new Muslim and Christmas

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A new Muslim attending a Christmas family gathering

Question:Salam Alykum, i am a revert muslim 3 years ago and i have strong faith of ALLAH, i live in qatar alone and i visit my non-muslim parents just once a year, since i become a muslim i like to stay in arab country were every street and every corner thier is a mosque because its difficult to live in our city were no muslim people around. all my family are non-muslim, all my sisters and brothers are living in Europe with their family. this coming december they have plan to have a family christmas reunion with all family members, this is a first time i will meet all the family members since i revert to islam i have fear of ALLAH, my question is how can i join them just to please them as my mother ask this favor for me? i love my mom and i never say no to her i missed also my sisters and my only brother. and i bought also a new house for my parents but they want to have house blessing to that house were im going to stay (house blessing in christian practice the priest will come to that house to pray and put their holy water in every corner of the house) Is it permissible for me to perform Sallah/prayer in that house were their are crosses and picture of Jesus? i try to convince my father also to convert to Islam but the problem is i just have a little knowledge i cannot give him appropriate answer i really need someone who have good knowledge that can help my father to convert to Islam, i wish to bring him here to attend islamic Studies in Fanar center but the Immigration deny my visa application for him as he is now 75 years old. please advice me,JazzakAllah khair. may Allah bless us all
Fatwa:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/Archive/images/icon--1.gif is His Slave and Messenger.

First of all, we congratulate you for the favor of Islam that Allaah The Almighty has bestowed on you, and we ask Him to increase your faith, certitude and keenness on doing good. We advise you to seek, as much as you could, to do what helps you keep firm and avoid temptations, such as marriage. You should seek the aid of some of your righteous sisters, or your Muslim brothers who are in charge of Islamic organizations and Da‘wah centers to search for a righteous man to marry you, in order to help you in the matter of your religion.

As for maintaining kinship ties with your parents and relatives, through visits and all permissible ways that maintain kinship ties, this is permissible for you. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Allaah does not Forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allaah loves those who act justly.}[Quran 60:8]

Furthermore, Al-Bukhaari http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/Archive/images/icon--6.gif entitled in his Saheeh a chapter: “Maintaining kinship ties with the polytheistic parents”, under which he included the Hadeeth on the authority of Asmaa’ http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/Archive/images/icon-5.gif in which she said: "During the period of the treaty made by the Messenger of Allaah http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/Archive/images/icon--1.gif(with the disbelievers), my mother came to me desirous (of a gift from me), thereupon I asked the Messenger of Allaah http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/Archive/images/icon--1.gif: "Should I maintain kinship ties with her?" He http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/Archive/images/icon--1.gif said, “Yes.”

However, if you fear to be harmed in your religion from visiting them, then, it is impermissible for you to visit them, for the benefit of guarding your religion should be given priority over any other benefit. But, at the same time, you may maintain kinship ties with them through other means such as phone calls, sending gifts to them, etc.

On the other hand, it is impermissible for a Muslim to join the disbelievers in their festivities, as shown in Fatwa 89840. We have also previously clarified the ruling of prayer in a house having crosses and statues in Fatwa 88699 so refer to it.

As regards calling your parents or anyone of your relatives to Islam, this is among the greatest forms of kindness that you do to them. So, you may seek the aid of some audio and written material produced by Da‘wah centers; and you could also benefit from our website where we advise you to read Fataawa 124327 86091 88906 and 85234.

