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Praise be to Allaah. There is no doubt that what is mentioned of celebrations is haraam, because it is an imitation of the kuffaar. It is well known that the Muslims do not have any festival apart from Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, and the weekly “Eid” which is Friday (Yawm al-Jumu‘ah). Celebrating any other festival is not allowed and is either of two things: either it is an innovation (bid‘ah), if it is celebrated as a means of drawing close to Allah, such as celebrating the Prophet’s Birthday (Mawlid); or it is an imitation of the kuffaar, if it is celebrated as a tradition and not as an act of worship, because introducing innovated festivals is the action of the people of the Book who we are commanded to differ from. So how about if it is a celebration of one of their actual festivals? Decorating the house with balloons at this time is obviously joining in with the kuffaar and celebrating their festival. What the Muslim is required to do is not to single out these days for any kind of celebration, decorating or adornment, or special foods, otherwise he will be joining the kuffaar in their festivals, which is something that is undoubtedly haraam. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Similarly it is forbidden for the Muslims to imitate the kuffaar by holding parties on these occasions, or exchanging gifts, or distributing sweets or other foods, or taking time off work and so on, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book Iqtida’ al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem Mukhaalifat Ashaab al- Jahee m: Imitating them on some of their festivals implies that one is happy with the falsehood they are following, and that could make them (the non-Muslims) take this opportunity to mislead those who are weak in faith. End quote. Those who do any of these things are sinning, whether they do it to go along with them, or to be friendly towards them, or because they feel too shy (to refuse to join in) or any other reason, because it is a kind of compromising the religion of Allah to please others, and it is a means of lifting the spirits of the kuffaar and making them proud of their religion, End quote from Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 3/44 Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about a Muslim who makes the food of the Christians on Nawrooz (Persian New Year) and on all their occasions such as Epiphany and other feast days, and who sells them things to help them celebrate their festivals. Is it permissible for the Muslims to do any of these things or not? He replied: Praise be to Allah. It is not permissible for the Muslims to imitate them in any way that is unique to their festivals, whether it be food, clothes, bathing, lighting fires or refraining from usual work or worship, and so on. And it is not permissible to give a feast or to exchange gifts or to sell things that help them to celebrate their festivals, or to let children and others play the games that are played on their festivals, or to adorn oneself or put up decorations. In general, (Muslims) are not allowed to single out the festivals of the kuffaar for any of these rituals or customs. Rather the day of their festivals is just an ordinary day for the Muslims, and they should not single it out for any activity that is part of what the kuffaar do on these days. End quote from al-Fataawa al-Kubra , 2/487; Majmoo‘ al- Fataawa , 25/329

u are absolutely right. even d Christians who are Biblical scholars know dt Dec 25th Xmas celebration is IDOLATRY! It has nothing to do wt d birth of Jesus.

Jazakumullahu khaoran sir for the write up. Majority of we Muslims are ignorant.

Mubis:
Jazakumullahu khaoran sir for the write up. Majority of we Muslims are ignorant.

Wa ants fajazakummulahu khairan

smallrincowis16:
Wa ants fajazakummulahu khairan

nice article shared by you. May Allah increase us in knowledge. it is a while akhi

But if a non-muslim neighbour bring xmas food,should it be rejected or accepted.
I need explanation on this
Cc:Abuklaw,Empiree,MrOlai,Fundamentalist,aminat508,dejt4u,AlBaqir and others.

Kunlexic:
But if a non-muslim neighbour bring xmas food,should it be rejected or accepted.
I need explanation on this

Surah Maida ayah 5 says:

"This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them. (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book, revealed before your time,- when ye give them their due dowers, and desire chastity, not lewdness, nor secret intrigues if any one rejects faith, fruitless is his work, and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good)."

This ayah @ bolded should not be taken literally or in isolation. We must take all the data in its totality and derive the meaning. In the same chapter, Verse (5:3), Allah tells us food that are forbidden to eat. It reads:


"Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah , and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience....."


