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Look! there goes a Molvi

by Abu Jammaz also publish on Islamic Brother Forum

Sometimes we say things and pay no heed to how it effects our Faith. In our daily lives, many things are done JUST FOR FUN, or at least thats what we think, but does Allah bear it? well I think FUN is the word Allah disregards????!!!!

Indeed FUN is regarded hideous, when it comes to serious matters. I do not need to explain what psychological effects it creats when a person is saying something serious and the listener throws a joke in return!
Islam is really serious about the word ‘FUN’! Salaf had agreed on declaring a person ‘Kafir’ (infidel) who makes fun of any matter of Deen. Sheikh ul Islam Imam Ibn e Taimiyyah, Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab, and others described this point in their scripts and declared such people as Kuffar. The evidence they give is:

Abdullah bin Wahab said, Hisham bin Saad informed me, Zaid bin Aslam narrated, Abdullah bin Umar R.A narrated, in the battle of ‘Tabook’ a person said in one gathering, I have never seen people with such plumpy bellies like our Qurras (reciters) have, nor did I see any big liar than them and nor did I meet anyone having such arrogance while meeting. A man of Masjid said, you lied and you are a hypocrite, I will surely tell this to the Prophet of Allah – and he did. The Verses of Quran revealed. Abdullah bin Umar R.A said, I saw him being dragged by the reigns of the Prophet’s camel (in order to get the attention of the Prophet) and was being tumbled by the rocks and trying to justify:


"We were only conversing and playing”

The Prophet of Allah said:

“Say, "Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?"Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief.”

Isnt this exactly what we say to our religious figures? Molvis do this, they have the most plumpiest bellies, they lie, atleast we are better than them, etc! Same is the case with a person who keeps a beard and a sister who starts wearing Hijaab; we just mock them and try our best to redicule them with the words like Molvi (though it isnt a bad word, but now it is used for mockery) and others. In actual we are mocking ourselves because it is we, who do not follow the commands of Allah and not the one whom we are mocking, because in this case he is a lot better than us, because unlike us atleast he looks like a Muslim. It is a human nature, when a person lacks something, he tries to find errors in others, who do not lack and this way he tries to satisfy himself. When a person keeps a beard, his brothers and friends would surely mock him for the very same reason, because there would be a voice in them cursing them and they would definitely defy him and in this way sometimes lose their Iman.

My topic is general, but the example of beard is so common that I would like to present it as for the common issue:

Sheikh Bin Baaz was asked about the person who makes fun of the fellow Muslim who had kept the beared. He answered thus:

This is different, if he targets the beard which is an order of Allah and is a part of Deen, surely he had commited apostacy (because apostacy is not only commited by words but certain actions also lead towards it, like to spit purposely on Quran, to walk on it and make fun of Deen), as Allah SWT said:


“Say, "Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?" Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief.”

But if his aim is not Deen, rather he is targetting the person for any other reason (like he did not comb it properly), even then it is not allowed in any case and a person is in danger, because at any time he can mistakenly enter into Kufar (infidelity). (Majmo’ Fatawa bin Baaz 28/365, 366)

Sheikh Saleh Al Munajjid declared it as a ‘Fisq’ if not targeted Beard, but if it is done, then Kufar.

So my brothers and sisters in Islam! We must take care of it, because we go too far in making fun of such things and it is more dangerous for us as we are Muslims and we must defend at any case our religious figures and the orders of Allah and must respect them. If we do not respect, then how can we expect from the people of other religions to respect us. I agree that there are number of so called religious figures who have disgraced the name of Islam by their actions, but let me ask you, does it allow you to mock this respectable title of Deen – ‘Molvi’? Islam is not what people practice and what their actions present, it is Quran and the life of our Prophet. The word Molvi is derived from ‘Mawla’ which is the name of Allah SWT and the word ‘Molvi’ means a person referred to Mawla. The reference is towards Allah and was indeed a blessed title until British came to the subcontinent and started bearing hatred in the hearts of the Muslims for those, who were the main threat to their existance. Remember when we are saying the Molvi is bad, it means we are targetting Islam

For example, when we say that the son of so and so is bad, the reason we make the name of the father prominent is that we want to direct this to the father. Which means we target the father more than the son. Same is the case with islamic figures, when we say, that Molvi is bad we direct this to Islam, otherwise there is no logical reason why the name Molvi is pointed rather than calling him by his own name to specify his own personality only.