Allaah Knows best.

islamweb.net

Year after my Conversion to Islam



I had a problem with christmas celebration only in my first stages of conversion to Islam, which lasted about 6 months.
During that time I was seriously considering Islam, reading the Qur´an and Islamic literature, studying Muslims´ way of live. However, I was still not a Muslim. Before I completely converted to Islam, I still thought that I desperately needed to celebrate christmas for the sake of my family, as for me it was a family party, not a christian religious festival.
Christmas had a deep meaning to me mainly because I associated it with cosy family gatherings, eating delicious meals and exchanging presents. This was 2 years ago.
However, after I converted to Islam and started reading and learning more about my deen, I understood as well as I felt that I don’t need christmas at all and christmas gradually lost its charm and meaning to me.
Like anything else invented by humans and not by divine decree, non-Muslim festivals can lose its meaning very easily once the person gets disillusioned.
Islam is so beautiful because it works on the heart as well on the mind to transform the believer into a new being. As my knowledge and understanding for Islam grew, my distance from my old religion and old lifestyle grew too.
When the love to Islam increases, one automatically drops various non-Islamic stuff, including christmas and new year and any other non-Muslim festivals In addition, over time,
I started developing a Muslim identity which made me realize that we Muslims have our own way, our own religion and our own festivals too. We Muslims are blessed to be granted a comprehensive religious system that gives us an explanation and guidance to every aspect of this as well as the next life.
Which sensible and grateful person would need to exchange or add anything useless and rebellious to the perfect system of Islam?!
We have our own two Eids, why do we need anything more?!
Moreover, we Muslims would not dare celebrate any non-Muslim festivals or try to be like the non-Muslims in any respect, if we realize the serious consequences of imitating the non-Muslims.
We all have heard the hadiths that he who imitates a people will be from among them on the Day of Judgement (Abu Daawood) and that the one who imitates people other than the Muslims is not from the Muslims and that we are warned not to imitate the Jews or the christians (Tirmithi). So, how could I have kept on celebrating non-Muslim festivals after hearing this severe warning?
I don’t have many problems even with my non-Muslim family concerning the celebration of christmas or any other non-Muslim festivals as they already understood I don’t celebrate with them.
This year they did not even greet me for christmas! So, everything is possible with the help of Allah swt, alhamdulillah, when a person has a sincere intention and a determination to be on the right path.
European Muslim Sister
Sister Mariam
Dear reader InshaAllah this story will help those of you with non Muslim families to realize that nothing is impossible to do. many converts have refused to take part in Christmas. Just like you love your parents Sister Mariam also loves her parents. Just like you do not like to disapoint or hurt your parenst feelings, Sister Mariam also does not like to disappoint or hurt her parents feelings. She is mashaallah a very intelligent Sisters. She studied at an elite University in her country. She was secound or first best student in her class at university. When she began to wear Hijab fellow Muslims from a devinat group became angry at her and tried to convince her that she should not wear hijab. However, she wanted to please Allah and not give in to pressure form human no be tricked by humans. So she kept wearing hijab and now even wears Niqab.
Many emails have been sent to Muslimconverts.com about the issue of Christmas and non Muslim Families. So I devloped a whole section delaing with Christmas and other non Islamic events. In addition to this I asked the sister if she could write and article for this site on her experiance of dealing with family during the Christmas perion and Alhamdulillah the sister wrote a wonderful article and JazakaAllah khair to her.
From a psycoligical angle. The only way a Muslim will succeed in achieveing his or her goals is to put obedinace to Allah and His messenger peace be upo him first. To be stubborn on it and show no kinds of weakness.
AbuUbaida
Admin

first.
From my own experiances I found inorder to live as a Muslim we must take a very firm stance when it adhereing comes to Islam.

The sister has shown firmness in practicing her Islam.
When a persons Iman grows the wrong things become detestible. MashaAllah the sister wears Niqab and has
A personswith heart dislikes that which is disliked by her Lord, A Muslim shoudl be brave for Allah and submit themeslves fully to the will of Allah. Do what Allah tells them to do and stay away form what Allah dislikes. A persons Iman gets stronger when they get more knowledge of Islam and when they are willing to fully submit themslves to their Lord.
also becomes brave and submits her self fully to Allah






Allah
muslimconverts.com

Christmas, To Celebrate or not to Celebrate…

Asalam eleikom dear scholars. I'm a Muslim convert for about 7 months now. I live near my Christian family in a non-Muslim society. Since my conversion, I try to keep myself and my children away as much as I can from the un-Islamic way of life in my society. However, I, as well as my children, used to celebrate Christmas with my family, which is a very special occasion for them. This year, I'm afraid of the un-Islamic effects that we may suffer if we celebrated Christmas with my family this year. Of course I don't intend to celebrate this holiday because of Jesus, but maybe just as a folk tradition. At the same time I don't want to isolate my children from my family completely.
Any ideas to help?


