alaikum

 

[aisha16]

I agree with Alf2 it's bad but not as bad as much other stuff going on nowadays. It's good that you told the brother but you shouldn't of even gave it thought.

 

[Summer03]

turntoislam is becoming more and more of peoples opinions rather than actual knowledge... More dishearting than a Christmas sign...

 

[DanyalSAC]

I agree with Alf2 it's bad but not as bad as much other stuff going on nowadays. It's good that you told the brother but you shouldn't have even gave it thought.

Why not? I don't understand this mindset. "Not as bad" means that we ignore it? Where do we draw the line? Ah well he's smoking but its "not as bad" as drinking alcohol? Ah well he's committing adultery but its not as bad as being homosexual? See where I'm going with this?

I don't go for this "salad bar Islam" mentality that we pick and choose what we want on our plate.

Greeting the non-Muslims on Christmas and other religious holidays of theirs is Haraam, by consensus, as Ibn Al-Qayyim said in Ahkaam Ahl Al-Thimmah: "Congratulating the non-Muslims on the rituals that belong only to them is Haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and feasts 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 disbelief, 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 (innovation) or disbelief exposes himself to the Wrath and Anger of Allaah."

Congratulating the non-Muslims on their religious festivals implies that one accepts or approves of their rituals of disbelief, even if one would not accept those things for oneself. But the Muslim should not accept the rituals of disbelief or congratulate anyone else for them, because Allaah Almighty does not accept any of that at all, as He Says (what means): If you disbelieve - indeed, Allah is Free from need of you. And He does not approve for His servants disbelief. And if you are grateful, He approves it for you…” [Quran 39: 7]

And for the record this is not talk about hating kufar so I am not sure where that showed up....

 

[etoile_de_mer]

Assalaamu Alaykum brother
i understand ur point and agree with you...it happened to me in the week end i went to a shop owned by a muslim and there were loud music and songs of xmas carol!
i felt terrible.,... how to explain to them ..will they listen to us? we are a minority and the majority of their customers are non muslims.....they are tooooooo money minded and materialists , they are soooo stupid .......sometimes they bring entertainers in the shops and put music loud to attract non muslims customers....that is stupid..Don't they know that "ALLAH is the ONLY PROVIDER & SUSTAINER"
like u ..i might think of changing shops in the future. MAY ALLAH (SWT) Guide them ..ameen.

 

[hayat84]

:salam2:
in my country there is only one Halal shop,where I can find everything I need,but close to this shopthere is a man who sells newspapers and materials for gifts and postcards:every time we pass in front of it with the car,I see an enormous photo of a semi-naked girl on the wall.maybe muslims and non-muslims can live in peace,until we don't disturb them.it's ashameful...but,by my point of view,if you don't like the presence of something which offends you,the best thing to do is doing as it doesn't exist.the indifference hurts more than the speech.

 

[Ibn Uthaymin]

Mashaa Allah thats good.

 

[aisha16]

"salad bar Islam" ??????????? interesting..... :/

 

[eminbey]

May Allah help you O! people living in Non muslim Countries

 

[Kakorot]

^ And in Muslim countries.