CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS by Abdul Hameed
WHAT IS CHRISTMAS?
The word “Christmas”
is derived from the combination of two words “Christ” and “Mass”.
“Christ” denotes Jesus
Christ.
“Mass” means “Celebrations”
or “Feast” (In Arabic “Eid”).
“Christmas”
therefore means “Christ’s Feast” (not birthday). Anyway,
it is meant to be the feast of the birthday of Jesus Christ (Pbuh).
In the
“Yearly celebration of
the birth of Jesus Christ, 25 December.”
In the Abingdon Dictionary
of Living Religions (
“The festival commemorating the birth of Jesus at
IT’S ORIGIN OR HISTORY:
The word Christmas is not found anywhere in any Bible (any
version) nor is there any authentic
record in the Christian sources to show that 25th December was the birthday of Jesus Christ (Pbuh) and no
one is recorded to have celebrated or kept a
feast or held a great banquet on his birthday.
It is only sinners like Pharaoh and
Herod, who make great rejoicing over the day in which they were born in to the
world.
1. In the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 Edition, published by the
Roman Catholic Church under the heading “Christmas” it
says:
“Christmas
was not among the earliest festivals of the Church….The first evidence of the
feast is from
In the same
encyclopedia under the caption “
2. The Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1946 Edition, has this to report:
“Christmas (the mass of Christ) was not among the earliest festivals of the Church.”
It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles or by
Bible authority, but from paganism.
3. The Encyclopedia
“Christmas according to many authorities was not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian Church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons than their birth.”
It further
states: “A feast was established in memory of this event (Christ’s birth) in
the fourth century. In the fifth century, the western church ordered it to be celebrated
forever, on the day of the Old Roman Feast of the birth of Sol,
as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth existed.” “Sol”
means, “Sun” not “Son.”
4. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Knowledge explains:
“How much the date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia (Dec 25), following the Saturnalia (Dec 17-24), and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the ‘New Sun’ …cannot be accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influences….The pagan festival with it’s riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue it’s celebration with little change in spirit and manner.”
These recognized authorities show very
clearly that Christmas was not
observed by the Original Christians for the first three hundred years, a period longer than the entire history of
In it’s early
history, the Church had an
annual observance of honor on the death
of Christ and many other early Martyrs. A
festival on December 25th was established by Emperor Aurelian in the 3rd century A.C. In the pre-Christian days,
various mid-winter festivals were held through out the
When Christianity became the religion of the
Some Christian preachers of the west and
near east protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ’s birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their western brethren of ‘idolatry and sun worship’, for adopting this pagan festival as Christian. English Puritans (the reformist groups discontented with the religious settlement of the Church of England), sought to curtail Christmas
festivity by an act of parliament in
1644, but the feast again became popular and remained so to the present.
WAS JESUS CHRIST REALLY BORN ON DECEMBER 25TH?
As mentioned earlier there is no evidence in the Bible or any authoritative Christian source to establish 25th December as the birthday of Jesus Christ (Pbuh). Earlier the nativity was celebrated by the Eastern Church on January 6, often united to the celebration of Jesus Baptism. The Armenian Church celebrates the festival of the birth and baptism on January 6th.
The Dictionary of Living Religions reports:
“Speculation on the birth date of Jesus is as old as
Clement of
There are evidences in the Holy Quran as well as the New Testament, which enables us to derive that Jesus Christ (Pbuh) was born in the Summer and not in the Winter.
HOLY QURAN (
وَهُزِّي
إِلَيْكِ
بِجِذْعِ
النَّخْلَةِ تُسَاقِطْ
عَلَيْكِ
رُطَباً
جَنِيّاً
فَكُلِي
وَاشْرَبِي
وَقَرِّي
عَيْناً
“And shake towards thyself the trunk of
the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee.”
“So
eat and drink and cool (thine) eye.”