Salam brother Omar and welcome to Islam.Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.There are many factors to consider in your situation so you could enjoy peace of mind and relax into your new faith.Like anything new we learn, we need a period of time where we focus and do things slowly, one thing at a time until it becomes a second nature. Islam is actually ourfirst nature, so it doesn’t take much effort for us to get back in touch with our basic self, and as always, practice makes perfect.So, while I understand completely why you try to keep yourself and your children away from influences while you adjust, this should only be for a period of time, like a limited incubation period until you’re strong enough to get back in circulation, after you get used to your new lifestyle. You can’t live in a protected cocoon, shielding yourself and your family from your surroundings forever, nor are you expected to do that because you embraced Islam, you are actually supposed to test your faith while interacting with your society as a Muslim. This is not as tough as it seems at the beginning.


Remember that the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions never isolated themselves from their societies or their families who were not Muslim; to the contrary, they positively contributed to the community following the teachings of Islam. Lead by the Prophet, they visited the sick, helped the needy, supported the elderly, traded and exchanged with other cultures, taught and learnt from everyone, traveled and hosted others, and were generally proactive, tolerant, good citizens of the world, because they were Muslims.


This attitude definitely applies to your close relations with your family and friends. Unless they’re doing extreme things that affect your religious beliefs or threaten your wellbeing, there is no need to cut your ties with them at all. In fact, Islam teaches maintaining family ties, respecting parents and relatives, and being a good son and relative to them as you’ve always been. You’ll even be better at it as a Muslim because you’ll be applying a very refined system of human relations guided by the best-mannered man who ever lived: Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).


Also remember that Muslims believe and love Jesus son of Mary, and respect him and his noble virgin mother even more than some of those who claim to follow him. True we don’t celebrate Christmas as a religious occasion, but we honor the great man and his noble mother, and a lot of non-Muslims don’t know this fact. So this might be a good starting point to get back into the family, through the shared love you all have for the same prophet of God, rather than the commercialized entertainment it has become. Your new knowledge could bring great insights into your family and spark enjoyable, mutually enlightening discussions throughout the holidays.Since this is the first big family occasion after you embraced Islam, and it seems to be a very important family tradition too, everyone would be anxious to find out whether or not you have “changed” after embracing Islam. Give them a pleasant surprise by being the same loving son; show that you respect their beliefs because you are a Muslim. They need the reassurance that Islam commands you to honor your parents and love your family regardless of their beliefs, and that this is a way to get rewards with God.

Visiting and gift giving is in fact a Sunnah of the Prophet. He said that it creates a love bond in people’s hearts, so follow his Sunnah and exchange gifts with your family and friends, and take it as an opportunity –if possible- to explain to them the reasons in a kind and gentle way. Also, consider for the next Islamic occasion to invite them into your house to share the celebration and have a good meal and warm discussion together. If you start by being a good guest, your kindness is likely to be reciprocated.Your children also need the reassurance that they haven’t lost contact with society because you have become Muslim. This can cause a negative effect for them. Instead, teach them that a Muslim who deals with people kindly and discusses with them with wisdom and friendliness, without compromising his beliefs and religious practices, is in fact honoring the Prophet and obeying Allah.

This brings us to where you draw the line during the festivities. In general, you need to make sure that you don’t participate in any religious rituals that contradict Islam or any activities that compromise your limits; you need to make sure you eat and drink halal, obviously no alcohol or pork, so it might be possible to ask the family to eliminate those items from the menu during your visit.

