Kamal El-Mekki – The Holiday Season An Islamic Perspective
AI: Summary ©
The importance of celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas is discussed, with emphasis on the shift in language practices from Arabic to Mandarin and the importance of following the way of the messenger. The conversation also touches on the history of the festival, sports and games during Thanksgiving, and confusion surrounding the definition of a secular holiday. The importance of belief in the verse that defines the people of ship and avoiding falsehood during holidays is emphasized, along with the birth date and the birth of Jesus as a recognized date. The historical significance of the Bible and its use in religion is also discussed, with information about the church's historical significance and the importance of acceptance in religion.
AI: Summary ©
Henderson Nevada Amelia presents the holiday season and Islamic perspective by Shane Commando.
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That hunger Allahu Ahad is Samad.
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over All praise is to Allah, the eternal, the absolute, the one who began to not receive the garden. 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 can 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 are 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 the 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 they'll 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 he told me 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 sharp or or an Arabic. You won't feel right until you put the name of it in English. And this is how the Chinese
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 end of the kuffaar, and so on. And it's not a shock to us because we are we can we expect to find Muslims wanting to emulate too far 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, letter Tirana, synonym and Cana kubla Khan shippon, Bishop era and bidrar protozoan says, You will tread the same path, as was trodden by those before you inch by inch, whether under the 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 progress of themselves, we're going to follow those who were before as the companions in one of the narration said
to you 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. That'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 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 hegira defeated mentality, say no, it's defeated mentality. So I wonder what those people thought of the prophet SAW Selim 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 Godfather 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? It's accepted. But this person wants to make their 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 where's the cross around his neck.
So these are things that are expressing these 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 kofod on Christmas. And since we are in disagreement, we would like to follow the guidance of the Quran in matters of disagreement. Because Allah says in Surah Nisa
internetseiten fish a in for de la hora zoo in contento minima below if you should quarrel on anything referred to Allah and the messenger if you believe in Allah, and the last day
And likewise, Allah Subhana Allah says, almost enough to feed him and Shay in for hookman who is Allah and whatever you are at variance on the judgment thereof belongs to Allah.
And again, it's sort of Mr. Ellison's follower of Nikolai Muna. Taki McAfee Masha jobina, whom, tomorrow at 2pm for same horologium innoculate we suddenly move to sliema.
But no by your law, the law swearing by himself. They will not believe until they make you judge in their affairs. And after you judge they don't find any ill feeling or any
aversion or any objection to it in 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 Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam is the call to be different and not to emulate the non Muslims or the Kufa. And in particular, there are four groups that a Muslim should not imitate nor want to resemble. And the first would be the co founder.
And the second, the shavon. 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 it is mukou 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 do 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 the shaitaan and it's obvious no one wants to resemble the shaitaan and the prophets of Salaam did not want us to resemble them either. Even in regular non worship related aspects. The problem seldom 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. And this hadith is a Muslim. So we don't want to resemble the shaitaan we do not want to resemble the people of the hellfire. And likewise we do not want to resemble the Kufa
as we're looking for. The first thing is why would you want to follow a people whom you know, and you're sure that there and 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 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 Prophet sallallahu wasallam Manisha Baba comins a woman who whoever resembles the people he is from amongst them.
The second is that their deeds are based on the law or the law, or misguidance. They're not they don't have guidance, had they had guidance, there wouldn't be too far it would be believers. So there are 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, Mr. Amin, amin, for Jana who have a mentor.
