Holiday Season An Islamic Perspective
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Channel: Kamal El-Mekki
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AI Generated Summary ©
The Center for Islamic University is presenting a lecture on the "star of Islam" and the importance of learning from the "sted." The importance of personalizing experiences with the culture, avoiding activities that cause feelings of evil, and the history of Thanksgiving celebrations is highlighted. The holy month is recognized as the holy seasonality of human events, and its significance in various cultural and political circles is discussed.AI Generated Transcript ©
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. This lecture is presented to you by the Center for Islamic information and education. We strive to provide authentic Islamic audio lectures, promoting teachings from the hall and the sooner we pray you benefit from this lecture, and that it be a means of betterment for you. For more information, or to acquire other lectures, please visit www.cie.org
sulamani comes to look
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levena muted Well, a muted, while I'm Yoku for an ad,
oh, praise is to Allah, the eternal the absolute, the one who began to not know receive Regatta, and masala and Salam be upon His messenger Muhammad, the one that was sent as a mercy to mankind, the opener of eyes that were spiritually blind, who through patience and wisdom enlightened the mind, the one who if he advances leaves the best of humanity, far behind.
The issue we want to discuss today is the holiday season.
And the matter is that here, there is a call by some Muslims to celebrate and to congratulate the kuffar on the celebrations on on Thanksgiving and Christmas and so on.
Of course, we're not shocked at this, we're not shocked. And this does not come as a surprise to us. Why is that? Because it is natural for those who are weak and impoverished, to want to emulate those who are strong and have the upper hand. So let's take examples of when Islam had the upper hand. And when the kuffaar had the upper hand,
when the Muslims conquered Spain,
the young Spanish men, young Spanish boys, dressed like Muslims, and they acted like Muslims, they behaved like Muslims, even though they were Christian.
Because we nations always want to emulate the stronger nations. And compare that to now where the far have the upper hand, and the Muslims are weak. You find sometimes in the land of the Muslims, where people don't speak English, you find people who don't speak English, but they have taken the cultures and the dresses and the acts and the mannerisms of those that are American or those that are stronger than them. And they forsake their own cultures. And even we see the music of different lenses changing to become more like the American music and so on. And their manners change, even though they know that perhaps if you ask them, they know that their their their cultures, and their
mannerisms are better, but they're overwhelmed by what they see.
And just here as a note, does anyone know who what is the number one export from the United States?
popular culture, pop culture, music, videos, and films more than anything else? Can you believe that. So it is not a surprise why people everywhere else wants all to act and become like the Americans, or the west in general. We find also that earlier on in the days of the exam, the strength of Islam, they force the Persians and the Romans to show that they were learned and educated, they would have their children study Arabic.
And we see this now, in non English speaking countries, the Muslims will take their children and have them study English, from youth to show that, you know, they're educated and they're an upper class.
And they were put their children in English speaking schools, and the child grows up an Arab or other culture, a Muslim, and barely being able to read and write Arabic, just to show that they're educated.
And sometimes you'll see a very distant, small and dilapidated town in the middle of a desert, and so on or small town, and there'll be a building and the names and there's B, there'll be the title of the building. And sometimes you'll find the title written in English, and perhaps will be not a human being who knows English, or hardly any foreigner that will go visit them. But why is this or you go to a country see Department of Commerce in maybe less than 1% of the population speaks English, but the title is in English. Why? Because it's considered the dominant language. And remember that we're not here objecting to this as much as we are comparing. So let's compare one of
our shifts, went to visit China, and he visited a small village there, it was in a village there. And while he was there, he saw this old building, and this building, had the title of it written in Mandarin, and next to it in Arabic. So he asked, and it's
This building was built a very long time ago, when the Muslims had the upper hand and the Muslims were in power. And the Chinese, they felt that it would not be complete, unless they wrote it in Arabic, just like now if you have a building, and you have it written in Urdu, this is, you know, this kind of sharper or an Arabic, you won't feel right until you put the name of it in English. And this is how the Chinese felt. And this is, this is the nature of how things work. Those who have the upper hand will always control and be emulated by those who are weakened and impoverished.
So we learned this from history. And that's why it's not a shock to us, that some Muslims want to celebrate the idea of the Godfather and so on. And it's not a shock to us, because we are we can we expect to find Muslims wanting to emulate the kuffar in all aspects of life and also to join with them in their celebrations. And the other reason that this is no surprise to us is that we were already forewarned of this by the prophet sallallahu sallam. When he said, later, Tirana, cinnamon can kubla Khan ship Ron Bishop with Iran visa process hilum says, You will tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch,
whether on be enhanced pan by hand spent so much so that if they entered into the hole of the lizard, that you will follow them into it.
So the process of them said we're going to follow those who are before us the companions in one of the integration said
the earlier when nesara the Jews and the Christians, Bala famine, he said Who else the Jews and the Christians. So we'll follow them inch by inch hand span by hand span. Even if they enter into the hole of a lizard and the lizard is a lowly animal. It's kind of the lowest example possible. If they go into the lizards Hall, we're going to follow them into the lizards hope.
So it was expected that Muslims would want to emulate the kuffaar. Because naturally, you are faced with four options when you live amongst people who are different from you, and you're the minority. And they're the majority, you're faced with four different options. One would be to remain steadfast upon your religion, or ask Allah to make use of those.
The second would be to abandon your religion and to assimilate, to adopt their cultures and and their ways and so on. The third would be to make a blend of both. You want to be Muslim, but also celebrate Thanksgiving and do other things. Right. And in a sense, this also alleviates the pressure of being different. Because when you're similar in some aspects you do not stand out and it takes away from some of the pressure of being different. And the fourth is to abandon both. And sometimes we see these people will neither take their own culture nor they they do they take the the dominant culture in which they're living.
So we ask a lot to make us steadfast upon our religion.
Anyone wants to guess as what the fifth option could be a fifth option.
hijra, right? Even though now people are calling hijra defeated mentality. So you know it's defeated mentality. So I wonder what those people thought of the province of Salem when he went to Medina.