Similarly, the Fatwah of Imam Abu Hanifa (R.A) is well known as he said, if anyone rejoices while looking at himself in the mirror after shaving his beard, he becomes Kafir, because he feels happiness on disobeying Allah, instead of being ashamed of himself which is (an act of treason) BEWARE my brothers BEWARE!

Similarly, when a person tries to tell us something about Islam, we start making fun of him, like start asking too much questions or annoying him by asking too much stupid questions which also leads to Kufar sometimes and if a person dies in this state, we all know what he shall face!

Furthermore, we see many jokes forwarded on text messages on Hell fire, paradise, molvis, etc. We must fear Allah and immediately remove those text messgaes. We do not even care while making a funny joke on fire, and we all laugh vigorously on it whereas Sahabah used to cry and faint after hearing the name of Hell fire, but what do we do???!!!! We do not pay attention and ague, come on its just a JOKE!

Here are some important things to do:

-Whenever someone tries to say something about Islam, we must listen carefully with respect and humility. Be serious and do not defy or refute in any case, unless there is a problem with that and you have an evidence from Quran and Sunnah against what he said. If you do not have the evidence and proof, stay silent and accept it with heart unless you find out the proof against it, because the person is representing Allah and His Prophet:
“O you who have believed, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet or be loud to him in speech like the loudness of some of you to others, lest your deeds become worthless while you perceive not.”

Raising the voice means to give more value to your statements than the Hadith of the Prophet as described by Prophet of Allah himself when a companion stopped speaking after the revealation of this verse as he thought his voice to be louder than the Prophet’s. Therefore, to give logics and defying the Saheeh Hadith of the Prophet or the verses of Quran is strongly condemned by Islam and a person at anytime can enter into Kufar.

The Salaf had Ijmaa on this Point that refuting or defying any order of Allah intentioally is an apostacy. However, if a person accepts everything by heart but does not fulfill or carry out the commands of Allah and His Prophet, due to laziness or weakness of Faith, then he would be a sinful not Kafir.

-Similarly whoever laughs or jokes on your beard or anything Islamic, try your best to change the topic in order to save him from commiting Kufar.

-Whenever you meet with any ignorant, who do not pay much importance to Islam, say Salam and pass away silently and forbear!As Allah SWT said:

“and when the ignorant address them [harshly], they say [words of] peace,”

-never ever argue without knowledge and especially with Scholars as they are much knowledgeable and know things which you may not be able to know after spending a long period, but yes the discussion is allowed with all due respect.


“Those who dispute (argue) concerning the signs of Allah without an authority having come to them - great is hatred [of them] in the sight of Allah and in the sight of those who have believed. Thus does Allah seal over every heart [belonging to] an arrogant tyrant.”

May Allah show us the right path and save us from such dangers which may become the cause of elimination of our deeds and our Islam! Ameen! 
copied from:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/IslamicBrothers/doc/223313097723350/

The Story of the Bulls (MUST READ)


Umar ibn Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) asked Ubbay ibn Ka?ab (may Allah be pleased with him), ?What is the meaning of Taqwa?? Ubbay ibn Ka?ab said, ?O Amir ul Mu?minin, have you walked on a field that had a lot of thorny plants?? Umar said, ?Yes? Ubbay ibn Ka?ab said, ?So what did you do?? Umar replied, ?I lifted up my clothes and I was very careful,? Ubbay ibn Ka?ab said, ?That is Taqwa.?

We are walking on a field that is full of thorny plants. Shaytan and his followers will try to seduce you and invite you to Evil. So having Taqwa in Dunya is lifting up your clothes and being careful, so that you would not touch this evil. And that is the definition of Taqwa and we ask Allah to make us of those of al- Muttaqeen.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, there?s a famous Story (parable) that I will go through, you may have herd it before, but there are some very important lessons we can learn from it. The story goes like this:

?There were four Cows. One of them was white and the other three were black. They used to live in a dangerous area surrounded by wolves. The way they protected themselves was that they were always together, they would stick together, watch out for each other, everyone was keeping an attentative eye, and they survived, even though the area was surrounded by wild beasts.

