Should Muslims attend Christmas celebrations?

Being one of the few people NOT attending my family Christmas dinner, I had to look for the rulings on this , here is what I found on Islam QA.

Attending the festivals of the mushrikeen and congratulating them
Is it permissible to attend the celebrations of Christian festivals and congratulate them?

Praise be to Allaah.

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: it is not permissible for the Muslims to attend the festivals of the mushrikeen, according to the consensus of the scholars whose words carry weight. The fuqaha’ who follow the four schools of thought have stated this clearly in their books…

Al-Bayhaqi narrated with a saheeh isnaad from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab that he said: “Do not enter upon the mushrikeen in their churches on the day of their festival, for divine wrath is descending upon them.” And ‘Umar also said: “Avoid the enemies of Allaah on their festivals.”

Al-Bayhaqi narrated with a jayyid isnaad from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr that he said: “Whoever settles in the land of the non-Arabs and celebrates their new year and festival and imitates them until he dies in that state, will be gathered with them on the Day of Resurrection.” (Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/723-724).

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

Can she attend Christmas celebrations in order to greet her relatives?
She says: I want to become Muslim, but my family gather to celebrate Christmas, and I want to go and greet them. This is not with the intention of celebrating or joining in, but simply to make the most of the opportunity of my relatives getting together. Is this allowed?

We put this question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen,who answered as follows:
No, it is not permitted. If Allaah blesses her with Islam, then the first thing she must do is to distance herself from her former religion and its festivals.

And Allaah knows best.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen

It is not permissible to eat foods that are prepared by the kuffaar for their festivals
Is it permissible for a Muslim to eat the foods that the people of the Book or the mushrikoon prepare for their festivals or accept such foods if they are given on the occasion of their festivals?.

Praise be to Allaah.

t is not permissible for the Muslim to eat foods that the Jews, Christians and mushrikoon make for their festivals. It is not permissible either for a Muslim to accept such things that are given to them on the occasion of their festivals, because that implies honouring them and cooperating with them in manifesting their symbols and propagating their innovations and sharing their happiness on the days of their festivals.

That may also lead to taking their festivals as festivals for us too, or to exchanging invitations to meals or to give gifts on one another’s festivals at the very least. This is a kind of deviation and innovation in religion.

It was proven that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever introduces anything into this matter of ours that is not part of it, will have it rejected.” And it is not permissible to give them anything on the occasion of their festivals.
Al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 22/398.

Ruling on celebrating non-Muslim holidays and congratulating them
Can a muslim celebrate a non muslim holiday like Thanksgiving

Praise be to Allaah.

Greeting the kuffaar on Christmas and other religious holidays of theirs is haraam, by consensus, as Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah: "Congratulating the kuffaar on the rituals that belong only to them is haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts 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 kufr, 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 or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allaah."

Congratulating the kuffaar on their religious festivals is haraam to the extent described by Ibn al-Qayyim because it implies that one accepts or approves of their rituals of kufr, even if one would not accept those things for oneself.

But the Muslim should not aceept the rituals of kufr or congratulate anyone else for them, because Allaah does not accept any of that at all, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):
"If you disbelieve, then verily, Allaah is not in need of you, He likes not disbelief for His slaves. And if you are grateful (by being believers), He is pleased therewith for you. . ."[al-Zumar 39:7]

". . . This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islaam as your religion . . ." [al-Maa’idah 5:3]

So congratulating them is forbidden, whether they are one’s colleagues at work or otherwise.If they greet us on the occasion of their festivals, we should not respond, because these are not our festivals, and because they are not festivals which are acceptable to Allaah.

These festivals are innovations in their religions, and even those which may have been prescribed formerly have been abrogated by the religion of Islaam, with which Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to the whole of mankind.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "Whoever seeks a religion other than Islaam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers." [Aal ‘Imraan 3:85]

It is haraam for a Muslim to accept invitations on such occasions, because this is worse than congratulating them as it implies taking part in their celebrations. Similarly, Muslims are forbidden to imitate the kuffaar by having parties on such occasions, or exchanging gifts, or giving out sweets or food, or taking time off work, etc., because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever imitates a people is one of them."

Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book Iqtidaa’ al-siraat al-mustaqeem mukhaalifat ashaab al-jaheem: "Imitating them in some of their festivals implies that one is pleased with their false beliefs and practices, and gives them the hope that they may have the opportunity to humiliate and mislead the weak."Whoever does anything of this sort is a sinner, whether he does it out of politeness or to be friendly, or because he is too shy to refuse, or for whatever other reason, because this is hypocrisy in Islaam, and because it makes the kuffaar feel proud of their religion.Allaah is the One Whom we ask to make the Muslims feel proud of their religion, to help them adhere steadfastly to it, and to make them victorious over their enemies, for He is the Strong and Omnipotent.

Majmoo’ah Fataawa wa Rasaa’il al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 3/369)

Krismuss Breeze

Its that time of year again, where the breeze blows wonderfully, there's not as much need for the fan or the AC, and traffic occurs at odd times of day as people take time off to go shopping. Its that time of year again where people get 'silly' , spending money they don't have, buying things they don't need and of course the crime rate doesnt improve either even though they preach brotherly love.

Its that time of year again where I remember my Mom, and back in the day when I was Christian and we celebrated Christmas with the tree and the gifts and the dinners with the many relatives that we only see once a year. It was my Mom's favourite time of year. I always feel sad at this time because I remember her. She died when I was 15. She died as a non-Muslim.

So for the next few weeks I will enjoy the 'Krissmus breeze', and feel sad and feel happy, feel lonely and feel fulfilled, feel different but feel content and a multitude of other contradictions as I strut about in my Christian country in my hijab with the peace of mind that Alhamdullilah I am Muslim.

Deck the Halls....

Its that time of year again. So this morning my boss comes to my desk and asks if I mind them decorating a tree at the office entranceway. I say no I don't mind. He then asks if I would help to decorate, and that they won't put any 'Christian things' on it, I say nope. Nice of him to ask if I mind though.

Last year they were planning their 'Christmas dinner', and I said I wasn't going. He then had them change it to a 'Family dinner' with no Christmas Carols.Working here is pretty cool, most of the people are open-minded, I am even allowed to pray in the filing room and nobody bothers me, so hey let them have their tree.

By the way, their tree is an articicial banana tree similar to that in the pic :-)