You should also mind your conduct and reflect a respectable attitude, for example: no intimate dancing, no hugging or kissing with female relatives other than your wife, mother, daughters, grandmother, mother-in-law, aunts, nieces and sisters. Otherwise relax and enjoy the warmth and love of your family, and remember Islam didn’t take
that away from you, nor did it take you away from them, so nurture the love and celebrate your tolerant, generous faith with them.

May Allah always support you and guide you to what’s best.

Avoiding doing the same things that they do.

Some Muslims may not be able to be present at the festivals of the kuffaar, but they do the same things as they do. This is also a part of the imitation which blameworthy and forbidden. Shaykh al-Islam said: “It is not permissible for the Muslims to imitate them in any part of the things that are exclusively part of their festivals, whether it be food, dress, bathing, lighting fires or changing their habits with regard to daily living, acts of worship, etc. It is not permissible to give a feast or give gifts or sell items that will help them to do that for that purpose, or to allow children and others to do any of that, whether it is playing, wearing new clothes etc. in conclusion, they should not make that day special by adopting any of their rituals; for the Muslims, the day of the kaafirs’ festival should be like any other day.” Majmoo’ al-Fataawaa, 52/923).

Al-Dhahabi said: “If the Christians or the Jews have a festival that is exclusively theirs, the Muslims should not join them in that, just as they do not join them in their laws or their direction of prayer.” (tashabbuh al-Khasess bi Ahl al-Khmaees, in al-Hikmah magazine, issue $, p. 391). Ibn al-Turkmaani al-Hanafi mentioned some of the things that some Muslims did on the occasion of Christian festivals, such as spending more than usual and taking the family out, then he said: “Some of the Hanafi scholars said: whoever does any of the things mentioned here and does not repent, is a kaafir like them.” One of the companions of Maalik said: “Whoever cuts up a watermelon on the day of Nawrooz, it is as if he sacrificed a pig.” (al-Lam’ fi’l-Hawaadith wa’l-Bida’, 1/492)

Avoiding using the means of transportation that they use to go to their festivals

Maalik said: “It is makrooh to travel with them in the boats which they use to go to their festivals, because the Divine wrath and curse is descending upon them.” (al-Hawaadith wa’l-Bida’, 1/492).

Ibn al-Qaasim was asked about traveling in the boats which the Christians ride in to attend their festivals. He regarded that as makrooh, fearing the descent of Divine wrath upon them for the shirk which they agreed upon. (al-Iqtidaa’, 2/625).

Not giving them gifts or helping them to celebrate their festivals by either selling or buying.

Abu Hafs al-Hanafi said: “Whoever gives an egg to a kaafir out of respect for that day has disbelieved in Allaah, may He be exalted.” (Fath al-Baari li Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqallaani, 2/315).

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: “Ibn al-Qaasim regarded it as makrooh for a Muslim to give a Christian anything on the occasion of his festival to congratulate him. He saw that as respecting their festival and helping them in their kufr. Do you not see that it is not permissible for the Muslims to sell anything to the Christians that helps them to celebrate their festival? No meat, no food, no dress. They should not loan their riding-beasts to them or help them in any way with their festival, because that is like honouring their shirk and helping them with their kufr. The authorities should prevent Muslims from doing this. This is the view of Maalik and others, and I do not know of any dissenting opinion on this point.” (2/625-725)

Ibn al-Turkmaani said: “The Muslim is sinning if he sits with them or helps them to slaughter animals or cook food, or he lends them a riding-beast to take them to their celebrations or festivals.” (al-Lama’ fi’l-Hawaadith, 1/492)

Not helping the Muslim who wants to imitate them in their festivals to do so

Shaykh al-Islam said: “Just as we should not imitate them in their festivals, so too we should not help the Muslim who wants to imitate them to do so. It is forbidden to so this. If a person issues an invitation on the occasion of their festivals that he would not ordinarily do, his invitation should not be accepted. If a Muslim gives a gift on this occasion that he would not ordinarily give at any other time, his gift should not be accepted, especially if it is something that would help a person to imitate them, as we have already stated. A Muslim should not sell anything that could help Muslims to imitate them in their celebrations, such as food, clothing and so on, because be doing so he is helping them in sin. (al-Iqtidaa’, 2/915-025).