But the three black cows had a meeting one day. And they said, ?This white cow is giving us away. When we try to hide at night, because we are black no one can see us, but the enemy is able to see the white cow, so why don?t we just let him go. The three of us will be together and let?s just let the white cow go away because he is just too much trouble.? So now from that day on, the three black cows would be on one side and the poor white cow is alone. They boycotted the white cow.

Now the wolf is very intelligent. He was able to detect the disunity that was amongst these cows. So he made his move and he attacked the white cow, and while he was devouring his flesh, the three black cows were doing nothing. They were watching it, while their brother was being torn into pieces!

But the following night, the wolf attacked the three black cows, why? Because now there were one cow short. So they were not as strong as they were the day before. Because they let down their brother white cow, now the wolf attacked them and was able to snatch away one of the black cows. And now we only have two left.

So the following night, it was an even easier thing for the wolf because only two are left, so he ate one of them. And then on the final night there was only one cow left and the cow was trying frantically to run away from the wolf, but now the cow has no supporter and no helper. So the wolf is pursing it with confidence and he knows this cow will get tired and fall down, there?s nothing the cow could do. Nobody to help him, so the wolf is walking around very happily with confidence, and he pounced at the cow and grabbed him by the neck, and while he did that and the cow was pronouncing his last words, he made a very important statement, a statement that is a great lesson that we can learn from. This black cow said, (while he was dying), ?I was eaten, the day the white cow was eaten. I had signed on my execution form, the day I allowed the white cow to be eaten, that?s when I died. I didn?t die now, I didn?t die today?I died when I allowed the wolf to eat the white cow?

Now brothers and sisters I?m sure some of you have already derived some lessons out of this story. I will now go through some of them Insha?Allah


Lesson 1: The Ummah

This story is a good representation of the situation of the Muslim Ummah today. This is exactly what is happening. We are watching one Muslim nation fall one after another, and we are watching, sitting back, doing nothing. When Palestine was taken, we did nothing. And then one nation after another is falling into problems; you have Kashmir, you have Chechnya, the Muslims in the Philippines, and now we have Iraq, and the Ummah is doing nothing. The Ummah is watching, while Iraq is being devoured. It?s not going to end there, because it?s going to spill over to other countries like Syria and only Allah knows who is next! So those nations weren?t taken today, they were taken along time ago. When we allowed a Muslim nation to fall down, we have allowed the same thing to happen to each and every one of us.


Lesson 2: Unity

This shows us the consequences of having disunity. When these cows didn?t stick together, when the allowed the enemy to snatch one of them away, this is what happened to them, they were all defeated. Dear brothers and sisters, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had given an analogy of the Ummah, Nu'man b. Bashir reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: ?The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever.? [Sahih Muslim, Book 032, Number 6258]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) is saying, if your finger is injured or your foot is injured, any part of the body is injured and you feel that pain, you cannot sleep! And your body develops a fever because your body is trying to fight the bacteria inside the infection. It?s trying to fight the enemy so the whole body gets involved in that process. That is the description the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave of the Ummah.

So if a Muslim, in the East, or in the West, or South or North, whether if it?s in the centre of the body or the tips, where it?s on the finger or the toes, you should feel the same pain as if it is happening to you own family. If you are only concerned about your own safety and the safety of your direct family, then there?s something wrong. You are not really part of the body. The Prophet (peace be upon him) is saying the Ummah is one body, it doesn?t matter if they are split into different political states or if they are in different groups, or if they belong to different Madhahabs, as long as this person is a Muslim; and a Muslim is a person who has a sound belief in Allah, somebody who is not deviant, that?s a Muslim.

The thing is that sometimes we look at it as, ?Only me and my group are Muslim?, Why? Because he doesn?t follow my Jamaa?h, he?s not following my way. As long as you cannot prove that that Muslim is a Kaffir, he?s a Muslim. As long as you don?t have evidence, that such a person is a Murtad (Apostate), he is a Muslim; whether he belongs to the same Madhhab or the same group or the same country, it doesn?t make a difference.

