Wow- I used to hate it when I saw 'Xmas' as a christian and now I'm writing it freely lol. But I had started not observing this 'holiday' even when I was still a christian along with my family because that day is not historically accurate as Prophet Isa's birthday. Now I reject it more due to the excessive commericalism
Thank God for youtube and the internet because I never knew so many people shared my beliefs about Xmas.
As a muslim, I am struggling with how to approach this day in regards to my family- I usually still gathered presents and join them around the tree. But now with my first December 25th as a muslim, I need to make some choices- Do I get presents for the sake of a family gathering? Pressure to conform? What about my family refusing to give me Eid presents? Is is immature or proactive to not share in their holiday when they didn't share in mine? What about my workplace, a public school with Xmas all over the place? Or my town for that matter? [I have had a few occasions when I said to a student that I don't celebrate and they look at me with a mixture of sadness and surprise lol] And what about my husband's muslim family who puts up a tree and exchanges presents [though they have done the present exchange on New Years and I'm ok with that, celebrating a new year with renewed happiness and all that]
One item I've found that is interesting- is it true that saying Merry Christmas is acknowledging that you are celebrating Prophet Isa's birth and that he is viewed as the son of the almighty? I understand the concepts of intention of just responding back to a person but not beleiving it but I also feel that you are acknowledging the pagan origins, the Christian beliefs of the prophet, and the commericalism of the day.
Also- this summarizes my views concisly
"The argument that “Christmas is, after all, Prophet Jesus' birthday and so there is no harm in celebrating Christmas” is neither logical nor Islamic. Why should Muslims celebrate Jesus' birthday? Why not the birthdays of the other 24 prophets and messengers who are mentioned in the Qur'an by name? For us Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the final Prophet and Messenger of Allah, not Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus was the last one and they say that "after God spoke through many prophets … in these last days he spoke to us through his son whom he made to inherit every thing" (New Testament, Hebrews 1:1). Thus they celebrate his coming, but for us Muslims, Prophet Muhammad was the last Prophet and Allah appointed him for all people and for all times to come."http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543368
I have found alot of other great information from the 'net and hope to find some answers here and I pray to Allah for guidance and peace of mind on this issue. Alhamdulliah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnTCIDCMcJ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oj5LcxxFfg
http://www.soundvision.com/info/christmas/ctreat.asp
http://www.jannah.org/articles/xmas.html
http://www.babble.com/Would-having-a-tree-betray-our-faith-A-Very-Muslim-Christmas-Hadeel-Masseoud/
