Pivotal Quote
❝There are many practices that take place during Christmas that have nothing to do with Christmas itself. Father Christmas, or Santa Claus for example, had nothing to do with Christmas and nothing to do with the celebration initially. Even the celebration of the birth of the Son of God had no relation to the fact that ʿĪsá was born at that time. It was simply an exchange of one pagan festivity for another festivity imported into Christianity.
With this combination of evil paganism on one hand and belief in these shirkiyyat on the other, we do not, in any way, shape, or form, celebrate Christmas. We do not participate in its celebration, and we do not condone it. Celebrating it is kufr. You should not allow children to do so under the statement or claim that it is just letting the kids have fun. Rather, we do not nurture them upon shirk, and we do not nurture them upon kufr. We teach them from an early stage that this has its origin in that which displeases Allah (عز وجل). We do not accept gifts that are part of this celebration, and we do not accept food that is part and parcel of it. As mentioned, we instead utilize this time as an opportunity to give daʿwah and to call to Allāh (سبحانه وتعالى).❞
Monday 25th December 2023
The questioner asked: What to do if a Non-Muslim anonymously dropped off a holiday gift at your house?
Answer: We need to be extremely careful concerning participating in the festivities of the kuffar. Shaykhul Islām ibn Taymiyyah discusses this affair in Kitāb al-Iqtiḍāʿal-Sirāt al-Mustaqīm. I may perhaps mention something concerning that again when we discuss the Sayr ilā Allāh wal-Dār al-Ākhirah of Shaykh Saʿdī, but the origin is that the affair of resembling the kuffār from the biggest arenas that the Muslim may fall into is resembling the kuffār in relation to their festivities.
We must refrain from joining their celebrations, from eating their food that was made as a part of the celebration, and from exchanging or accepting their gifts. What is it that we are participating in? They believe that this is the celebration of the birth of Allāh (عز وجل). They say that Allāh (عز وجل) was born and He had a son and that Allāh (سبحانه وتعالى) came down to earth so that our sins may be forgiven, as though Allāh (عز وجل) was not Al -Ghafūr, Ar-Raḥīm, Ar-Raḥmān, Al-ʿAfūw, At-Tawwāb before this claim of theirs manifested.
Allah says,
لَّقَدْ جِئْتُمْ شَيْـًٔا إِدًّۭا • تَكَادُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنشَقُّ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَتَخِرُّ ٱلْجِبَالُ هَدًّا • أَن دَعَوْا۟ لِلرَّحْمَـٰنِ وَلَدًۭا • وَمَا يَنۢبَغِى لِلرَّحْمَـٰنِ أَن يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا
“Indeed you have brought forth (said) a terrible evil thing. Whereby the heavens are almost torn, and the earth is split asunder, and the mountains fall in ruins, That they ascribe a son to Ar-Raḥmān. But it is not suitable for (the Majesty of) the Most Gracious (Allâh) that He should beget a son (or offspring or children).”
[Sūrah Al-Maryam; 19: 89-92]
This is what Allah (عز وجل) has mentioned concerning this tremendous, abhorrent claim. And then we say responding to their claim and to their statement, “Merry Christmas!”. “Merry celebration of disbelief!” This foul belief that the son of Allāh (عز وجل) was born and that forgiveness now began. So we do not participate in it and we do not take it lightly. We do not participate in it, we do not respond to the greeting. Instead, we use their utterances as opportunities for daʿwah – somebody gives a gift, we gracefully reject it and we explain to them that the origin of this celebration is something that is diametrically opposed to our core belief – “I don’t wish or mean to offend you but this is what we believe” and then make it be a door-opener to daʿwah.
Similarly, explain that the origin of the celebration of Christmas is in actuality not the birthday of Jesus. People of knowledge among them know that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th. What is manifest from their scriptures is that he was born towards the Autumn and towards the harvest time which wouldn’t have been December and they understand clearly that this is not something that was or that they have any evidence for in their book. Rather, this time of year is one that the pagans had a number of celebrations. It was known as the celebration of the Winter Solstice and they had two main festivities – Saturnalia and Juvenalia. Saturnalia and Juvenalia are two periods and two celebrations, both of which were filled with debauchery, evil, and filth. They were celebrations, in one instance, of one of their gods, specifically the god of fertility where they would incorporate the worship of this god.
When paganism had Christianity introduced to them, this was a period that the people were used to celebrating and would not give up. It was something like Carnival here in Trinidad, a fundamental part of their makeup. The pagan mushrikūn who were interested in Christianity, along with the Christian Evangelists and the people of knowledge among them, decided that since these people entered into this time of year already celebrating a pagan festivity, they would accommodate it. This pagan festivity was the celebration of the birth of the new sun. From December 21st onward, the days had been getting shorter until around the 21st or 22nd of December, after which the days begin to grow longer. They believed this marked the birth of the new sun, and they celebrated it as such. What the Christians did, then, was exchange belief in the birth of the new sun for belief in the birth of the Son of God.
They knew this was not when Isa was born. In this way, the pagans were able to keep their festivity and their celebration. This is why you have activities such as kissing under the mistletoe. The mistletoe was a bush with white berries that were symbolic and significant, representing male fluid. During Juvenalia and Saturnalia, they did far more than just kiss under it. However, in Christmas, this practice is still incorporated into the festivity and the celebration.
There are many practices that take place during Christmas that have nothing to do with Christmas itself. Father Christmas, or Santa Claus for example, had nothing to do with Christmas and nothing to do with the celebration initially. Even the celebration of the birth of the Son of God had no relation to the fact that ʿĪsá was born at that time. It was simply an exchange of one pagan festivity for another festivity imported into Christianity.
With this combination of evil paganism on one hand and belief in these shirkiyyat on the other, we do not, in any way, shape, or form, celebrate Christmas. We do not participate in its celebration, and we do not condone it. Celebrating it is kufr. You should not allow children to do so under the statement or claim that it is just letting the kids have fun. Rather, we do not nurture them upon shirk, and we do not nurture them upon kufr. We teach them from an early stage that this has its origin in that which displeases Allah (عز وجل). We do not accept gifts that are part of this celebration, and we do not accept food that is part and parcel of it. As mentioned, we instead utilize this time as an opportunity to give daʿwah and to call to Allāh (سبحانه وتعالى).