Now we all talk about the importance of having Unity. If we talking about having Unity in terms of having one Group and just abandoning all these different Jamaa?ts and we get ride of all of these different Madhahabs and we?ll all just be copies of each other, that?s an impossible thing to have. What we mean by Unity is that even though your approach to Islamic work might be different, the Madhhab that you follow might be different, however, you are there to help you brother when your brother is in need, that is Unity. You could have different approaches to work, you could be doing different things, because we need different things, the Ummah needs everything today. We have a short coming and deficiency in each and every area, therefore we need Muslims to fill those posts, and therefore our approach would be different. Some people are into Da?wah, some people will be into seeking ?Ilm (Islamic Knowledge), some people will be into ?Ibadaah (Worship), people are different. Not everybody can be a copy of everyone else.

People have different abilities. Some people make good scholars, some people make good Imams, some people make good teachers and some people make a good advisor. People are different. Some people, they are good at doing work, they are not really into talking and theory, they are good at doing the daily work that the Muslims need. Everybody is fulfilling a role. And we need to appreciate that. So what is ment by Unity, it means when your brother is in need, you jump to help him, that is Unity. Regardless of what his ideology is as long as he is a Muslim. That is Unity.

So we have to fulfil the meaning of the hadith, that the Ummah is, ??one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches?? You need to feel the pain and suffering when you see what is happening to your brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. You need to be concerned about what is happening in Palestine and Iraq. You need to be concerned with what is happening in Kashmir, even though it is not you country. And some of these Muslim countries have problems among them, they have wars, they have political problems, but as a Muslim, it shouldn?t make a difference to you. These governments are having problems with each other, but that nation, the Muslims in there are my brothers (and sisters). That?s how you should look at it. So we should have that concern for the Muslim Ummah. The one that is not concerned about the Muslims doesn?t belong to them.

Narrated 'Abdullah: The Prophet said, "Everyone will be with those whom he loves." [Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 73, Number 189] You will be with the people you love on the day of Judgement. If you have love for the Muslims, you will be with the Muslims on the day of judgement. If you have love for the Kuffar, you will be with the Kuffar on the day of Judgement, that?s how it works. That?s the Justice of Allah. Somebody who loves the Muslims, will be with the Muslims, and will follow them wherever they will go. And that?s why on the Day of Judgement, the Prophet (peace be upon him said, ?Allah will tell the people, ?Follow the Gods you used to worship.?? So whoever used to worship the cross will follow the cross, and whoever used to worship an idol will follow that idol. Allah is telling them, if you didn?t worship me, you can?t expect me to give you the Rewards. Go to your gods and tell them to reward you on this day. And then Allah will take all of the false gods and throw them in Hell fire, and there people will have to follow them. Because Allah is just, u did it for Him, He will reward you, but if you did it for somebody else, you go and ask the reward from the other god. And there is No god besides Allah.


Lesson 3: The consequences of betrayal. The consequences of forsaking a Muslim.


Narrated 'Abdullah bin Umar: Allah's Apostle said, "A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim, so he should not oppress him, nor should he hand him over to an oppressor. Whoever fulfilled the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs; whoever brought his (Muslim) brother out of a discomfort, Allah will bring him out of the discomforts of the Day of Resurrection, and whoever screened a Muslim, Allah will screen him on the Day of Resurrection . " [Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 43, Number 622 and Volume 9, Book 85, Number 83; Sahih Muslim, Book 032, Number 6250] The three cows in the story handed the white cow over to the enemy.

Now by doing this, they thought they are securing themselves. They thought they would be safe if they handed over this white cow. This white cow was out spoken, it was causing a lot of trouble, it was being accused of being a terrorist, so let him go, we don?t want anything to do with him. Let him go to jail. But the thing is they don?t realise that it will come to you next. You will be next in line. So brothers, if you want to protect yourselves, now we are not talking about doing anything for your brothers that are down, if you want to protect yourself you need to stop that. You need to stop such things from happening, because as soon as you allow one Muslim to be taken, Allah does not help you anymore. You loose the assistance of Allah. ??Whoever fulfilled the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs; whoever brought his (Muslim) brother out of a discomfort, Allah will bring him out of the discomforts of the Day of Resurrection??If you work to help your Muslim brothers who are in need, Allah will help you when you are in need in the day of judgement.

