Almighty Allah sent, from the beginning of the creation of man, Messengers
and Prophets to guide mankind. Amongst the noblest of them were Noah, Abraham,
Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (Peace be upon
him). Moses (Moosa) - peace be upon him - was given the Torah which the Jews
accept as their Divine Text. Jesus (Eesa) - peace be upon him - was given the
Injeel (Gospel). Muhammad - peace be upon him - was given the last of the
Divine Revelation, Quran.
Allah, in the Quran, tells us about Jesus - peace be upon him - his
virgin birth, his ability to speak maturely in the cradle, his ability to
perform miracles by the permission of Allah, and about his resurrection. Allah
also tells us that Jesus (peace be upon him) is a creation like Adam (peace be
upon him) and neither Jesus, nor Adam (peace be upon them both) is divine.
Christians though accept some divinity of Jesus (peace be upon him) as part of
the Trinity, as being the "Son of God", especially while he was on
earth. Of course, Muslims do not believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) died
and, most definitely, did not die for our sins. These two points are points of
faith and both the Trinity and Crucifixion are against and in direct
contradiction to the Muslim's beliefs.
Allah further commands us in Quran to "establish/encourage/command
the good and prohibit the wrong". We can further analyse the differences
between Christian and Muslim beliefs but there is no coming together or
agreement or reconciliation on the two fundamental points mentioned earlier. We
may differ further, on historical evidence, regarding the calendar dates specifically
for the birth of Jesus - peace be upon him - ("Christmas") and his death/resurrection
(Easter). There is evidence though that Christmas was not celebrated until the 4th
century. This last point becomes less important if we focus only on the aspect
of divinity, but it may also be important if we consider that Christians, at
least a part, did not celebrate Christmas because they themselves did not
believe in his divinity (but that discussion is long and possibly has
tentacles).
We have established that the Christian belief in the divinity of
Jesus (peace be upon him) contradicts our beliefs. Our response to them is thus
to point out this contradiction and explain that Allah created us all and He,
Allah created both Adam and Jesus (peace be upon them both) without a father.
In fact, Adam's (peace be upon him) creation was more miraculous that Jesus
(peace be upon him) because he was created without a mother or father. And how
about Eve (Hawa) who was created from a man, but had no mother. How awesome
isn't that?
We as Muslims accept Quran as being the Book of Guidance and the
Word of Allah Almighty. We submit to Allah and accept every word of the Quran
because that is what Muslim means - to submit. Allah thus commands us to "establish
the good and forbid the wrong". Establishing the good when interacting with
our Christian neighbours, friends and colleagues, is to explain to them our
position regarding Jesus (peace be upon him). And in "forbidding the wrong "it
means that we cannot, in any way, partake in festivities such as Christmas when
the birth of the "Son of God" is celebrated. In partaking in these,
we will encourage them in doing wrong and thus we will be doing wrong
ourselves.
We say to them that there is no malice intended for we only want
good for them and, because of this, we cannot partake in their festivities. These
matters need to be discussed in a dignified manner and we continue to show
respect to them. The ultimate respect and gratitude is to uphold the commandments of Allah
Almighty.
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Christmas is for the Christians
Easter is for the Christians
Hanukkah is for the Jews
Diwali is for the Hindus
Guy Fawkes is for the pagans
Halloween is for the pagans
Eid is for the Muslims
#middleeast #jerusalem #palestine #israel #torah #gospel #bible #quran #jesus #moses #muhammad #easter #christmas #sonofgod #islamaphobia #education #newworldorder #crucufixion #resurrection
