By Mubarak Umar

I intend to write this as a true Muslim, who believes in Almighty Allah (SWT) without associating Him with any living being and also believes in all His messengers who are the best of Mankind.

The controversial discourse among Muslim on wishing Christians Happy Christmas or New Year is yet to be solved in the Islamic world of teaching; with some scholars have the opinion that is Haram and others opined it as Not.

There have been a number of legitimate criticisms of the holiday from Muslims and non-Muslims based on theological and cultural considerations. However, this cannot be used to disregard the holiday as merely an exercise in ancient pagan practices, for instance, or excessive consumerism.

Some of my Muslims brothers stand firmly to criticise anyone that wishes Christians HNY; some may even call you an infidel or disbeliever.

It really surprises me the way my Muslims brothers attack us regarding this. I still couldn’t find anything wrong with this. Anybody that you ask why is it Haram to wish Non-Muslim well during their festive season? The only answer you will receive is, there are not Muslim and we should not copy anything from them or always quote that, Gregorian calendar was established by Non-Muslim.

I am not trying to justify that it is compulsory to wish them well. But we forgot that, 99% percent of the media we (Muslim) are using today to criticise those things was invented by Christians. Now, facebook, twitter, Instagram, whatsapp, wiChat, e.t.c were all from the west. Why can’t we stop using them, and do ours?

Western countries come to our Lands, colonized us, force us to learn their languages, way of dressing, not only that, our system of government is exactly like theirs. Our Ulamas tell us that it is ‘Dharurat’, and there was nothing we could do.

By and large, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was so accommodating with Christians. According to the two earliest Islamic historians, ‘Abd'Allah Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Mani al-Baṣril and Abu Muhammad Abd al-Malik bin Hisham, the Prophet even allowed a delegation of 60 Byzantine Christians from Najran in Yemen to worship in his own mosque in Madinah. Lead by their bishop (Usquf), they had come to discuss a number of issues with Him. When time of their prayer came, they asked the Prophet's permission to perform this in the mosque. He answered, "Conduct your service here in the mosque. It is a place consecrated to God."

God expects us to stay away from mocking the religious beliefs of others, no matter how much we disagree with them. He says in the Quran: "And insult not those whom they (disbelievers) worship besides God, lest they insult God wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them of all that they used to do" (Quran, 6:108).

We also have to remember that even if for many nominal Christians, the celebration is not really about participating in religious traditions. New Year is a time for families to get together. In a number of cases it is the only time of year families get together, either because family members are scattered in different parts of the country or the world, because of communication and relationship problems.

New Year is a great time to relate to our Christians neighbors. We should not forget though, that "relating" does not mean "preaching". Da’awah cannot be made in a rude manner. Allah says in the Quran: "Invite (all) to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful advice, and reason with them by ways that are the best and most gracious: because your Lord knows best, (those) who have strayed from His Path, and those who receive guidance " (Quran, 16:125).

In particular, when dealing with Jews and Christians, Allah says: "Do not argue with the People of the Book unless it is in the politest manner, except for those of them who do wrong. Say: 'We believe in what has been sent down to us and what has been sent down to you. Our God and your God is [the same] One, and we are Muslims before Him'" (Quran, 29:46).

Remember that respect does not mean compromise. This article is not asking you to compromise anything. You have freedom of religion given by God to believe in what you believe in. But in a world where conflict is increasing, a Muslim should be a bridge-builder and a peacemaker. It was due to the Muslim practice of Islamic ideals of respect and tolerance that the key of the holiest Christian Shrine in Jerusalem, the church of the Holy Sepulcher, remains entrusted with a Muslim family, as it has been for over 1400 years.

We are now in the third decade of the 21st century. Surely, we should, now more than ever, be far more enlightened at a time when information of any sort and of all kinds are so readily available to us.

What is most important is that we regard one another as fellow citizens and treat each other with respect, regardless of our race or religion.

These are lesson which need to be learned by those extremists who attack Christians during their worship in Nigeria. Whether 1st January is religious or not, Christians choose it as their festive season. As a Muslim, Nigerian (a homogeneous country, where Muslims and Christians can rule) I wish all my Christians friends out there HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Criticism On Wishing Christians Happy New Year - http://www.okrotesblog.com/2021/01/criticism-on-wishing-christians-happy.html?m=0

Suicide bombers will soon come for your head.