Now all of us know that we cannot make it alone. Without the help and assistance of Allah, we cannot go anywhere. If you want the assistance of Allah to be on your side, Jump to the assistance of your brother. That?s how you will protect yourself. If you let him (your Muslim brother) down, don?t think that will please you enemy, no! It won?t! They enemy will carry on. Take it as a rule, Shaytan will never be satisfied, will never be happy, until he is able to destroy the entire Ummah. Nothing will satisfy Shaytan. If you try to please him by all means, it?s not going to work. He has been our enemy since the time of Adam and he will carry on being our enemy until the time of the Day of Judgement. Don?t think that you will please him and keep him quiet, by feeding him one of your brothers. No! His hunger is never satisfied. His thirst is never quenched.

If we betray or forsake a Muslim who is in need today, be assured that Allah will forsake us tomorrow. And brothers and sisters, for you who are living in the west, you are living in a dilemma, your children are brought up in a non-Islamic environment and you?re not going to be around, you?re going to die?one day you are going to die and leave them behind. And only Allah knows what their fate will be, possibly they could grow up and become non Muslims, that?s a possibility. We ask Allah that none of our children go astray from the Straight Path, but the thing is that you need to invest for the future of your children. You need to invest something for them, to ensure they will carry on, on the straight path. You don?t want to be held accountable on the Day of Judgement and Allah is telling you, ?You are the ones who brought your families to this Land, therefore you are responsible for what they do in the future. And you will be responsible for generations after generations that come.? So you want to invest for your children. And the way you do that, is by standing up for your brother who is in need of help. Allah will be there for you and will be there for your children.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said in the hadith of Ibn Abbas, ?If you take care of the command of Allah, Allah will take care of you (and you will find Allah with you).? And how does that happen? Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali explains the hadith. He says:

i) If you take care of Allah, Allah will take care of you by keeping you away from vain desires and doubts in Imaan (Belief);

ii) If you take care of the commands of Allah when you are young, Allah will take care of you in you old age;

iii) If you take care of the commands of Allah, Allah will take care of your children.

And Ibn Rajab gives an example of the Last one. He talks about the Story of Musa and al-Khidr. [The full story can be found here : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Islam_True/message/107] Allah says in Quran, ?Then they both (Musa and al-Khidr) proceeded, till, when they came to the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused to entertain them. Then they found therein a wall about to collapse and he (Khidr) set it up straight. [Mûsa (Moses)] said: If you had wished, surely, you could have taken wages for it!"? (Al-Kahf 18:77) Then Al-Khidr explains why he fixed the wall for free, "And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town; and there was under it a treasure belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man, and your Lord intended that they should attain their age of full strength and take out their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of those (things) over which you could not hold patience." (Al-Kahf 18:82)

So Allah took care of the orphans because there father were righteous. These orphans were not old enough to be held accountable, so we could not have known if they were going to be righteous or not, but the reason why Allah put the treasure there was because their father was a righteous man. And the father had already passed away, so Allah was taking care of that mans kids. And Allah sent al-Khidr all the way just to fix that wall, why? This was because their father was a righteous man. So not only will take care of them when you are alive, but he will take care of them after you pass away, what?s better then that?! Therefore we need to be taking care of the Commands of Allah, and don?t think by ducking down you will be safe, you will not, you will be next.

Now dear brothers and sisters, we talked about this issue in general, however some specific in you city, in your own neighbourhood, we are not talking about things that are happening in Iraq or Palestine or somewhere else. In your own city and this country, many Muslims have been arrested. You know when you talk about Guantanamo bay and all that stuff; there is a Guantanamo bay in this country. There were 524 Muslims who were arrested under the new laws and only 2 of them have been charged. You have over 520 Muslims who are locked up in Jail, and are left to rot in there, and they haven?t committed any crime and there no charges brought against them. They are left there in just months on end, to rot there in the prison cells. What have you done for them? Your North African brothers who have nobody to help them in this country, and the Muslim community is not doing anything for them and they are left there, years at end.