Not congratulating them on the occasion of their festivals
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “As for congratulating them for the symbols of kufr that belong exclusively to them, this is haraam according to scholarly consensus, such as congratulating them for their festivals and fasts, and saying, ‘A blessed festival to you’ and the like. Even though the person who says this might not become a kaafir by saying this, it is still forbidden, and it is the same as congratulating them for prostrating to the cross. Indeed, it is an even greater sin with Allaah and is more hated by Him than congratulating them for drinking wine, killing people and committing adultery, and so on. Many of those who do not care about religion do this, and do not realize how abhorrent their actions are. Whoever congratulates a person for his sin, bid’ah (innovation) or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allaah. The pious scholars used to avoid congratulating the tyrants when they were appointed to official positions, or congratulating the ignorant when they were appointed as Qaadis, teachers or Muftis, because they sought to avoid the wrath and anger of Allaah .” (Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/144-244).

Congratulating the kuffaar on the occasion of their religious festivals is haraam as Ibn al-Qayyim stated, because this implies approval of their rituals and beliefs of kufr. Even if a person does not accept this kufr for himself, it is still haraam for a Muslim to approve of the rituals of kufr for someone else or to congratulate someone else for them, because Allaah does not approve of this. Allaah 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 Islam as your religion” [al-Maa’idah 5:3]

Congratulating them for that is haraam, whether they are taking part with them in that or not. If they congratulate us on the occasion of their festival, we should not respond, because it is not our festival and because these are festivals with which Allaah is not pleased, because they are either innovated in their religions, or they are prescribed, but they (their religions) have been abrogated by the religion of islam, with which Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to all of mankind. And Allaah says concerning islam (interpretation of the meaning):

“And whoever seeks a religion other than Islâm, 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 an invitation on these occasions, because this is worse than merely congratulating them, since it involves joining in with them. Anyone who does any of these things is a sinner whether he does it just to be friendly, or because he likes them, or because he is too shy to do otherwise, or for any other reason, because it is a kind of hypocrisy in the religion of Allaah and is a way of making the kuffaar feel stronger and making tem proud of their religion. (Majmoo’ Fataawaa wa rasaa’il Fadeelat al-Shaykh Muhammad al-‘Uthaymeen, compiled by Fahd al-Salmaan, 3/45-46)

Question: What if a Muslim wants to celebrate like they do, but he does it a few days before or after their festival so that he is not imitating them?

This is a kind of imitation and to is haraam, because the prohibition of a thing , and the prohibition of celebrating their festivals also covers the days before and after the festival itself, when they do things that have to do with it. The prohibition also covers the places in which they do things that have to do with their festivals or … . The ruling on these things is the same as the ruling on the festival itself. These things should not be done, even if some people avoid doing any of these things on the days of their festival such as the Thursday (what is referred to here is Maundy Thursday or the Day of Ascension, which is one of the rituals of Easter for the Christians, who call it the Great Thursday) or Christmas, but they tell their families, I will do this for you next week or next month, and their motive is the fact that the kaafirs’ festival is happening, otherwise they would not have done it at all. This is also one of the things meant by imitation. (See: al-Iqtidaa’, 2/315).

Avoiding using their words and religious terminology
If it is forbidden to learn their languages unnecessarily for fear of resembling them, then using the names they give to their festivals and rituals is even more forbidden. This is like using the word “mahrajaan” (festival) to describe any large gathering, because this is the name of a religious festival of the Persians.

Al-Bayhaqi narrated that ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) was given a gift for Nawrooz and he said, What is this?” They said, “O Ameer al-Mu’mineen, this is the day of Nawrooz.” He said, “Then make every day Fayrooz!” Abu Usaamah said: “He, may Allaah be pleased with him, did not even want to say ‘Nawrooz.’” (Reported by al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubraa, 9/532).