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 Kufa
so Allah Subhana Allah says, woman you Shaka rasulillah mean body matter. matavai and Ella Huda we attribute availa severe mini Newman de Mata wala 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 falls away other than that of the believers, we shall keep him in the path he has chosen and burn him in *, and what an evil destination. So following the ways looking for clashes or contradicts with following the path and the ways of the messenger, Salah salon, and the
believers. And there are also many other ayat in this regard, and I think we'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 explains why some Muslims congratulate the kuffar 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 and whoever resembles the people who is from amongst them. So following their ways, and resembling them leads to the 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'll 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, is 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 dressed 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, Taco Bell 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 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, 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 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 and 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 Prophet said, lamb commanded has to be different from the far end 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 their 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 nor their shoes. This has been reported by a widowed so notice that when the Jews remove their shoes to begin with, they did that to follow their prophet Musashi setup, who was commanded Laika in Kibera, democracy to put off their shoes, you're in the holy valley of tour. And we find that the brothers lm when he came to Medina and found the Jews fasting on the day of Ashura, he said solahart is a lump facet of
Ashura and different from the Jews fast a day before it or they after it, meaning you fast the day before it and I showed up, 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 maybe even a little bit simpler issues such as having suhoor Siri, right, that he said the difference between our fasting and that of the people of the book is eating shortly before dawn is hot, he has no Muslim and hastening also rushing to break the fast process. Adam said this religion will continue to prevail, so long as people haste in 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 to fast only just Sunday by itself, because it is the holiday for the Christians. And we noticed now that in that sense, it is a weekly eat of theirs. So this is just a week late, the President 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 was seldom 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 announced to Kobe with the prayer and Rosalynn rejected that and then
it was suggested to make the than the call for prayer. And then the process lm accepted that
effort to be different from the Jews from the Christians. And also, he noticed that the Jews do not interact with their women when they're menstruating and so on. So the alum said, you can interact with him, but the only thing forbidden would be *.
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, 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 dyed their gray hair, so be different from them. So just 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 moustache and leave the beard and 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 kuffaar 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 iPhone. So, let us now examine the concept of aids the concept of celebrations. So what is our aid, we see that our 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 it has to have something that 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 or occurrence. The second thing, there has to be some kind of public gathering, public gathering or some type of gathering or family gatherings which isn't 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 there 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 ate, and the loss of hunter Allah says, In salted hudge liquid lomatin john man second home NASA coup, 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 to raise it to fit. And a lot. 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 would have taught us.
And we want to stress that aid is usually one of the most distinctive parts of the rituals or 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. It isn't 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 eighth, you're imitating them in the most obvious and most distinct of the religious symbols. So each people have their own distinct aid, and their own distinct laws and way of life.
And the last part, Allah says in the Quran, liquid lingyin minkin shiratama woman hajah
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 prophet SAW Selim and the famous Hadith were abubaker, the Allahu anhu 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 president Selim was wrapped in his garment, so book, rebuke them. And then the film uncovered his head and said, Oh, Booker, every people have eight. And this is ours. Every people have eight. So all nations, all groups and peoples, they have their own eight. And this is our eight. So showing that every nation nation they
have a that's specific to their culture specific to their beliefs.
sabbatarian buhaug says that a man during the time of the prophets of Allah wa sallam had taken a vow to slaughter some camels at a place called one. A vow, basically, he had promised or made a pledge or a 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 told us lm 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 process element is asking about something in the past. So he asked him, does this place contain any idols worshipped 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 about 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 the 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, or if he just wanted to slaughter some camels there and didn't go. But even though this was this was all who 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 film 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 inshallah, as we go, how these events surface and they become mixed with, with the present religion.
So,
and also we note that the prophet SAW Selim did not ask whether the festival was a secular festival, or a religious festival, so long as it was an 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 ns are the lohana 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. It's just Sport, Sport. Hello. Yes. So the process is I'm asked what are these two days? And they replied, We used to sport during these days in pre Islamic times, and allows messenger sallallahu Sallam then said, Allah has substituted for them something better the day of Aha, and the day of narrated by a widowed so that he asked, Are these religious or 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 there's two days for those who are curious were actually the days of Nehru's and the day of Mahajan. And they were selected as festivals by ancient philosophers who engage in astrology and the
People will just play you know, sports and games and things like that during those times. So the question is, is sport halal or haram? You will see no doubt it's hot. Yet he still forbade them. So why not? Because it's not our eight is thanking Allah Subhana Allah halal or haram. 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 eight, 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 age 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 state. And then the thing that is strange about this,
if you just think about it, it is a day, Thanksgiving is a day chosen, so that people can thank God. So how can you be secular? Or what is the word secular mean? You understand? It's a day Thank God, how can it be a secular holiday? With secular there is no God in it. True or false?
True.
And so and later on, we look at the detail 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 eight hours doesn't matter if it's secular enough.
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 lady who mentioned was the man who wanted to fulfill his vote? Was he believing the pre Islamic celebration? No. Where are the Medina? Ian's believing something about those two days in which they played sports? No. Were they both forbidden from celebrating and attending by the prophet sallallahu Sallam? Yes.