Today's world, many Christians are not conscious of this anymore. 99.99% chance is that the meat of chicken, ram, lamb, beef etc they eat are slaughtered mentioning names of other than Allah's. Some dont even mentioned anything. They just slaughtered them. In Western world, they dont even slaughter them Islamic way. They shot them, strangle them and all types of violent death. You dont need to see them before you figure it out.

As for if your christian family, friends or neighbors give you food for Christmas, in my opinion, if they choose to give you food, it means they have no problem with you. You should take it but you dont have to eat it. Take it and thank them. I am sure you can always give it to hungry poor man out there, or feed animal with it. It is not nice nor is it sunnah to reject their food unless if they dont give you to begin with.

Now, let me give you example of mine. Where I used to work, i was surrounded by Judaeo-christian people. During Christmas, my client's daughter and other relatives would bring me food, Turkey and Chicken. I do eat the vegetable brought with it but I fed my cats (at home) with the soup and meat. I also gave my neighbors who are Christians the remaining food. Shikena. They dont know what i did with their food. This is my opinion.


Other view however, state that It is clear from Sura Al-Maeda that eating meat from a Christian or Jewish butcher is lawful ( Halal ). However for this to be lawful the Christian or Jewish butcher must be a practicing Christian or Jew.

Now in the case of Jews this is very easy. As long as the Jew is a practicing Jew and the meat is slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law (Torat Moshe) then this meat and other Kosher food is lawful ( Halal) and can be eaten by Muslims.

With Christians the simplest and safest answer is NO! The main issue we have is that in the west religion has become divorced from society. So you are very unlikely to come across a practicing Christian that is following the true teachings of the Prophet Jesus (PBUH). The key issue here is Pork.

Almost all Christians now eat pork. You will find it impossible to find a non-Muslim butcher that does not have pork in his or her shop. Most Slaughter houses and meat processing plants also process Pork. Most animal by-products made from animals in the west will contain Pork. It is therefore advised that Muslims should not buy meat from shops that also sell pork or pork by products.

Abuklaw:
nice article shared by you. May Allah increase us in knowledge. it is a while akhi

Thanks bro... How is everything there? Hope you do cope with the weather there

=Salam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu Alhamdullillah this is an excellent topic thanks for bringing it up. Obviously Muslims should not celebrate Christmas especially given the historical data supporting this date and thanks to Empiree for explaining about the approach to food.

It is however unfortunate that some of our halal stores may not be slaughtering in a halal manner.
It is safe to say we should be especially careful about what goes in our mouths

Kunlexic:
But if a non-muslim neighbour bring xmeas food,should it be rejected or accepted.
I need explanation on this
Cc:Abuklaw,Empiree,MrOlai,Fundamentalist,aminat508,dejt4u and others.

This is a fatwa from Sheikh Ibn Jibreen, supervised by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih Al-Munajjid:


Eating food prepared for a Christian festival
What is the ruling on eating food prepared for a Christian festival? What is the ruling on accepting their invitation to their celebrations of the birth of the Messiah (peace be upon him) [i.e., Christmas celebrations]?

Praise be to Allaah.

It is not permissible to celebrate innovated festivals such as the Christmas of the Christians, or Nowrooz (Persian New Year) or Mahrajaan (Persian festival), or festivals that have been innovated by Muslims such as the Prophet’s birthday in Rabee’ al-Awwal or the Israa’ in Rajab and so on. It is not permissible to eat from that food which the Christians or Mushrikeen prepare on the occasion of their festivals. It is also not permissible to accept their invitations to join them in their celebrations of those festivals, because this encourages them and is tantamount to approving of their bid’ah, which gives the wrong idea to ignorant people and makes them think that there is nothing wrong with that.

And Allaah knows best.

From Al-Lu’lu’ al-Makeen min Fataawaa Ibn Jibreen, p. 27.
https://islamqa.info/

Mubis:
Jazakumullahu khaoran sir for the write up. Majority of we Muslims are ignorant.

not All christians, jehovah witness do not celebrate Christmas. https://www.nairaland.com/2802766/celebrating-christmas-wrong