What is wrong with wishing Merry Christmas?

In the Name of Allah,

All praise is due to Allah, the one who holds my life in his hand.

I received a question over the weekend that reminded me to write about this topic. For muslims living side by side with non-muslims, it becomes very odd and confusing at the time of non-Islamic religious holidays. And, one of the biggest question that bother people is that should we greet them in their holiday, or not?

Sole purpose of Islam is to establish civlized, mannered, and curteous society. As the messenger of Allah (PBUH) said himself.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I was sent to perfect good character."
(Malik's Muwatta Book 47, Number 47.1.8)

So, Islam would never teach to be rude or disrespectful, because that would be contrary to the purpose of messenger of Allah's life.

However, it does not mean that we disobey Allah to make non-muslims feel good, and anything that is prohibited should not be done for the sake of good manners, because Allah has best manners, and he never prohibits something that is good for us.

In essence, we have to find out if saying "Merry Christmas" violates an order of the Allah (remember that order of the Prophet (PBUH) is from Allah and not from himself so that counts as well).

First condition to be a Muslim is to proclaim that none worthy of worship beside Allah, and if someone worships other than Allah would automatically leaves Islam. This should be pretty clear, and no evidence is needed here. If one disagree with this, there are bigger issues to discuss then a greeting.

“Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” Narrated by Abu Dawood (4031)

Above hadith talks about the actions that are specific to Christians, and no other nation use it beside in the context of Christians. For example, wearing cross (with bottom end elongated) etc. If a person imitates the unique aspect of a nation or race, Islam consider that person to be one of them, but that is not why this greeting becomes prohibited. This is just to remind ourselves to not lose our identity.

Christmas is a religious celebration for the birth of Jesus, and there are billions of Christians who pray in the church on this day, and consider this to be the most sacred day. There are some who consider it to be a secular holiday, but those are still following the traditions of the practicing Christians. Regardless, it is pretty safe to say that Christmas is a religious holiday for some.

For Christians, worshiping God includes many things, and it varies from one sect of Christians to the next. It includes, certain time of the year, certains words uttered, certain traditions followed, certain rituals performed. Similarly, Muslims worship God by celebrating Eid, and greet each other on the day of Eid. In addition, Muslims are required to greet with salam each other, and it is considered part of worshiping Allah.

Now, the only question remains is "Is saying Merry Christmas, part of Christian worshipping tradition?" If it is, then we are prohibited to initiate or respond with that greeting. However, we can respond their greeting with a "Thank You", since we should appreciate their gesture to include us in their celebration.

For the greeting to become part of worship, we have to show that a group of followers consider it to be such, regardless of what other non-practicing people consider it to be.

Christmas is a religous celebration, where worship is performed by Christians on this day. Many church services include a traditional christmas greeting which in most part of the world is "Merry Christmas".

Following two images shows that greeting on Christmas is part of the traditions, and all such traditions performed by Pope in Catholicism are considered to be part of worship. So, greeting for Christmas is part of worship for this religion.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7706419-merry-christmas-greeting-messages/image/69016735-pope-benedict-xvi-is-greeted-by-cardinals-during-the-traditional-exchange-of-christmas

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7706419-merry-christmas-greeting-messages/image/69016737-pope-benedict-xvi-sits-during-the-traditional-exchange-of-christmas-greetings-to-the-curia

Now, once we have proven that greeting for Christmas is part of the worship, lets look at the words used by the Pope to make that greeting. In the following offical letter, the Pope is greeting the followers with Christmas greetings, and says "...Merry Christmas and very many good wishes also for the New Year! ". Here the words "Merry Christmas" are the greeting for christmas, and rest is the wish for new year. Wishing a new year is not proven to be religous for a specific religion, and he is using it because of the proximity of the two. So, Wishing new year is not prohibited due to the fact that it is not connected to religious ceremony. However, this letter ties the words "Merry Chrsitmas" to the leader of a Christian sect using it to recognize his dedication to his beliefs, which is the definition of worship.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/december/documents/hf_ben_xvi_spe_20061222_curia-romana_en.html

Hence, the greeting "Merry Christmas" is part of worshiping other then Allah, and is a violation of the first oath a Muslim takes when he or she becomes a Muslim. Please do not take it lightly because our faith depends upon rejecting the worship of birth and death of Jesus. If we wish someone this greeting, we are participating in the activity that glorifies the worship of someone other than Allah.

Would you wish someone, when they move in together to fornicate (couples without marraige), or they about to suicide, or stealing, or opressing someone? I hope not. So, why would you wish someone when they are celebrating commiting the biggest sin of all "Shirk" (biggest self inflicted wound or Zulm a human can do).

There is nothing wrong with wishing someone Happy New Year or Happy ThanksGiving, but it is wrong to wish a non-muslim on their religous celebration, because by definition they are celebrating "Shirk" (polytheism) and they are commiting suicide in the life hereafter.

I want all the non-muslims to succeed (become muslims), and will never cheer at their demise, which will be wishing them "Merry Christmas".

JazakAllah Khairin
a struggling muslim

AbuArman (Adnan Jumani)