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: “ ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) did not even want to say the same name as they gave to their own festival, so how abut doing the same things?” (See: al-Iqtidaa’, 1/954).

We have already stated that this is not an Arabic term; the Arabic language is rich enough not to need such words, and has better words that can be used.

The ruling on accepting gifts on their festivals:

We have already stated above that it is not permissive to give gifts on their festivals because this is helping them in their falsehood. It is also not permissible to accept a gift from a Muslim who is imitating them, because by accepting it one is helping him to imitate them and this implies that one approves of what he is doing and that one is not rebuking him for doing this haraam action.

With regard to accepting a gift from a kaafir if he gives something to a Muslim at the time of the kaafir’s festival, this is like being given a gift at other times, because it does not involve helping them in their kufr. There is some difference of opinion with regard to this matter, based on whether one should accept a gift from a kaafir who is at war with the Muslims as opposed to a kaafir who is living under the protection of Islamic rule.

It should also be noted that their gifts may be of two types:

1. Gifts other than meat that has been slaughtered for the occasion of their festival – such as sweets, fruits and so on. There is a difference of opinion based on the question of accepting gifts from the kaafirs in general. It seems that it is permissible because it was reported that ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) accepted their gifts, and it was reported that a woman asked ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), “We have some birds [?][ from the Magians which they had during their festival and they gave them to us.” She said, “If they were slaughtered for that occasion, do not eat them, but eat from their trees [i.e. fruits etc.].” (Reported by Ibn Abi Shaybah in Kitaab al-At’imah in his Musannaf, 5/521, no. 16342. In al-Iqtidaa’ it says ‘We have some wet-nurses.’ The editor of al-Iqtidaa’ said: perhaps what is meant by this is relatives through radaa’ah (breastfeeding)).

Abu Barzah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said that he had Magian tenants [?] who used to give him gifts on Nawrooz and mahrajaan, and he used to tell his family: ‘If it is, eat it, but if it is anything else, reject it.’ (ibid., no. 26346).

Shaykh al-Islam said: “All of this indicates that refusing to accept their gifts has no effect on their festival. The ruling on accepting their gifts at the time of their festival and at other times is the same, because this does not entail helping them in the rituals of their kufr.” (al-Iqtidaa’, 2/455-555).

2. Or their gift may be of meat that was slaughtered for the occasion of their festival. This should not be eaten, because of the reports of ‘Aaishah and Abu Barzah narrated above, and because it has been slaughtered according to the rituals of kufr.

Singling out the festivals of the kuffaar for fasting so as to be different from them

The scholars differed with regard to this:

It was said that it is not makrooh to fast on their festivals for the purpose of being different from them. This view is da’eef (weak).

The correct view is that it is not permissible to single out the days of their festivals for fasting, because their festivals are occasions which they venerate, and fasting on these days and not others coincides with them in their veneration.

Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Our companions said: it is makrooh to single out the day of Nawrooz and the day of Mahrajaan to fast, because these are two days which are venerated by the kuffaarm so fasting only on these days and not on others is agreeing with them in their veneration of those days. This is like the case of Saturday, so by analogy this ruling applies to every festival of the kuffaar and every day which they venerate.” (al-Mughni, 4/924; see also al-Iqtidaa’, 2/975).

This ruling applies in cases where one singles out that day to fast because it is their festival. But if it happens to coincide with a vow or a voluntary fast, without intending to fast because it is their festival, then there is nothing wrong with that.” (See Haashiyat Ibn Qaasim ‘ala al-Rawd al-Murabba’, 3/064). The guideline in being different from them with regard to their festivals is that one should not innovate anything at all; one should treat the days of their festivals as being like any other day. (See al-Iqtidaa’, 2/815). So one should not take the day off work, or rejoice on that occasion, of single that day out for fasting, expressing grief, etc.