One brother was telling me about the conditions of his family; these are poor brothers and sisters, their families are left without any caretakers, and they are suffering poverty, and no one is doing anything for them. And recently there have been some British citizens who were arrested; later on they were released because there was nothing against them. And one of them, he was beaten up by police, when they arrested him, and he did not resist at all, he raised up his hands and the police came in and started beating him up. And then what did they do? After he was bleeding and had a black eye and blood was coming from his ears and urine, the police put him in the posture of sujood and they told him, ?Where is you God now?? Insult to Islam, insult to our religion, insult to our Ummah, you need to do something; you can?t just sit there and watch. This is an insult to our religion, it?s not just an insult to the brother, and it?s an insult to Islam. You putting someone in sujood and telling him where is you god? Allahu Akbar, you are trying to challenge Allah? Allah is Just and Allah will revenge for himself. Allah does not need us. But the thing is that we can?t allow such things to happen and we watch.

You just sit there watching and doing nothing. Thinking by ducking down and being quiet, we will be safe. If you don?t stop it now, it could happen to you, it could happen to your wife, it could happen to your own daughter. You need to stop it in its tracks before it grows. So you need to do whatever you are capable of doing. It?s a responsibility that?s hanging on your neck, its something that you owe to your Muslim brothers, you owe to the Ummah and you owe to Allah. You know you don?t think that our religion is just you talk about theoretical things and we stay away from what is happening to the Ummah. That is why the Muslims in Spain, lost Spain. Al-Makari, who was a classical Muslim historian, said (and this was while the Muslim towns were falling down) , ?The Muslim towns were being invaded by the crusaders by town after another and they were falling one after another and you can walk into the mosques of Andalus and you can hear nothing about what?s happening to the Muslims. Nobody talks about it in the Khuthbah, no body talks about it in the lessons, nothing! The scholars are talking about theoretical things and they are leaving the Ummah, and the Ummah is being betrayed.?

Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, the famous scholar from Andalus, was so frustrated and fed up of the situation of the scholars and the imams of al-Andalus, he said, ?Do not be deceived by these Fusaaq (corrupt people), who claim to be scholars while they are wearing the skins of sheep on hearts of wolves.? He said what are they doing? They are doing nothing for the Ummah. The Ummah is falling down, the Ummah is being fought against, and the land of al-Andalus is being invaded and they are talking about some other issues.

So we need to stand up, we need to immobilise, we need to unify, we need to stand up and make our voice herd and this is an Ibadaah; it is an Ibadaah you are doing. You are worshipping Allah by assisting your brothers. And Allah will save it for you, in Dunya and you will be rewarded in Akhira (the Hereafter). And you are going to need it because the Ummah is going through fitan (Trials and Tribulations), each and every one of us is going through fitan. We ask Allah to protect us, to protect our families, and to protect our descendants?Ameen


And It is Only Allah Who grants success. May Allah Exalt th mention of His slave and Messenger Muhammad, and render him, his household and companion safe from Evil

The Ruling on Christmas & New Year


حكم الاحتفال بعيد ميلاد عيسى والعام الجديد
باللغة الإنجليزية
The Ruling on
Christmas & New Year


  Praise be to Allaah.
           
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said[1] the following in his commentary on the aayah (interpretation of the meaning),
“And those who do not witness falsehood [al-zoor]…” [al-Furqaan 25:72]