So now we have established that it is expected to have Muslims who want to celebrate and imitate as the Kufa do.
And we have people I was once asked by someone he said, Can we before eating like make a kind of DHA and thank Allah for this food and so on.
Generally, there is something that's Islamic right there, it's accepted. But this person wants to make the I just like the Christians do. Before eating, they make some thank you for this meal and how much he's affected by them. And yet another student used to wear a cross around his neck. He was supposed to be a Muslim, and I've seen he wears a cross around his neck.
So these are things that are expecting the two things that happen. The issue is that we are in disagreement with those who call to celebrating Thanksgiving, and those who think that it is okay to congratulate the father on Christmas. And since we're in disagreement, we would like to follow the guidance of the Koran in matters of disagreement. Because the law says and sorting this out for international fish a in for do hola la hora soon in contento Mini.
If you should quarrel on anything refer it to Allah and the messenger if you believe in Allah, and the last day
and likewise Allah Subhana Allah says, One musta left to see him and che in for hokhmah who is Allah and whatever you are at variance on the judgment thereof belongs to Allah
And again, Mr. Krantz, Alice's follower of Nikolai moon Hata Haku Kofi Masha jobina, whom Tamara doofy unforeseen Harada mockolate we suddenly move to sliema.
But no by your Lord Allah swearing by himself, they will not believe until they make you judge in their affairs. And after you judge the they don't find any ill feeling or any aversion or any objections within their heart.
And we're sure of course, that no one is going to object to the Quran and the Sunnah as an adjudicator in this issue.
One of the things that stands out greatly in examining the swinging of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam is the call to be different and not to emulate the non Muslims or the Father. And in particular, there are four groups that are Muslim should not imitate nor want to resemble. And the first would be the father,
and the second to shave one, and the third the people of the Hellfire, and the fourth, which will be animals, one should not emulate animals or imitate or resemble animals.
And as for the people of the Hellfire, we find that some scholars say for example, that is Makau to wear bracelets, and necklaces for men. Because we know that the people of the Hellfire are going to be chained, they're going to be chained by their ankles to the floor, so they don't roll around, their hands are going to be chained to their neck. Because typically when on fire or something is thrown into the face, the first thing you do is try to protect your face to cover it with your hands. So let's get to it. We'll chain their their wrists to their neck. So these are their descriptions. And this is something that's very hated to us. All our efforts are to avoid this. So
would we want them to resemble these people? Of course not. Then they shaitan and it's obvious no one wants to resemble the shaitaan.
And the prophet SAW Selim did not want us to resemble them either. Even in regular non worship related aspects. The problem Selim said, Let not one of you eat with his left hand nor drink with it for the shaytaan each with his left hand and drinks with it in this hadith is in Muslim, so we don't want to resemble the shaitaan we do not want to resemble the people of the hellfire. And likewise, we did not want to resemble the code far
as for the code for the first thing is why would you want to follow a people whom you know, and you're sure that there will be in the Hellfire?
Because collectively, we know and we are sure that they're all going to end up in the Hellfire as a group. We cannot individually say this person is going to the Hellfire this person. We can't do that. But collectively, we know their end. So why would we ever want to to be like them?
All are striving and all our efforts in this world are to avoid the Hellfire and to enter Paradise. So why would we ever want to be like people who were sure they're going to end in the hellfire. And in the light? of this view, we can understand the Hadith of the prophets of Allah who is lm, Manisha Baba Komen for a woman, whoever resembles the people he is from amongst them.
The second is that their deeds are based on the law or the law on misguidance. They're not they don't have guidance, had they had guidance, there wouldn't be too far. It would be believers. So they're these are primarily based on on misguidance. They have no guidance in their affairs and nor are their deeds accepted. Allah subhanaw taala his vocal denial Amma amin, amin for Jana Hubba amantha. Allah says and we shall turn to whatever deeds, they meaning the disbelievers and the polytheists and we should again the sinners did and we shall make such deeds as scattered particles of dust just scattered like dust. So these are their deeds.
Also, we see that in following them following them clashes with following the way of the Muslims, because either you follow the way of the Muslims or you follow the ways of the coupon.
So Allah Subhana Allah says, woman you Shaka Rasool mean bardi matavai and Allah alhuda were tibbett availa severe mini Newman de mattala. Honestly, Johanna was at masirah. Allah Subhana Allah says, And whosoever contradicts and opposes the messenger, after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows and this is the part we want to focus and follows other than the believers way, he follows away other than that of the believers, we shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in hell, and what an evil destination. So following the way we look for clashes or contradicts with following the path and the ways of the messenger, Salah Salem, and the believers, and there are
also many other ayat
In this regard, and I think I'll just suffice with this one.
So, following the ways of the kofod also, even though
it may be initially as a result of admiration, in itself, it leads to further admiration, and comfort. And it breeds acceptance, acceptance of their ways, and acceptance of their beliefs. This explains, you know, the idea of acceptance, it explains why some Muslims congratulate the kuffaar on Christmas, even though it's something horrific in Islam, but it has become normal to them, they're accepting it now, whether it may be through constant exposure to it or other reasons.
So, and then the point here may be we said the Hadith or whoever resembles the people who is from amongst them. So following the ways and resembling them leads to their acceptance. And it leads to a kind of comfort between them, those who follow them and the coupon. And for those who have are having a hard time understanding this concept, you find that, let's say a Caucasian man goes to deepest, darkest Africa, okay, and everyone there is black, every time he turns to the right to the left, he sees a black person, then in the midst of these white people sees one white person, it's going to feel comfortable, it's gonna, he's going to want to go to him. Okay, what brings you here,
who are you with, they'll become friends immediately. Or On the flip side, if a black man goes to, let's say, the farthest northern parts of Europe, and all he sees there are white people that suddenly sees a black man. So he's going to feel comfortable immediately. Or even if, if you see someone in a turban or dress similar, or beard, you're going to feel comfortable. So a part of resembling each other leads to a comfort that comes naturally. And if you don't even have to go that far, you can just simply look at the animal kingdom, and you will see a tree or Alaska cow that birds of a feather flock together.
