Rul­ing on Cel­e­brat­ing Christ­mas and Con­grat­u­lat­ing Them

Since the pagan fes­ti­val of Christ­mas, cel­e­brat­ed by the Trini­tar­i­an poly­the­ists, is fast approach­ing on the 25th of Decem­ber, we would like on this occa­sion present a fat­wa (Islam­ic rul­ing) for the Mus­lims with regard to cel­e­brat­ing their fes­ti­val or even con­grat­u­lat­ing them. 

It should be not­ed that the Chris­tians believe that Jesus^(P) is lit­er­al­ly God, hence to par­tic­i­pate or even greet them on the occa­sion of this fes­ti­val is to implic­it­ly agree with their doc­trine. There­fore Mus­lims should be aware of the bound­aries with regard to Christ­mas and how one should approach it.

Ques­tion :

Syaikh Muham­mad bin Shal­ih al-Uthaymeen rahimahul­lah was asked :

What is the rul­ing regard­ing wish­ing ​“Mer­ry Christ­mas” to them [the Chris­tians]? What about giv­ing them an answer when they wish us with the same ? Is it per­mis­si­ble to go to the places of fes­tive occa­sions or par­ties which cel­e­brate this occa­sion ? Is some­one con­sid­ered to have sinned when he does some­thing relat­ed to the above with­out intend­ing to do so [his real rea­son] yet he did it only to show respect to his friends, or out of shame, or oth­er rea­sons ? Is it pos­si­ble to do so in these circumstances ?

Answer :

Praise be to God.

To wish the non-Mus­lims with Mer­ry Christ­mas or any of their reli­gious fes­ti­vals is haraam (for­bid­den), by con­sen­sus of the ula­ma (ijma’), as Ibn al-Qayy­im, may God have mer­cy on him, said :

“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 God.“Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah

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 accept the rit­u­als of kufr or con­grat­u­late any­one else for them, because God does not accept any of that at all, as He says (inter­pre­ta­tion of the meaning):

“If you dis­be­lieve, then ver­i­ly, God 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…“Qur’an, 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…“Qur’an, 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 God. These fes­ti­vals are inno­va­tions in their reli­gions, and even those which may have been pre­scribed for­mer­ly have been abro­gat­ed by the reli­gion of Islam, with which God sent Muham­mad (P) to the whole of mankind.

God says (inter­pre­ta­tion of the meaning):

“Who­ev­er seeks a reli­gion oth­er than Islam, it will nev­er be accept­ed of him, and in the Here­after he will be one of the losers.“Qur’an, 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^(P) said :

“Who­ev­er imi­tates a peo­ple is one of them.” 

Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah said :

“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.“Ibn Taymiyyah, Iqti­daa’ al-sir­aat al-mus­taqeem mukhaal­i­fat ashaab al-jaheem

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 Islam, and because it makes the kuf­faar feel proud of their religion.

God 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. 

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