Can a muslim celebrate a non muslim holiday like Thanksgiving?
Praise be to Allaah.
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. 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 aceept 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.” [Aal ‘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.
Majmoo’ah Fataawa wa Rasaa’il al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 3/369
islamqa.com
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In real life, for example, if you owned a store and you’re watching your store, and then suddenly someone comes in and steals some of the merchandise and then leaves your store while greeting you ‘As-salaamu alaykum,’ would you say ‘Wa alaykumus-salaam, have a good day!’ and just let him leave OR would you tell that person ‘Hey, Stop!!! Thief!’
The same way, based on historical facts, we know that Jesus wasn’t even born on Dec. 25! Christian scholars themselves admit this! So based on this, we can’t participate and acknowledge their holiday, even by just greeting them back because we know this is not correct.
As for ‘keeping the rope,’ we do that by being nice to them, treating them with good manners and character as was the example of our Prophet (may Allaah exalt his mention), and all this shoudl be with the intention to invite them to Islaam. We ‘keep the rope’ with them, but not at the expense of disobeying Allaah. Otherwise, you break the rope between you and Allaah whilst keeping the rope with the people, this is not the way. Never compromise your Islaam for the sake of pleasing the people.
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One of the du’aat also put it this way, he said, “If someone greets you, ‘Happy Satan’s Day!’ would you greet him back, ‘Happy Satan’s Day to you too!’?”
You wouldn’t right? Is Christmas or these other holidays from Allaah? No!!! If it’s not from Allaah, then who is it from? The Shaytaan! So acknowledging their holidays by greeting them back is just like saying ‘Happy Satan’s Day to you too!’ (not to mention how many sins are being commited during these days…alcohol, gluttony, extravagance, music, mixing, etc).
May Allaah protect us from participating in these evil acts.
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But of course, I understand that one doesn’t want to be rude by not saying anything (but this doesn’t mean that we should go ahead and compromise our deen and just carelessly return the greeting). There must be limits. And we should have more shame (and taqwa) towards Allaah than towards the people.
So what do you say then well-wishers wish you a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year” etc.?
Suggested Answer:
Depending on each person’s situation and knowledge, somebody greeting you a ‘Merry Christmas’ is a very good opportunity for da’wah (inviting people to Islaam)-> for those who are striving to get more rewards from Allaah.
One could just politely say with a smile, ‘Thank you, but as Muslims, we don’t celebrate Christmas.’
(With this, you maintain your politeness, being nice and formal, at the same time, you’re preserving the dignity for the deen and for yourself as a Muslim who is upon the truth, not stooping down just to please them. And in your heart, just make du’aa that Allaah will them to Islaam)
And you could (and should) continue by explaining the status of Jesus in Islaam, that we believe as Muslims that he is the Messiah, we believe in the virgin birth, we believe that he performed miracles by the will of Almighty God (Allaah), and so on… (you’ll be surprised that most Christians don’t know how much Islaam and Christianity have in common about their beliefs about Jesus, they just think that Muslims hate Jesus, and this is totally false!)
May Allaah help us do that which would be more pleasing to Him ameen.
posted by UMA