And on the flip side of that, you've never seen two different people, two different groups of people. If you see them looking exactly alike, and they're exactly the same, then, in essence, they're not really two different people. And to make it simple, if you ever see a soccer match or any other sports match, the two teams come and they're both wearing exactly the same uniform, that is not going to make sense to you're not going to see them as two different groups. So a difference comes naturally. Oh, if there are two people are different, it comes naturally. And that's why now when you're you're walking somewhere and you can see, let's call it a practicing Muslim, even though
that term is a paradox in itself.
But you see someone with a beard, you know, it's a Muslim you see a sister with hijab from distance, you know, that's a Muslim. So, there has to be a difference in how different people appear.
So since we have agreed to look at the book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, so allow us a lamp to judge between us, then let us examine the teachings of the Prophet Sawsan.
And upon doing so we see that he has commanded the Muslims to be different from the kuffar in general, and from the Jews and the Christians, in particular, in many aspects of life, those that are related to worship and those that are not worship related. And we stress the point that he, the process lm commanded has to be different from the kuffar in things that are worship related and other things. And we'll take examples of that in sha Allah.
The prophet SAW Selim commanded us to be different from the Jews and the Christians in some things that have something to do with a religion. For example, He commanded us to pray sometimes in our shoes, saying, act differently from the Jews, for they do not pray in their sandals or their shoes. This isn't reported by widowed. So notice that when the Jews remove their shoes to begin with, they did that to follow their profits Musashi setup, who was commanded falana Laker in the capital out in Makkah DC to put off their shoes you're in the holy valley of tour, and we find that the brothers alum, when he came to Medina and found the Jews fasting on the day of Ashura, he said to a lava lamp
faster they have Ashura and different from the Jews fast a day before it are they after it, meaning you fast the day before it and Ashura or Ashura and the day after it just to be different from the Jews, and even though fasting is an act of worship, and even in in we could say is maybe even a little bit simpler issues such as having supportive care, right
That. He said the difference between our fasting and that of the people of the book is eating shortly before dawn. It has no Muslim and hastening also rushing to break the fast process. Selim said this religion will continue to prevail, so long as people hasten to break the fast. Why? Because the Jews and Christians delay doing so this is narrated by a widowed
we also see that the prophet SAW Selim told us not to single out Sunday, and too fast only just Sunday by itself, because it is the holiday for the Christians. And we notice now that in that sense, it is a weekly eat of theirs. So this is just a week late, the producer didn't want this to to coincide or act of worship. And so what then, of aid that does not come weekly, might come once a year, typically that would become more special because it's less common, right?
So, and we also see when the problem is lm established the Muslim community in Medina, and they wanted some way by which to call all the Muslims to Salah, so some of them suggested a horn to blow into it as the Jews do. And pro Selim rejected that. And then some of them suggested a belt to strike as the Christians that are announced to Kobe with the prayer and Rosalynn rejected that and then
it was suggested to make the other than the call for prayer. And then the process lm accepted that and effort to be different from the Jews and from the Christians. And also, he noticed that the Jews do not interact with a woman when they're menstruating and so on. So the pas alum said you can interact with him, but the only thing forbidden would be intercourse.
So one might say that it is understandable since these are issues of religion and issues of worship. So what then will they say about other issues that are simple, just as simple as colors. Plus, instead of commanded the Muslims to dye their gray hair in invariants, to the practice of the Jews and the Christians saying, indeed, the Jews and Christians do not die, their gray hair, so be different from them. So use something as simple as color hair color.
And likewise, when he saw the pagans leaving their mustaches to become huge and fall over their lips, and trimming their beards, he said, do the opposite of what the policy is or what the machine can do, clip the mustache and leave the beard. This is narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.
And there are many other examples, but will suffice with those, but at this point, we have established that Muslims are to be different from the kuffar and issues of belief and in other everyday issues, and we have explained the effects and reasons why the movement would not want to follow the waves of the fog. So, let us now examine the concept of aids the concept of celebrations. So what is aid? We see that aid must have three qualities to be qualified or classified as such, one has to have reoccurrence.
So a celebration that is reoccurring in a consistent manner, whether yearly or bi yearly or monthly. So as to have something reoccurs constantly. So if there's
no work on Monday because of snow, you can't really say this is a this is just something that happened like that.
So that's the first thing reoccurrence The second thing, there has to be some kind of public gathering, public gathering or some type of gathering or family gathering such as and Thanksgiving. Typically people don't celebrate alone or individually isn't really wouldn't be a celebration.
And third, there has to be an activity related to the celebration. This is what is done on the particular day, or the days of that celebration, whatever ritual whatever act it is, this is the action that they do on that day. So the reoccurrence, it has to be something that happens within a consistent manner. And it has to be a public gathering or some kind of gathering and they have to be activities related to that celebration.
The point is, each nation has their own aid and the loss of hunter Allah says, In Surah Al Hajj, liquid lomatin john men second home natsuko that for every nation, we have ordained religious ceremonies that they celebrate or that they hold. So every nation has its own distinct and separate rate. And the Muslim Ummah has tour aids, April 5, and April up. These are two things. If life were easy, we would just say this, and we didn't have to have a lecture gathering or disagreement or anything we'll have to eat.
And we want to stress that aid is usually one of the most distinctive parts of the ritual.
practices of a nation. How so?
rituals and practices or aid is usually specific to them, and represents something to that nation in particular. So every nation has an aid. And there are many out there around the world and every nation has a reason. And it has a meaning to that group of people in particular, just out of the blue start doing that. So to imitate a people in their eat would mean that you're imitating them in the most distinct and most obvious of their religious symbols. This is the most special thing they have, it's most distinct. If you imitate them in their ear, you're imitating them in the most obvious and most distinct of their religious symbols. So each people have their own distinct aid,
and their own distinct laws and way of life.
