Ibn Taymiyyah On Celebrating Christmas (And Other Non-Musilm Festivals)

[TheAuthenticBase]

Ibn Taymiyyah mentions:

"The Sharee'ah ruling is that Muslims should not do any particular thing on the religious festivals of unbelievers which they do not normally do in other days. Rather, they should treat these days like any other ordinary day. The Prophet (saw) had prohibited his Companions from sports and enjoyment on two particular days on which pre-Islamic Arabs used to hold sports.
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Likewise, he forbade them to sacrifice their animals at the places where the polytheists used to celebrate their festivals."
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He then goes no to mention:

"The unbelievers celebrate with much pomp and show a festival on the 25th of December in the belief that tr is the birth day of prophet Jesus (alayhis-salaam). The rituals associated with the Christians, fo rexample, lighting fire, preparing sweet dishes, etc. are undesirable. It is an article of faith with Christians that it is a holy day. This view doe snot have any basis in Islaam. This festival is not reported in the days of our pious predecessors. On later days, Muslims appear to have borrowed it from the Christians...

This is a Christin belief and Musilms are forbidden to entertain it."
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He then goes no to mention:

"Muslims are prohibited from joining these religious festivals of the people of the book and other unbelievers; on two grounds:

First: it represents a resemblance to the unbelievers.

Second: these are acts of innovations.

All such festivals and fairs which have come to vogue as a result of innovation are to be treated in the same way, whether these resemble the practice of the unbelievers or not."​

[Taken from "Mukhtasar Iqtidhaa' As-Siraat Al-Mustaqeem" by Ibn Taymiyyah, p. 17-18]

 

[NatalieSiddiqui_334]

I am a convert from Christianity and nowhere ever does it say that December 25th is a holy day. I have never light a fire on Christmas other than the sole purpose of keeping warm from the fire place which is done throughout the entire winter . My mother and father hold a Christmas dinner at their home every Christmas Eve , am I not allowed to join them in the dinner? That would devastate them . They are old and put a lot of work into that meal for my entire family, my parents will give my son presents on Christmas and my relatives will send Christmas cards regardless of my religion . What am I supposed to do throw them away? I invite my family to have a dinner on eid and we exchange gifts then as well. So tell me what is a person in my position suppose to do ?

 

[MehmetHilmi]

I am a convert from Christianity and nowhere ever does it say that December 25th is a holy day. I have never light a fire on Christmas other than the sole purpose of keeping warm from the fire place which is done throughout the entire winter . My mother and father hold a Christmas dinner at their home every Christmas Eve , am I not allowed to join them in the dinner? That would devastate them . They are old and put a lot of work into that meal for my entire family, my parents will give my son presents on Christmas and my relatives will send Christmas cards regardless of my religion . What am I supposed to do throw them away? I invite my family to have a dinner on eid and we exchange gifts then as well. So tell me what is a person in my position suppose to do ?

It is fine if you join them. Parents should be respected. I celebrated Thanksgiving with my Mexican Catholic relatives out of respect for them, not because I usually celebrate a non Muslim holiday. My advice is mostly from a personal view so take this as an opinion and not an Islamic ruling.

 

[NatalieSiddiqui_334]

It is fine if you join them. Parents should be respected. I celebrated Thanksgiving with my Mexican Catholic relatives out of respect for them, not because I usually celebrate a non Muslim holiday. My advice is mostly from a personal view so take this as an opinion and not an Islamic ruling.

Thank you for the advice , I has thanksgiving dinner with my family as well. I didn't know that even thanksgiving is an issue with religion even though it is not a religious holiday at all it's an American holiday .

 

[MehmetHilmi]

Thank you for the advice , I has thanksgiving dinner with my family as well. I didn't know that even thanksgiving is an issue with religion even though it is not a religious holiday at all it's an American holiday .

Everything that is remotely related to non-Muslims actually is an issue even if it is not religious. I feel as if certain people want to distance themselves as far as possible from the non-Believers, but sometimes exaggerate in doing so. Forget celebrating holidays, even wishing them happy holidays is something that is controversial. Actually forget wishing them, even being friends with them is frowned down upon. I even heard one Imam who preached that we should not even greet non-Muslims. Do I agree? No. But at the same time, I will not imitate their every action. For example, I don't celebrate Christmas, but that is because I wasn't born into the Christmas culture. Whenever I think of Christmas I associate it with Christianity. But it might be different for others who are born into the tradition and associate Christmas with friendship, happiness, gifts, and being with your family.

Christmas is a happy time, even for me. I don't celebrate it but all the lights, the music, the happiness makes me smile.

 

[Precious Star]

Thanksgiving is not a religious festival. And if it causes you to pause, expresses gratitude for your blessings, and spend the day with your family, it is of no harm.

Also remember that the Quran refers to people of the book as believers. However those who practice shirk , ie believe in multiple deities and do not believe in the prophets, angels and day of judgement, are not believers.

There is a difference between participating in a non Muslim festivity, and respecting those who do. I think that is what you have to keep in mind. I receive gifts from nonmuslims at Xmas time. I don't return it to them. I thank them and give the ladies a kiss on the cheek.

 

[NatalieSiddiqui_334]

Just to clarify one thing , I am converted from Christianity , BUT , I was Mormon. My family believes god to be one , they do not pray to anything other than god , the same god that we pray to. They believe that Jesus was the son of god but he was not god or godly , they believe that he was a messenger and human 100%. They also believed Jesus to be born in spring not on December 25, so that being said , I celebrated Christmas with my family as a fun little holiday where we put up decorations and my family gathered and had a big meal and in the morning opened presents and had a special omelette breakfast . Then we would go sleigh riding or go to the movies together. Christmas time has always been about spending time with family ever since I was little , never did we associate it with this so called trinity that Catholics worship.

My question is this, if my family celebrates in this manner, the decorations, spending time with family, is it still a sin?

 

[SonOfAdam]

This is a hard question and there will be different opinions on the matter. As Muslims we must respond to invitations and accept gifts, this is something the Prophet SAW has told us to do. I also have Christians in my family and other family members that celebrate American holidays, really just cooking a Turkey on thanksgiving though- everyone has the day off and it is one of the only times in the year the family can come together. It is not a part of the Islam religion though, no one says this or believes this of course otherwise it would be considered bidah. If I am invited to such a get together with family or for work I go because I am invited and not for the holiday or people that wish to celebrate it. Just be careful and don't say you "celebrate" the holiday and wish every one merry Christmas, happy thanksgiving, etc. to people or anything. You can just smile back or say something like thanks or peace, it may even open the door to dawah if they see you feel uncomfortable to say such things. If you do not go then it reflects very bad on you and makes Muslims look close minded and hateful- you may be doing more harm than good for yourself and religions image- turning people from Islam rather than towards it. Just do whatever you think is best, but do not celebrate or promote what they are doing. If you can keep a good relations with family if you don't good that is best, but if not then it is better to go in my opinion. It sounds like your parents would be heartbroken if you don't go...