As regards the festivals of the mushrikeen: they combine confusion, physical desires and falsehood, there is nothing in them that is of any religious benefit, and the instant gratification involved in them only ends up in pain. Thus they are falsehood, and witnessing them means attending them.
This aaayah itself praises and commends (those who do not witness falsehood), which has the meaning of urging people to avoid taking part in their festivals and other kinds of falsehood. We understand that it is bad to attend their festivals because they are called al-zoor (falsehood).
It indicates that it is haraam to do this for many reasons, because Allaah has called it al-zoor. Allaah condemns the one who speaks falsehood [al-zoor] even if no-one else is harmed by it, as in the aayah forbidding dhihaar [a form of divorce in which the man says to his wife “You are to me like the back of my mother”], where He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“… And verily, they utter an ill word and a lie [zooran]…” [al-Mujaadilah 58:2].
And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“… So shun the abomination of idols, and shun lying speech (false statements) [al-zoor].” [al-Hajj 22:30].
So the one who does al-zoor is condemned in this fashion.
In the Sunnah: Anas ibn Maalik (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:
“The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came [to Madeenah] and they had two days in which they would (relax and) play. He said, “What are these two days?” They said, “We used to play (on these two days) during the Jaahiliyyah.” The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah has given you something better instead of them: Yawm al-Duhaa [Eid al-Adha] and Yawm al-Fitr [Eid al-Fitr].” (Reported by Abu Dawood).
This indicates clearly that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) definitely forbade his ummah to celebrate the festivals of the kuffaar, and he strove to wipe them out by all possible means. The fact that the religion of the People of the Book is tolerated does not mean that their festivals are approved of or should be preserved by the ummah, just as the rest of their kufr and sins are not approved of. Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) went to great lengths to command his ummah to be different from them in many issues that are mubaah (permitted) and in many ways of worship, lest that lead them to be like them in other matters too. This being different was to be a barrier in all aspects, because the more different you are from the people of Hell, the less likely you are to do the acts of the people of Hell.
The first of them is: The hadeeth “Every people has its festival, and this is our festival” implies exclusivity, that every people has its own festival, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“For every [nation] there is a direction to which they face (in their prayers)…” [al-Baqarah 2:148]
…and
“…To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way…” [al-Maa’idah 5:48].
This implies that each nation has its own ways. The laam in li-kulli [“for every”, “to each”] implies exclusivity. So if the Jews have a festival and the Christians have a festival, it is just for them, and we should not have any part in it, just as we do not share their qiblah (direction of prayer) or their laws.
The second of them is: one of the conditions set out by ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with him) and agreed upon by the Sahaabah and by all the Fuqahaa’ after them is: that those of the People of the Book who have agreed to live under Islamic rule (ahl al-dhimmah) should not celebrate their festivals openly in Daar al-Islam (lands under Islamic rule). If the Muslims have agreed to prevent them from celebrating openly, how could it be right for the Muslims to celebrate them? If a Muslim celebrates them, is that not worse than if a kaafir does so openly?
The only reason that we forbade them to celebrate their festivals openly is because of the corruption involved in them, because of the sin or symbols of sin. In either case, the Muslim is forbidden from sin or the symbols of sin. Even if there was no evil involved apart from the kaafir feeling encouraged to celebrate openly because of the Muslim’s actions, how can a Muslim do that? The evil involved (in their festivals) will be explained below, in shaa Allaah.
Al-Bayhaqi reported with a saheeh isnaad in Baab Karaahiyat al-Dukhool ‘ala Ahl al-Dhimmah fi Kanaa’isihim wa’l-Tashabbuh Bihim Yawmi Nawroozihim wa Maharjaanihim (Chapter on the Abhorrence of Entering the Churches of Ahl al-Dhimmah on the Occasion of their New Year and Other Celebrations): From Sufyaan al-Thawri from Thawr ibn Yazeed from ‘Ata’ ibn Deenaar who said: ‘Umar said: “Do not learn the language of the non-Arabs, do not enter upon the mushrikeen in their churches on their feast-days, for the wrath (of Allaah) is descending upon them.”
‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab said: “Avoid the enemies of Allaah on their festivals.”
It was reported with a saheeh isnaad from Abu Usaamah: ‘Awn told us from Abu’l-Mugheerah from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr: “Whoever lives in the land of the non-Arabs and celebrates their New Year and their festivals, and imitates them until he dies in that state, will be gathered with them on the Day of Resurrection.”
‘Umar forbade learning their languages, and even entering their churches on the day of their festival, so how about doing some of the things they do on those days, or doing things that are a part of their religion? Is not going along with their actions worse than learning their language? Is not doing some of the things they do on their festival worse than just entering upon them? If divine wrath is descending upon them on the day of their festival because of what they do, then is not the one who does what they do, or a part of it, also exposed to the same punishment? Do not the words “Avoid the enemies of Allaah on their festivals” mean that we should not meet them or join them on those days? So how about the one who actually celebrates their festivals?
‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr clearly stated: “Whoever lives in the land of the non-Arabs and celebrates their New Year and their festivals, and imitates them until he dies in that state, will be gathered with them on the Day of Resurrection.”
This implies that the one who joins in with them in all of these matters is a kaafir, or that doing this is one of the major sins (kabaa’ir) that will doom one to Hell; the former meaning is what is apparent from the wording.
He mentioned – and Allaah knows best – the one who lives in their land, because at the time of ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr and the other Sahaabah, they used to forbid open celebration of kaafir festivals in the Muslim lands, and none of the Muslims imitated them in their festivals; that was possible only when living in the lands of the kaafirs.
‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) refused to even acknowledge the name of their festivals which were exclusively theirs, so how about actually celebrating them?
Ahmad mentioned the meaning of the reports narrated from ‘Umar and ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with them) on this topic, and his companions discussed the matter of festivals.
Imaam Abu’l-Hasan al-Aamidi said: the one who is known as Ibn al-Baghdaadi said in his book ‘Umdat al-Haadir wa Kifaayat al-Musaafir: “It is not permitted to attend the festivals of the Christians and Jews. Ahmad stated this in the report of Muhannaa, and his evidence for that is the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):
‘And those who do not witness falsehood [al-zoor]…’ [al-Furqaan 25:72].
He said: (This is) al-Sha’aaneen and their festivals. He said: The Muslims are to be prevented from entering upon them in their synagogues and churches.”
Ibn Uthaymeen said the following[2] about this issue:

Greeting the kuffaar on Christmas and other religious holidays of theirs is haraam, by consensus, as Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah: “Congratulating the kuffaar on the rituals that belong only to them is haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying ‘A happy festival to you’ or ‘May you enjoy your festival,’ and so on. Even if the one who says this has been saved from kufr, it is still forbidden. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that. It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realize the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or bid’ah or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allaah.”
Congratulating the kuffaar on their religious festivals is haraam to the extent described by Ibn al-Qayyim because it implies that one accepts or approves of their rituals of kufr, even if one would not accept those things for oneself. But the Muslim should not accept the rituals of kufr or congratulate anyone else for them, because Allaah does not accept any of that at all, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“If you disbelieve, then verily, Allaah is not in need of you, He likes not disbelief for His slaves. And if you are grateful (by being believers), He is pleased therewith for you. . .” [al-Zumar 39:7]
“This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islaam as your religion.” [al-Maa’idah 5:3]
So congratulating them is forbidden, whether they are one’s colleagues at work or otherwise.
If they greet us on the occasion of their festivals, we should not respond, because these are not our festivals, and because they are not festivals which are acceptable to Allaah. These festivals are innovations in their religions, and even those which may have been prescribed formerly have been abrogated by the religion of Islaam, with which Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to the whole of mankind. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning”:
“Whoever seeks a religion other than Islaam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.” [Aali ‘Imraan 3:85]
It is haraam for a Muslim to accept invitations on such occasions, because this is worse than congratulating them as it implies taking part in their celebrations.
Similarly, Muslims are forbidden to imitate the kuffaar by having parties on such occasions, or exchanging gifts, or giving out sweets or food, or taking time off work, etc., because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Whoever imitates a people is one of them.”
Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book Iqtidaa’ al-siraat al-mustaqeem mukhaalifat ashaab al-jaheem:
“Imitating them in some of their festivals implies that one is pleased with their false beliefs and practices, and gives them the hope that they may have the opportunity to humiliate and mislead the weak.”
Whoever does anything of this sort is a sinner, whether he does it out of politeness or to be friendly, or because he is too shy to refuse, or for whatever other reason, because this is hypocrisy in Islaam, and because it makes the kuffaar feel proud of their religion.
Allaah is the One Whom we ask to make the Muslims feel proud of their religion, to help them adhere steadfastly to it, and to make them victorious over their enemies, for He is the Strong and Omnipotent.

[1] Iqtidaa’ al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem Mukhaalifat Ashaab al-Jaheem by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, p. 183.
[2] Majmoo’ah Fataawa wa Rasaa’il al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 3/369
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