And the last point, Allah says, In the Quran, Luke, Colin, john mink, shiratama woman,
to every one of you, we have appointed their own laws and way of life. And this difference in people's aids was expressed by the prophets of Allah xlm, and the famous Hadith, or abubaker, of the Allahu anhu, who came to visit the home of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, and it was a day of read. And he found two girls who are singing, and they were playing the Doof while the Prophet Selim was wrapped in his garment, so book, rebuke them. And then the film uncovered his head and said, Oh, worker, every people have aid. And this is ours. Every people have aid. So all nations, all groups and peoples that have their own aid, and this is our aid. So showing that every nation they have a
that's specific to their culture specific to their beliefs.
saboten buhaug says that a man during the time of the prophets of Allah or Selim, had taken a vow to slaughter some camels at a place called one. A vow, basically, he had promised or made a pledge or promise to Allah that He will slaughter a number of camels. So
he came and he told the president Selim of this so the Prophet sallallahu Sallam asked him,
this is the place contain any idol worship in pre Islamic times. Okay, we're talking now, this is Islamic times. So the problem is element is asking about something in the past. So he asked him, does this place contain any idols worship in pre Islamic times? And the man said, No. Then He further inquired was any pre Islamic festival observed there?
And he said, No. So then he said, then fulfill your vow for only a vow to do an act of disobedience must not be fulfilled. So if you make a vow to do something that's disobedience to Allah, you don't have to fulfill that vow. Nor must one do something over which a human being has no control.
So the thing that we want to notice here is that the prophet SAW Selim, was going to forbid this sacrifice to be performed in this place, where the machine had one time in the past, celebrated the festival.
And the man was not planning to use the place for a celebration, and he just wanted to slaughter some camels there and didn't go. But even though this was this was all he was going to stay there for a temporary period, who isn't going to hold the celebration, the place was celebrated in the past.
And at the time of the questioning was not a place of celebration anymore. And the people themselves who used to celebrate there, had become Muslim, and abandoned that festival, and it was forgotten. Yet the process is still asking us to place us for something in the past. And this is
one of the ways of being wary and cautious. And we're going to see in shall as we go, how these events surface and they become mixed with, with the present religion.
So
and also note that the prophet SAW Salem did not ask whether the festival was a secular festival or religious festival, so long as it was aid of a nation that is not our nation that we have no business in it. It's over with.
There are other evidences of this. And as the Lavanya narrates that the prophet SAW Selim, when he came to Medina, the people of Medina had two festivals during which they engaged in sport. So there's no worship here, just Sport, Sport Hello. Yes. So the problem is that I'm asked what are these two days? And they replied, We used to sport during these days in pre Islamic times, and Allah is messenger sallallahu Sallam then said, Allah has substituted for them something better the day of up ha and the day of narrated by a widowed so that he asked, Are these religious or after
Neither creed related celebrations. No. The bottom line is that as long as it is not one of our two days of aid, then we need not concern ourselves with them. That's it.
And these two days for those who are curious, we're actually the days of Nehru's and the day of Maharajan. And they were selected as festivals by ancient philosophers who engage in astrology, and the people will just play sports and games and things like that during those times. So the question is, is sport halal or haram? You will say no doubt it's hot. Yet he still forbade themselves Hello. Why not? Because it's not our eight is thanking Allah Subhana Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. It's halal. And rather, it's one of the required and, and liked acts of worship. But it's still the Thanksgiving Day is not our aid, whether it be a secular aid, or not. A common misunderstanding is
that thinks Thanksgiving is a secular eight. So first, we'll make a clear distinction, whether it's secular eight or religious, eight, doesn't matter, we don't celebrate in it. The second thing is realistically, it is not a secular eight, as we're going to look at the history of it is not a secular. And then the thing that is strange about this,
if you just think about it, it is a day, Thanksgiving, it is a day chosen, so that people can thank God. So how can you be secular? or What does the word secular mean? You understand?
It's a day Thank God, how can it be a secular holiday? With secular there's no God in it? True or false?
to true.
And so in later on, we'll look at the details of this inshallah. Okay.
And and just sufficient for us is that Thanksgiving, it bears the three characteristics of a that reoccurs there's a gathering in it. And there's a particular ritual or, or act that is done in that day. So it's an eight, doesn't matter if it's secular or not.
So some Muslims now are inviting their brothers and their sisters to partake in some of the celebrations of the non Muslims. And others are allowing their children to partake in some of the more obviously, non Islamic aids such as Halloween. And the argument is, you know, they might argue saying, Let's not alienate the children, remember, we said earlier about assimilating, so they don't want to alienate the children. And he says, Let them they'll say, let them dress up and have fun and eat some candy. While realistically we know that they're not going to believe in this day, they're not going to believe in it. So they'll just have fun and it won't affect their belief. Of course,
there are many, many problems as you can see, with this argument.
The first thing is, of course, we see the date the the first danger of assimilation that we discussed earlier, and the dangers it brings with it. But realistically, what harm would it do to the child if you don't dress him up like a devil, and take him knocking on people's doors to beg for candy? And if you say they're not believing in the celebration,
remember the hottie who mentioned was the man who wanted to fulfill his vote? Was he believing the pre Islamic celebration? No. Where the Medina Ian's believing something about those two days in which they played sports know, where they both forbidden from celebrating and attending by the prophet sallallahu sallam. Yes.
So, to say that, you know, they're just having fun and to use that lightly. If these parents knew what lay behind the days of Halloween from Joel and sinfulness, they would neither see it as something harmless, nor would they allow their children to participate. Just like we said before, with most aids you find behind them some form of shirk or Cofer lurking in the background.