Shaykh al-Islam mentioned something which may be taken as guidelines with regard to the matter of imitation. He said: “tashabbuh (imitation) includes those who do something because they do it, which is rare; and those who follow others in what they do for some purpose of his own even though the action is originally taken from those others. As for the one who does something that happens to be done by others as well, but neither of them took it from the other, it is open to debate as to whether this is is imitation or not. But the person who does this may be rebuked so that there will be no excuse for imitation, and because this will reinforce the idea of differing from them.” (al-Iqtidaa’, 1/242).

On the basis of what Shaykh al-Islam has said, actions that happen to coincide with what they do may be divided into two types:

Imitation of them, which is where the person who imitates them wants to be like them ,for whatever reason. This is haraam.

Resembling them, which is when a person is not deliberately aiming to be like them. In this case it should be pointed out to him, then if he stops, all well and good; otherwise he is guilty of the kind of imitation that is haraam. ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas (may Allaah be pleased with them both) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) saw me wearing two garments that had been dyed with safflower. He said, ‘This is the clothing of the kuffaar, do not wear them.’” According to another rport: “He said, ‘Did you mother tell you to wear this?’ I said, ‘Should I wash them?’ He said, ‘No, burn them.’” (The two reports were narrated by Muslim in al-Libaas wa’l-Zeenah, 2077)

Al-Qurtubi said: “This indicates that the reason he told him not to wear them was that by wearing them he was imitating the kuffaar.” (book title?? 5/399).

It seems from the hadeeth that ‘Abd-Allaah (may Allaah be pleased with him) did not realize that he was imitating the dress of the kuffaar, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) still told him off for that and explained the ruling of sharee’ah on this matter.

If something originated with the kuffaar, And it is done by them and by others, then this is not imitation, but Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah thought that it should be stopped so as to leave no room for excuses and so as to protect the Muslims from falling into imitation of the kuffaar, and because this serves the purpose of differing from them.

The munaafiqoon and the festivals of the kuffaar

1. The socialist Baath party in one of the Arab countries tried to abolish Udhiyah (sacrifices for ‘Eid al-Adhaa) on the grounds of famine and drought. Their supporters put up a huge banner on which was written: “For the sake of the hungry and the poor and the naked, donate the value of the sheep for udhiyah.” (See al-Istijaabah magazine, vol. 4, Rabee’ al-Thaani 1406 AH).

Eid al-Adhaa came and went, and the Muslims in that country offered their sacrifices. Then when Christmas and New Year approached, preparations began to celebrate them. When Christmas and New year came, they were official holidays in that country, and there were lavish parties and promiscuous soirees. Foremost among the people celebrating were the leaders of the socialist Baath party whose joy at the Christian festivals made them forget the needs of the poor, hungry and naked, whose plight they only remembered at the time of the Muslims’ Eids!

2. One of them wrote in his weekly column, under the title of “Tolerance” (see ‘Ukaaz newspaper, 28/8/1418, 5/9/1418, 12/9/1418 AH) words that indicate the sickness in his heart and the weakness of his religion. The tolerance to which he referred was with regard to the Christian festivals of Christmas and New year. Among the things that this pseudo-faqeeh said was: “This human brotherhood includes all of mankind, and there is no division and enmity except when there is fighting and when the Muslims are opposed by another group – then there will be fighting, enmity and legitimate self-defense, despite the fact that some extremists and terrorist groups are trying to extinguish this light by spreading interpretations and ideas which encourage hatred and boycotting the world. So they make noise of occasions which are celebrated by the entire world and consider congratulating others to be a deviation from Islam. But in fact, I tell you, these occasions spread love, not hatred, and bring people together, not divide them.” The author went on, in his compliant and defeatist series on tolerance, which went on for three issues, to cover the Christians festivals for which his heart overflowed with love. In his second article, he said: “Its origin is kindness, i.e., tolerance and justice. As for enmity, it is directed towards those who have declared hostility against us. The matter of difference of religion is something which will be up to the justice and mercy of Allaah on the Day of Judgment.
(courtesy of Islam-qa.com)