So to say that, you know they are just having fun and to use that lightly. If these parents knew what lay behind the days of Halloween from general 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 Sal 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. Thank you. So this is the first gibberish in this belief. And then this 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 believe that the spirits of the dead rise and they start to visit their earthly homes.
Now, this is the part that we want to look at since 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 they put the apples in a big container of water and they go bobbing for apples.
This the fruit comes from this goddess here, shark 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, they'll be dead people need to be spirits, no 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'll 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 having 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 we want. We're concerned with Pope Gregory the second move 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 are what happened. But more wicked, the more wicked of the two became dominant, and it backfired on them.
And the last hunter Allah says in the Quran, will Levine Allah shadow on his door with Maru. biLlahi Maru Quran, Allah says, and those who do not witness falsehood, and if they pass by some evil play or evil talk, they passed by with dignity or azura, according to some of the major companions, and some of them have a city in and among others, they try and they translate or explain a zoo to the false hood here as the holidays of the mushrikeen.
The holidays are the most shocking.
And others like Mohammed urban city in Ramallah are more explicit, setting that the verse defines the people of ship practicing their ship. And the verse is admonishing us not to participate with them. And thus, those are the believers in the verse that are mentioned while Elijah zoar 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 wanted.
So let's have some commentary from the bimmerfest Sara 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 have 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 loss anger because of their gathering. Just remember
Another remember the Hadeeth? Where, where when I showed the law and I was asking the province lm that when the punishment of a law comes, does it destroy both the good and the bad? And the President 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 authority 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 laugh. Now a lot of Muslims are.
They see it's apparent evil, and wickedness and so on. But now we'll 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 decided 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 the harvest all the grains,
yeah, because they've been planting them. They've been expecting and praying for rain. And now finally, the 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 their 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 the day of Thanksgiving, and since then, every President issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, so on, and it 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 aid. 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 they eat turkey, and they 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 thank Demeter, which is the goddess of grains, the the Romans also had a goddess and they celebrate the harvest festival. The Chinese also had one the Jews had one and even in Egypt, they have a harvest festival. So it's a it's a common thing like to read your part of the for those still in doubt, and those would not be from amongst us. The proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln. He says, it has seemed to me fit and 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
prays 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 alone. 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 is 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 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 Salah, the guidance of no one would dare say he was in one extreme or the other. Definitely he was in the middle, so low self. 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 have lost a limb, who replaced the two days of sports and sports is halaal for the medallions was enough, the one who asked the Muslims to have a different color in their 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 shouldn't 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 it studyblue a lot. He
says, stay away, keep clear. Stay away from the enemies of Allah in the days of their eight. This is the low on who's speaking to us during his reign is 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 I heard of this, or the lohana, he wrote to his Governor of New Jersey.
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 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 him on any other day.
So, realistically, this is just an excuse. Because they can just then say, Allahu Malik, Alhamdulillah, 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 like just to be different, and praying with the shoes off. The problem asked us to sometimes pray without shoes on so it can be different from when we should eat, and in the same manner thankings a good deed, but we have a way in which we do or good deed and any deed to be accepted it has to have certain characteristics. So this is a great
benefit Shall we will look at this.
Mom, 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 sooner 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 center? Well, there is
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 possible. 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 console, it's also not accepted. Or maybe you did it for a loss. But it wasn't anything from the center was some kind of beta. And it was also not accepted even though your intention was good and so on. And then he continues or hamdulillah 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 why the promises are seldom said when fsfe Marina Harada Malaysia Minho?
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 Adnan 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 aid, 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 them on an aid that's even a bit in their religion.
The first thing is that of course, the birth of Ace is lm, who they claim to be the son of a lion and last kata 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, sola xlm, there were 100,000 plus Muslims, they remember that day,
which is the day who celebrate now is the birthday day. 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 there's 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, they 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 Kfar or in 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 kofod on Christmas and other holidays. The ruling is that it's haram and this is by the consensus of the scholars at mealtime 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 or 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 congratulate look at this comparison. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross. Or even worse than that is 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 you tell him, oh, happy killing, or you find someone drinking alcohol happy intoxication, or someone for indicating Happy, Happy fornication? You wouldn't do that. These are the ugliest of deeds, with the problem is that some Muslims were asked a lot that were 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 emotional pain Rahim Allah 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 do 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 Allah subhanaw taala says, In duck follow for in Allah honeymoon uncom Allah your body
were in touch Kuru Yoruba hula.
If you disbelieve in Verily Allah is not in need of you. He likes not disbelief for his slaves. And if you are grateful, he is pleased there with or he is pleased for you.
Unless Carter it says that if you disbelieve in Verily Allah is not in need of you. He likes not disbelieve for his slaves. And if you are grateful, he's pleased with you. So congratulating them is forbidden. And whether they're 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 that erased those other rules. And Allah, 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 and it is also haram to accept invitations to such occasions and gatherings, because this is 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.
Shabaab common for women home and shuttle son, we've been taming anahola. 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 sugar that those Muslims who who congratulate and so on, they don't have the hatred in their heart for schilke or they're probably used to it because of constant exposure to it. Or
perhaps they did not see its seriousness. And sufficient for us, is what Allah Subhana Allah says, about attributing the sun to him in Surah Maryam so we should read this and we should understand it and should contemplate its meanings. Last Potter, Allah says in the 88th verse of Swords Miriam
Takada Santa
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Shop
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Tara Amanullah and they say the most gracious has begun a son.
Whether it be the Christian saying Jesus is the son of Allah or the Jew saying or zero, or Ezra is the son of Allah.
Then the second I lock 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
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 manually, that they ascribe a sun to the Most Gracious meaning to Allah. Well Maryam Bella Romani,
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 was in utter rukmani Aveda, there is none in the heavens and 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 Salam and including Isaiah
laqad, for whom,
Verily, He knows each one of them, and he has counted them a fool counting, well could loom to melt a matter of fact, 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. And 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 schilke if that person dies, before repenting from it, unless Allah says in Allah Allah, Allah Cubby, well film I do another Anika Masha, are you shocked when I saw this Reisman 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 deep.
And the final advice for those who say that, you know, we partake in these celebrations, and we congratulate as a way to give power. And of course, we were so tired of hearing that that will excuse someone's doing something How long is the one shot like?
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. I 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. Hola. Hola. You taught me in high school. 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 you become accepted and that's better for that one. Realistically, it's the opposite of that.
Are you healthcare, Sharon? nabumetone this is very clear, this is you? This is me. Right?
Not only that, Allah Subhana Allah says in sort of Tulum, what do low to the Hill for you the Hainan or doula to the unifier? The Hainan lot harder lessons.
They wish that you would compromise with them. So they would 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 treaty itself is a result of compromise, to make Christianity appeal to the pagans, and one of the early theologians. There were two of them
One of them whose name is 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 just God, and 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. And he wrote these writings, and then later on a man by the name of St. Athanasius. And if you look up St. Athanasius, 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 discipline 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 Delaware thing, right? And they had this one person, they called him a quote, unquote, an Islamic thinker.
Now, of course, Michelle, everyone is that 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 Islam is a flexible religion. And so now 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 told 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 there Muslims to celebrate Thanksgiving and to adopt other than the ways of the Muslims and to adopt a path besides that of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, Allah subhana wa tada says, In the Quran,
me to see even fitna
feeds network
any
losses, so those who disobey his command, they should be aware that they will be afflicted with a fitna or they will be affected with a painful torment. And the argument also might be to that we want to fit in. But we say okay, we want to fit in. We don't want to be an 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, it says in the Quran, we'll enter the uncle yahood well, and saw Tommy lotto, 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 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's in 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 of alkota, that this is the great abundance given to the present seldom is that
all the good that we do, he gets a reward for it. It's something that's great. And in that light, when you do a bit, you're actually taking away from the potential reward of the profit center. You should look at it under that light.
And the process continues 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.
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 you'll 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 qualifies or aid? Yes. Is a secular non secular doesn't matter. It's a is it? Is it a little further? No.
No. So in that sense, I covered in Sharla zodion, New Year's and every other aid there is an Easter and an 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 pata 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? Well solomo about an item of growth Antonella alameen wa
rahmatullah wa barakato. For more information about our CD to string test