And
the ugliness of Halloween is apparent to many Muslims, so we don't want to spend too much time on it. But realistically, it goes to its roots can be traced back to Celtic culture in Ireland. And according to this Druid religion, November 1 was there the new year on their calendar, and the celebration would begin October 31. And,
and last into the day after it. So there is there's a name it's written some hain, but it is actually pronounced so in Okay, so he was thought to be the Lord of the dead. And he called forth hosts of evil spirits. And the spirits of all the people who died in the prior year would rise up and roam the earth on this night. So this is the first gibberish in this belief. And then there's also the time also was thought of as a good time for examining the future which is also clearly haram and Islam. And the Celts believed that the spirits of the dead rise and they start to visit their earthly home
Now, this is the part that we want to look at. So after the Romans conquered Britain, they added, they added some features, okay.
into Halloween, they had a goddess, her name was Pomona, and she was the goddess of fruit. And that's why in Halloween, you find people that put the apples in a big container of water and they go bobbing for apples. This the fruit comes from this goddess here
in the background, and then of course, the, you know, the the silly questions, they told you the trick or treat, and there, and the different variations on that. One of them is that they believe that the spirits would come and they would, there'll be dead people, and they'd be spirits that will come to you if you're not a dead spirit. So by dressing up, like a dead person, or some kind of evil person, these spirits would not recognize you, we trick them. Yeah. And of course, the other we can remember we said that they believe that the spirits come visit the earthly homes. So the other narration is that the people dress up like these spirits, and they come and knock on your house and
you're supposed to give them a treat, so they leave you alone. And if you don't give them a treat, then they will play a practical joke on you Hence, the trick. So one might say these are you know, just the old stories behind it, and no one really celebrates it religiously today. And we say no. There are many followers of various pagan religions such as Druids, and Wiccans. Anyone familiar with the Wiccans
Wiccans, it's a it's a pagan nature, religion has its roots in pre Christian,
Western Europe. And I've even met Wiccans here in the United States, and they have websites and they have groups and so on. So these people, to them truly celebrate Halloween. It's not anything ancient to them, they believe in all this gibberish, and we thank Allah for his guidance. Now, this is the part one we're concerned with Pope Gregory the second, moved the Christian holiday of All Hallows Eve, from May 13 to November 1, to coincide with the feast of sewing. This was an effort Look at this. This was an effort by the Catholic Church to downplay the pagan festival. So they bring it closer to their festival so that their festival becomes the dominant one. And they were hoping that
it would play so in and the pagan celebration and would fade away they would replace it. And the pagan festival continued, and how All Hallows Eve became the pagan festival. You see. So the point is, they tried, and we'll see this again in Christmas. They tried to bring their celebration close to one of the celebrations of the kuffar, hoping that people will come into their religion or what happened. But wicked the more wicked of the two became dominant, and it backfired on them.
And the loss of hydrolysis in the Quran will Levine Allah shadow on his door, what is Maru? biLlahi Maru Quran, Allah says, and those who do not witness false hood, and if they pass by some evil play or evil talk, they pass by with dignity or azura according to some of the major companions, and some of them have Assyrian and mmm and others, they try and they translate or explain a zoo or the false hood here as the holidays of the mushrikeen.
The holidays of the mushrikeen.
And others, like Muhammad and city in Ramallah are more explicit setting that the verse defines the people of ship practicing the ship, and the verse is admonishing us not to participate with them. And thus, those are the believers in the verse that are mentioned, what
are those who do not witness falsehood.
And, of course, it is not befitting for a Muslim who wants righteous children to allow them to celebrate a day when they're thought that the dead are thought to return and to beg for candy dressed like a devil. Righteousness doesn't just come up suddenly. But it must start at an early age. So we advise those Muslims to prevent their children from such celebrations and to explain why to them. Because a lot of times, parents underestimate the level of understanding of their children. So they'll give them ridiculous explanations, thinking that the kid won't understand the real reason. And that will just confuse the kids more if they use tell them the evil of the celebration.
The child will understand that, but unfortunately, most people just try to belittle the kids and so on. And then they don't get the desired response or effect that they want it.
So let's have some commentary from the bimmerfest sera tabari Rahim Allah explains this aspect and he says
It is not allowed for Muslims to attend their meaning the disbelievers holidays, and festivals because there are a type of evil and false hood. If the people of good mix with the people of evil without putting an end to what they're doing, they become like those were pleased and influenced by evil. What is the difference between them, and we fear falling into a lot of anger because of their gathering. I just remembered another, remember the Hadith where, where the when I showed the law and I was asking the prophets of Salaam that when the punishment of Allah comes, does it destroy both the good and the bad? And the problem is that him said, Yes, destroys everybody. So that the
scholars commented saying that
perhaps the good will be destroyed with the evil one, because it will be an expiation for them this punishment will take away from their sins on the Day of Judgment. And to perhaps they did not do enough to stop this wicked D. This is why a poverty when he's saying that if they just go and gather with the people of evil without trying to stop them, they become like those like, like the evil ones themselves, what is the difference thing?
So this is concerning Halloween and 100 law. Now a lot of Muslims are,
they see its apparent evil, and wickedness and so on. We now move to Thanksgiving law. And most people, they have this intense love for Thanksgiving, which I don't understand and to the point where they want to fight with their Muslim Brothers because of some oversized chicken.
Thanksgiving. So let's let's look at this now. Could it be possible that is just somebody out of the blue thought, Okay, let me choose the last Thursday of November and make that a day where we thank Allah Thank God.
There has to be some history behind it. So let's look at it. It was first celebrated in early colonial times in New England. And why did these pilgrims and early colonists suddenly decide to thank Allah, they just make this up. It was actually well known festival that has its roots in the Bible. And it has occurred in many, many different parts of the world as well. It was in biblical times a festival of thanksgiving after the grain harvest. So after they harvest all the grains,
yeah, because they've been planting them. They've been expecting and praying for rain. And now finally, the grains have grown and they have harvested them. So what do they do after the harvest? They give things they thank their Lord.
And this was in 1621, after the first harvest was completed in the colonies in Plymouth. The governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving and prayer to be shared by all the colonists and all the neighboring Native Americans. In 1623, they had to this day of fasting and prayer, and they changed it to a day of Thanksgiving, or Actually, no, because the rain came while they were making their prayers. This is one of those coincidences that people love him. So while they were praying, the rain came, so they made this day of Thanksgiving.