Here
Allah (SWT), tells Mary (Pbuh), close to the time of her delivering
Jesus Christ (Pbuh), to have the ripe dates as food and we all know very well
that ripe dates would be available on
palm trees only in Summer and not in Winter.
Similarly in
the New Testament in the book of Luke (2:8-11):
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the
field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Shepherds would not spend the nights in the open watching their sheep in the winter in an area like Palestine were Winter is too cold, so it has to be in Summer.
The WyCliffe Bible Commentary had this to say about the
birth of Jesus Christ:
“The exact date of Jesus birth is unknown; the legendry
(mythical) date of December 25 cannot be tracked back further than the fourth
century.”
HOW ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS TREE THEN?
When Christianity spread northward in to
In the Bible, in Jeremiah (10:1-4):
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house
of
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and
be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a
tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with
nails and with hammers, that it, move not.
The above verses from the Christian
Bible clearly indicates that the Christmas tree was earlier a pagan and heathen
practice, later on accommodated in to Christianity. There are so many pagan stories and beliefs connected with this Christmas
tree, and Santa Claus, which I do not want to elaborate here. You may find
it in detail in the 2nd article named Christmas tree.
WHAT ABOUT SANTA CLAUS AND HIS LOVELY GIFTS?
Here we have a character, who is believed to have come from the North pole and in one night he is able to personally distribute gifts to children all over the world. Children are informed by the Parents, that if they behave good, Santa Claus would reward them with a gift. How can Santa Claus know which child is good and which is bad. The quality of Almighty God is attributed to him- the Knowledge of the unseen. Only Almighty God know what is in people’s heart and mind. Hence this is clean SHIRK. Secondly Parents are lying to children by saying that the reward for being good is from Santa Claus and not from Almighty God. Children are taught to fear a fictious man instead of God.
WHAT IS THE HUKUM OR SHARIA ON CHRISTMAS? - THE MUSLIM VIEW:
The Muslims do not deny the right of Christians to have a festival.
As the Prophet (Pbuh) said:
“Every people has it’s festival,
and this is our festival”. Further he said; “Allah has given you something
better instead of them; Yawm al-Duhaa and Yawm al-Fitr.” (Reported
by Abu Dawood).
However the Muslims have every right and reason to ask some simple questions to this.
1. How can you choose any day and celebrate as a ‘religious’ festival, if:
- the date of Jesus’ birth itself is not known?
-
- there is no evidence in the Bible for the practice of celebrating a birthday?
-
- There is no evidence in the Bible that the celebration has any relation with Jesus?
-
If you believe that the Bible is the word of God and guidance from Him, then bring the evidence from this book, and prove that whatever you are doing has a sound basis or record.
2. Why do you celebrate Christmas when paganism or polytheism lies at the very root of Christmas? It is a well established fact that a popular feast of pagans, heathens, and polytheists was adopted and absorbed in Christianity.
Some Christians may say: Is there anything wrong with giving gifts, or with good will, pleasant feelings, cheerfulness, and enjoyment of a nice family holiday and talk about Jesus Christ at Christmas?
It is worth to quote Mr. Joseph W. Tkach, the
Editor-in-Chief of a world renowned Christian Magazine “The Plain Truth”(in the Nov/Dec 1991 issue), who says that apparently there
is nothing wrong in it, but as he writes:
“A pagan
festival and the worship of the true God do not mix. The prophets constantly
warned ancient
“Some say, ‘Let’s get Christ back
in to Christmas.’ I understand their point and definitely respect their
motives. Yet shouldn’t we rather be saying: ‘Let’s get Christ out of
Christmas’?”
“Would any
of us choose a pagan temple as the ideal place to worship god? Yet we have
chosen to worship Christ on the very day and festival the pagans worshipped
some of their gods. It was originally chosen because so many pagans were
worshipping their gods on it- and the pagan trimmings persist to this day. It
is time that Christians seriously reconsider the yearly practice that taints
the worship of Christ with the pagan birthday of the ‘invincible sun.’”
He concludes with verses from the Bible to defend his
argument:
2Corinthians(
Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light
with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or
what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
And what agreement hath the
Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
In the Islamic concept, any deficiency in the pure monotheistic
attitude is called SHIRK, and it is
the greatest and unpardonable sin. So Muslims can never join paganism, and
therefore to take part in such celebration is completely unacceptable and
forbidden (HARAM) in Islam as
we are commemorating and joining hands with them in committing Shirk when we
congratulate them, greet them, or take part in their celebrations.
Therefore
congratulating (greeting) them for Christmas or any other religious occasion is
considered by all Muslim Scholars to be HARAM (unlawful and sinful) because it is a sign of
approval and acceptance of their belief and practice which is nothing but KUFR AND SHIRK. As a true Muslim you would not do what displeases Allah (SWT),
and would not approve of Shirk or Kufr or give any sign of approval for any of it’s
practices. Hence a Muslim should not congratulate Christians on Christmas or
any of their religious occasions. Muslims should refrain from facilitating or
selling any goods or services intended for such use.
ALLAH (SWT) says in the
HOLY QURAN;
HOLY QURAN (39:7):
إِن
تَكْفُرُوا
فَإِنَّ
اللَّهَ
غَنِيٌّ عَنكُمْ
وَلَا
يَرْضَى
لِعِبَادِهِ
الْكُفْرَ
وَإِن
تَشْكُرُوا
يَرْضَهُ
لَكُمْ
“If you blaspheme (reject
or deny Allah), truly Allah hath no need of you; but He liketh not ingratitude
from his servants: If ye are grateful, He is pleased with you.
HOLY QURAN (5:2)
وَتَعَاوَنُواْ
عَلَى
الْبرِّ
وَالتَّقْوَى
وَلاَ
تَعَاوَنُواْ
عَلَى
الإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ
وَاتَّقُواْ
اللّهَ إِنَّ
اللّهَ
شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
“Cooperate with one
another in righteous and piety (in what is good and pious), but cooperate ye
not in sin and rancour (in what is sinful and wicked).”
Moreover Umar ibn
al-Khattab said:
“Avoid the enemies of
Allah on their festivals. Do not enter upoun their churches or take part in
their celebrations on their feast days, for the WRATH of ALLAH is descending on them.”
It was also reported
with a saheeh isnad from Abu Usaamah: Awn told us from Abdullah ibn- Amr;
“Whoever lives in the land
of non-Arabs and celebrates their New Year and festivals, and imitates them
until he dies in that state, will be gathered with them on the Day of
Resurrection.”
Some Christians may say that this celebration is nothing but an expression of devotion and love for Jesus. They may be reminded of what Jesus himself is reported to have explained about the meaning of ‘belief in him’ and ‘love for him.’
THE MEANING OF
‘BELIEF IN JESUS’:
John (
Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that believes on me, the
works that I do shall he do also.
THE MEANING OF ‘LOVE
FOR JESUS’:
John (
He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him. ….
John (
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide by my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.
JESUS’ MESSAGE TO
THE CHRISTIANS:
Mathew (
Not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work inequity.
WHAT IS
WRONG THEN IN EATING THOSE LOVELY DELICIOUS CAKES AT LEAST?
ALLAH (SWT) says in the Holy Quran (5:3):
حُرِّمَتْ
عَلَيْكُمُ
الْمَيْتَةُ
وَالْدَّمُ
وَلَحْمُ
الْخِنْزِيرِ
وَمَا أُهِلَّ
لِغَيْرِ
اللّهِ
“Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of
swine, and that on which any other names besides Allah hath been invoked.”
In the above verse Allah has forbidden to us in food; dead meat, blood, flesh of swine and any food on which any other names besides Allah is invoked.
Here the delicious Christmas cake falls on the fourth category which is forbidden in higher level than the rest three, meaning that it is worse than having dead meat, blood and flesh of swine.
May Allah(SWT) guide us all on the straight path. Amen.
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