And then different states started to adopt Thanksgiving, as an annual custom as an annual aid, and different states adopted this day, at different times. And in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of Thanksgiving. And since then, every President issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, so on, and they designated the fourth Thursday of November as a holiday. So it is not a secular eight, and wouldn't be logical for it anyways, to be secular, even if it were it wouldn't matter. And it's just it's not, it's not our eight and that's enough. And the pilgrims were actually following a biblical practice of thanking God for the grain harvest, and eventually became a fixed
date. And during which families gather together and the turkey and the thank God or more realistically they think, Jesus, this is ship, we don't want any part of that. And around the world, the Greek people have a day when they think Dimitris which is the goddess of grains. The the Romans also had a goddess and they celebrate the harvest festival. The Chinese also had won the the Jews had won and even in Egypt, they have a harvest festival. So it's a it's a common thing. I like to read you a part of the for those still in doubt and those who would not be from amongst us. The proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln. He says it has seemed to me fit
Proper that they should be solemnly reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people, I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at the sea and those who are in foreign lands to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November, next as a day of Thanksgiving, and praise to our beneficent and this is why I wanted to read this father,
who dwells in the heavens, and this is not us. And we never refer to this particular as father to Allah Angelica, Oregon COVID, Allah subhanaw taala is far removed from that.
So Muslims should not partake in this, it's not our aid, nor are the Muslims to eat turkey on the day of Thanksgiving. It's not permissible to eat the turkey on the last Thursday of November. So one might say, Okay, well, this is very extreme. What is this? What are we talking about?
So, let's pause here.
Within the extremes, there are typically two ends, this extreme end and this extreme end. And there's always the middle path, right? There's always the middle that is between those two extremes. So in the case of an extreme of going being too hard, or like or too extreme in their religion, and being too lacks in their religion, religion, what is the middle?
The prophets, Allah Silla, the guidance of no one would dare say he was in one extreme or the other. Definitely, he was in the middle of selling. So So let's look at what he would have done. Would he have celebrated this? Isn't he the one
who was going to prohibit or forbid the man from slaughtering his comrades in a place that was only used by the kuffar in the past? Wasn't he not the ones that allows them who replaced the two days of sports and sports is halon for the medallions? Was he not the one who asked the Muslims to have a different color in the gray hairs from the Jews and the Christians?
So then the reason and the logic behind why the scholars say you should not eat turkey on the day of Thanksgiving is very simple. How does one celebrate Thanksgiving, people gather and they eat turkey. So if you eat turkey on that day, and most probably you're not going to cook it for yourself, people will gather with you, then in essence, you have celebrated that day. And this is the logic, the simple logic behind why scholars say you should eat it on that day. So we should, you should be careful how we throw around this term extreme and this is extreme and so on. And if people think this is extreme, then what will they have to say about their own model they love on him when he said
he studied a lot.
He says, stay away, keep clear. Stay away from the enemies of Allah and the days of their eight. This is the low on who's speaking to us. during his reign as another incident, Muslim woman, they liked some of the garments that the woman of the kuffar in a sham were wearing. So they started to make garments similar to the garments of the woman of the coffee shop in a shop.
So when not heard of this, or the law, he wrote to his Governor of New Jersey law with the law one.
I'll read what he wrote, he said, I have come to know that some of the woman of the Muslims have come to wear the clothes of the kuffaar fear Allah, Fear Allah and forbid that and allow anything besides it.
Were an oma were separate and more distinct, we have our own ism. And it's not befitting for us to want to follow those of the kofod or so on.
So then, some argue that thanking Allah is a good deed. So why not thank Allah on the day of Thanksgiving, as we thank anyone on any other day.
So, realistically, this is just an excuse. Because they can just then say, Allah, Homeric Al Hamdulillah, Malacca, Shakur, Hamdulillah, why the turkey why the gathering, it's just an excuse realistically, so they can participate in the celebration. And fasting is a good deed. Remember, but the roses alum made us fast a day before after I showed up just to be different, and praying with the shoes off. The president asked us to sometimes for the shoes on so it can be different from when we should have key and in the same manner, thanking is a good deed. But we have a way in which we do our good deed and any deed to be accepted. It has to have certain characteristics. So this is a
great benefit show. We'll look at this.
Imam Abdul Karim Rahim Allah said,
deeds are four categories.
One accepted and three rejected.
The accepted deed is that which is done purely for a law and in agreement with the center. This is the accepted deed
done purely for a lot. And in agreement with the center.
Why do we do it purely for how, in agreement with the sun? Well, the rejected deed is that which is missing both, or one of the two qualities. So, what does that mean? Either it's not done for a lot nor in the, as soon as across the land. Or it can be that you didn't do it really for a lot. Maybe you did it to show off to people or so on. But you did it according to the center consonants also not accepted. Or maybe you did it for a law surgeon. But it wasn't anything from the center was some kind of bidder. And it was also not accepted even though your intention was good and so on. And then he continues to hammer home law saying that is because the accepted deed is that deed which Allah
loves and is pleased with. He loves only what he has commanded, and what is done solely for him. Other than that deed, he hates it, and he hates his performance. He hates any other deed, and those who do it. And that's one of the problems SLM said, Man fsfe amarena ha de la semana. hufa horrid. If anyone introduces into this affair of ours meaning Islam, anything which does not belong to it, it is rejected. And
one of the mannequin fuqaha His name is Abner casimba. him Allah says
to me at him, NEMA
says whoever slaughters a watermelon, what does it mean to slaughter a woman just to cut open a watermelon on the day of their eat, it is as if he slaughtered the pig.
Now, we move to Christmas.
And Christmas is a bit odd even from the Christian perspective. So it's bad enough to congratulate them on an actual eight now we're going to congratulate on an eight that's even a bit in their religion.
The first thing is that of course, the birth of Ace is
who they claim to be the son of a lion and last patata is far removed from that is not known. And people typically back then did not care about birth dates. They cared more about the day when people passed away.
And
as the same argument with the the prophet SAW Selim, when he was born, no one knew this was the Messenger of Allah. So the exact date is unknown. But when he died, solos, lm there were 100,000 plus Muslims, they remember that day,
which is the day who celebrate now as the birth date. It's very sad. So
we'll look at the same phenomenon that happened when when the Catholics tried to bring a pagan holiday close to theirs. So there is my prevail, we see that there was a popular Roman religion, okay, that observed December 25, as the date of feasting and celebration. And at the same time, there were pagans who celebrated the winter solstice, and they called it Invincible sun su n. And it was either December 21, or 22nd. So to enhance, look at this now, this is the logic to enhance the appeal of Christianity among the pagans, and to unify them, the Roman Bishop liberius, in 354, chose December 25, as the birth date of Jesus. So
in essence, it's a bitter this man, he takes the a day of celebration of kofod, or his mind, pagans, he combines it says this is the date of the birth of Jesus.
And then we don't want to get into it biblically. But there are biblical passages forbidding the cutting of trees and bringing them into your home and decorating them. This is exactly what they do. And so in that sense, is also the tree is a beta. There's there's a one church called the church of Latter Day Saints, not the Mormons, and they are very much against the tree and all the other bits. And there was also one of the gods there was a son god of the Persians, he was named with mithras or Mithra. And he was born on December 25. And he was also the son of a virgin. And the lesson here is, look what happens when people attempt to merge their religion or compensate other festivals. This is
what happens.
So
with that, we'd like to get into greeting the kuffar on Christmas and other holidays.
These, the the ruling is that it's haram and this is by the consensus of the scholars. At no time Rahim Allah says congratulating the kuffar on the rituals that belong only to them is held on by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying I happy festival to you, Merry Christmas are so on, or may you enjoy your festival and so on. If the one who says this has been saved from Cofer, meaning he's a Muslim, it is still forbidden. It is like in graduate look at this comparison. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross. Or even worse than that. He says it is a great sin as congratulating someone for a drinking wine
or murdering someone or having illicit sexual relations and so on. So just imagine, now you come into someone, and he's killing somebody. He's slaughtering someone, and the blood is over his clothes and his hands in his everywhere. And he told Oh, happy killing, or you find someone drinking alcohol happy intoxication, or someone for indicating Happy, happy for indication. You wouldn't do that. These are the ugliest of deeds with a problem is that some Muslims, and we ask a lot, that we're not amongst those who have lost the hatred for sugar. And sugar is worse than murdering someone worse than alcohol and worse than fornication.
So he continues to Ramallah, saying, many of those who have no respect for the religion fall into this era, he's speaking about Muslims, they fall into this error, they did not realize the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or bitter or Kufa exposes himself to the wrath and anger of a lot. So, in a sense, it also implies that your acceptance with a ritual and so on, you're asking them to, to enjoy it and so on.
And the rule is that the Muslim should not accept the rituals of Cofer nor congratulate anyone else for them. Because Allah does not accept any of that at all. And the last part Allah says, In duck fu for in Allah honey you and Uncle Allah Yoruba
were in touch Kuru Yoruba hula come
if you this believe in Verily Allah is not in need of you. He likes not disbelieve for his slaves. And if you are grateful, he is pleased there with or he is pleased for you.
And last part, it says that if you disbelieve in Verily Allah is not in need of you. He likes not disbelieved for his slaves. And if you're grateful, he's pleased with you. So congratulating them is forbidden, and whether they are your your colleagues at work or at school, is still forbidden. And if they do beat you, or tell you Merry Christmas, and so on, you should not respond. And because these are not our festivals, and they are not their festivals that are not accepted, or acceptable to Allah subhanaw taala their innovations and even in their own religion, their innovations. And even if they weren't innovations they were and if they were prescribed by Allah in the past, they
have been abrogated by the religion of Islam, meaning the rules of Islam. Now they erased those other rules. And Allah, Allah says, Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter, he will be of the losers.
So it is also haram to accept
invitations to such occasions and gatherings, because this is a worse than congratulating them because now you're actually partaking in this celebration.
And we can also because the process lm said, Whoever imitates people, is one of them.
Common for home in home, and shall listen, we've been taming Allah. He says imitating them is 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 week.
So that looks end.
And we just want to stress that the problem with Christmas is that we don't have hatred for sherco that those Muslims who who congratulate and so on, they don't have the hatred in their heart, for sure. Or they're probably used to it because of constant exposure to it. Or
perhaps they do not see its seriousness.
And sufficient for us, is what Allah Subhana Allah says, about attributing a son to him in Sugata Maria, so we should read this and we should understand it and we should contemplate its meanings. The last part Allah says in the ADA
Verse Marian.
Paul
nun Wallenda, Nepal dingy tomb shy,
Taka
sharp
in Jeeva dah
dah
dah.
Welcome
to man
makuta Rahmani Walla and they say the most gracious has begun a son.
Whether it be the Christian saying Jesus is the son of Allah or the Jews saying, Oh zero, or Ezra is a son of a lot.
Then the second I locked to a an indeed you have brought forth or you have said, a terrible evil thing.
The code is similar to that of a tournament in sha Allah.
whereby the heavens are almost torn, are about to break apart, and the earth is split asunder, and the mountains fall in ruins and down the Romani well, that they ascribe a son to the Most Gracious meaning to Allah, Maryam Bella Rahmani
but it is not suitable, meaning suitable for the majesty of the Most Gracious man which is Allah, that he should be get a son. In khulumani system it will be in utter rukmani Aveda, there is none in the heavens in the earth, but comes on to a law as a slave. So everything in the heavens and the earth is a slave of a lie, including a sub memoriam, or a sermon, including Isaiah
laqad song
Verily, He knows each one of them, and he has counted them a full counting, well could loan to melt a metaphor, and every one of them will come to Him alone on the Day of Resurrection.
So if we contemplate the greatness and the seriousness of what this means, we would not want to displease Allah, we would not want to congratulate someone for something that displeases Allah to this extent.
But sufficient for us is that Christmas involves shirk in it.
And we know that Allah Subhana, Allah will never forgive Shrek, if that person dies, before repenting from it. Unless Potter Allah says, in Allah, Allah, Allah Cubby, Wells, Roma, do another academia, or music
avena that, that Allah does not forgive that others be taken as partners along with him or besides Him. And He gives anything besides that, to whomever He wills. And whoever has does or performs Schick, he has, indeed done very evil or wicked deed.
And the final advice for those who say that, you know, we will partake in these celebrations, and we congratulate as a way to give our and of course, we were so tired of hearing that that will excuse someone's doing something wrong. It's the one shot.
Where does it end? So realistically, you're not giving them down, you're actually encouraging them upon their disbelief.
So where's the Darwin that and the second thing is important rule of law. mean hi to your son, that you don't do good deeds. Allah is not obeyed through something, which is disobedience. How do you obey a lot by doing something? That's disobedience, hula hula tournament high for yourself. And on the contrary, this is one of the concepts people don't realize about Dawa. They think that you know, you let it go, and they become accepted and that's better for that one. Realistically, it's the opposite of that.
Are you healthcare Sharon? law, Buddha Mata, this is very clear. This is you? This is me. Right?
Not only that, Allah Subhana Allah says in Surah tympanum. What do to the Hill for you the Heenan. badulla to the NFL, the Hainan lazzaretto This is the sort of column they wish that you would compromise with him. So they
With compromise with you, just like the the Catholics, compromise for the pagans. Now look what happened to their celebrations. So insufficient for us is the Trinity. The Trinity itself is a result of compromise, to make Christianity appeal to the pagans, of the early theologians, there were two of them, one of them his name, his origin, and the other was origin and Tertullian. And origin was credited as being the first person to blend Greek mythology and Christian theology, Greek mythology, there's this God and the God has a son always Zeus, and he has this child and this guy. And these gods, they're funny, they, they get divorced, and they have this and that and they
quarrel. So he wanted, he made a combination of Greek mythology and Christian theology, he wrote these writings, and then later on a man by the name of St. Athanasius. And if you look up St. Ignatius, in the encyclopedia or anywhere, you will see that it also says, aka, also known as the father of the Trinity, and it so happens that he was also in Alexandria, a bishop there. In any case, he had the same ideas. And he was the the first person to start to say that Jesus was the actual Son of God, and Allah subhanaw taala is far removed from that. So we see that giving the hour is showing different showing and making a clear distinction, and not assimilating and whatever. I'll
give you the last thing, there was a
we were on this tour around the country, it's supposed to be a dour thing, right. And they had this one person they called him a quote, unquote, an Islamic thinker.
Now, of course, martial everyone is Islamic thinker. And this man in a gathering of imams said that I used to go and sit with one person who was a Christian, and we would go to this restaurant, and he would order champagne, and I would order apple juice, so that I would drink the apple juice and he would think that I'm actually drinking with him. This is an example of how we show that we Islam is a flexible religion and so on. Now, do you think this Kaffir will say Mashallah, he's drinking with me, that means he has a great religion, let me become a Muslim? Or do you think that if he didn't drink and refuse to sit with him, and when he tells him why he tells him alcohol is the number one
killer, it tears apart families, it has more evil in it than there is good that the man might start to think and then he might become Muslim, you will surely say The second example is more logical.
So with that, we want to warn our brothers who are calling their Muslims to celebrate Thanksgiving and to adopt other than the ways of the Muslims and to adopt a path besides that of the prophets of Allah, Allah, Allah subhana wa tada says,
to
me,
Allah says, so those who disobey his command, they should be aware that there will be afflicted with a fitna or they will be affected with a painful torment. And the argument also might be, too, that we want to fit in. But we say okay, we want to fit in. We don't want to be, you know, unpatriotic, so we're going to celebrate Thanksgiving just to show that we're American and so on, and to be accepted. And the response to that last part, Allah says in the Quran, we'll enter the unclear who would want
to be Amina to him, and the Jews and the Christians will never accept you, until you follow their creed until you follow their beliefs. That's, that's the end of the story. And we'll end with the Hadith of the Prophet SAW Selim narrated by Abu huraira, the Allahu anhu if anyone summons others to follow right guidance, his reward will be equivalent to those of the people who follow him without their rewards being diminished in any respect in that account. So he's saying that if you call people to do a sooner or you remind them of that soon, okay, you teach one person or four, that's and each one of those four goes to teach six other people that sin, those six go to teach it to two
other people, your reward will not be decreased as long as this keeps going on. This is also one of the toughest series over the counter, that this is the great abundance given to the products that sell them. Is that all the good that we do? He gets a reward for it. It's something that's great
In that light, when you do a bid, you're actually taking away from the potential reward or the profit center should look at it under that light.
And the problem is that I'm continued and if anyone summons other to follow error, the sin of which he is guilty will be equivalent to those of the people who follow him without their sins being diminished in any respect on that account.
And this is narrated by Muslim.
I didn't mention New Year's Eve. Or did I?
what I tried to do is put like the foundation, so that now they can tell you any aid and you will immediately have the
criteria to to make we said New Year's? Is it a recurring aid? Yes. Is there a gathering there? Yes. Is there an action there? Yes. Does it qualify as eight? Yes. Is it secular? Non secular? Doesn't matter. It's a is it? Or is it a little further? No.
No, call us. So in that sense, I covered in Sharla zildjian, New Year's and every other aid there is an Easter and Advent all these other Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day. These are all the same arguments we have to aid at the end of the story. And we asked last to Allah to unify the Muslims regarding his rulings in the Quran and the rulings of His Messenger sallallahu Sallam and we ask Allah subhanaw taala a situation in which those who are righteous and are the people of obedience have the upper hand and those of disobedience have the lower hand or solomo about a
mean or Adam Savage mean?
Hello sir.
This concludes the lecture. We pray that you benefited from this and we asked a lot to let it be a means of and betterment in this life in the next four more lectures by this or other learned speakers, or to find out more information about.com log on to www.cie.org as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh