Accepting A Gift From A Kaafir On The Day Of His Festival
Such As Christmas
Islamic Rulings -
Living Shariah Verdicts
Islamic Questions & Answers
My neighbour is an American Christian, and she and her
family brought me a gift when it was Christmas. I
could not refuse the gift, lest she be offended.
Can I accept this gift, as the Messenger (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) accepted gifts from
kaafirs?.
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
The basic principle is that it is permissible to
accept gifts from kaafirs, so as to soften their
hearts and make Islam attractive to them, as the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
accepted gifts from some of the kaafirs, such as the
gift of al-Muqawqis etc.
Al-Bukhaari gave a chapter in his Sahih the title of:
Accepting gifts from the mushrikeen. He (may Allah
have mercy on him) said: Abu Hurayrah (may Allah have
mercy on him) said, narrating from the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Ibrahim (peace
be upon him) migrated with Sarah and entered a city in
which there was a king or a tyrant, and he said: ‘Give
her Haajar (as a gift).'" And the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) was given as a gift a
(roast) sheep in which there was poison. Abu Humayd
said: The king of Aylah gave the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) a white mule and a
cloak, and wrote to him. And he mentioned the story of
the Jewish woman and her gift of a poisoned sheep to
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him).
Secondly:
It is permissible for a Muslim to give gifts to
kaafirs and mushriks, with the aim of softening their
hearts towards Islam, especially if they are relatives
or neighbours.
‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) gave a hullah
(suit) to his mushrik brother in Makkah, as was
narrated by al-Bukhaari (2619).
But it is not permissible to give a kaafir a gift on
the day of one of his festivals, because that is
regarded as approving of or participating in
celebration of the false festival.
If the gift is something that will help in celebrating
the festival, such as food, candles and the like, then
it is even more haraam, and some of the scholars are
of the view that this is kufr.
Al-Zayla'i said in Tabyeen al-Haqaa'iq (6/228): Giving
gifts on the occasion of Nayrooz and Mahrjaan [two
non-Islamic Persian festivals] is not permissible,
i.e., giving gifts on these two days is haraam, and is
in fact kufr. Abu Hafs and Kabeer (may Allah have
mercy on him) said: If a man were to worship Allah for
fifty years, then on the day of Nayrooz he were to
give an egg as a gift to one of the mushrikeen,
intending thereby to venerate that day, he would have
committed kufr and his good deeds would be cancelled
out. The author of al-Jaami' al-Asghar said: If he
gives a gift to another Muslim on the day of Nayrooz,
not intending thereby to venerate that day, but it is
the habit of some people to give gifts on that day,
then this is not regarded as kufr. But he should not
do it on that particular day; he should do it before
or after, so that he will not be imitating those
people. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever imitates a people is
one of them." It says in al-Jaami' al-Asghar: A man
bought something on the day of Nayrooz which he did
not buy before that. If he intended thereby to
venerate that day as the mushrikoon venerate it, then
he has committed kufr, but if he wanted to eat or
drink or enjoy himself, then he has not committed kufr.
End quote.
It says in al-Taaj wa'l-Ikleel (a Maaliki book –
4/319): Ibn al-Qaasim regarded it as makrooh to give a
gift to a Christian on the occasion of his festival,
or to give palm leaves to a Jew on his festivals. End
quote.
It says in al-Iqnaa', which is a Hanbali book: It is
haraam to attend the festivals of the Jews and
Christians and to sell them things or give them gifts
on the occasion of their festivals.
Moreover it is not permissible for a Muslim to give a
gift to another Muslim because of this festival, as
stated above when quoting the Hanafi view. Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him)
said: Whoever gives a gift to the Muslims during these
festivals unlike what he usually usually at other
times, his gift should not be accepted, especially if
the gift is something that helps in imitating them,
such as giving candles etc at Christmas, or giving
eggs, milk and lambs on Maundy Thursday which comes at
the end of their fast (i.e., the end of Lent).
Similarly, no gift should be given to a Muslim at the
time of these festivals because of the festival,
especially if it is something that helps in imitating
them, as we have mentioned. End quote from Iqtida' al-Siraat
al-Mustaqeem (1/227).
Thirdly:
With regard to accepting a gift from a kaafir on the
day of his festival, there is nothing wrong with that,
and that is not regarded as participating in it or
approving of it, rather it should be accepted as an
act of kindness, with the aim of softening his heart
and calling him to Islam. Allah has permitted kindness
and fair treatment towards the kaafir who is not
fighting the Muslims, as He says (interpretation of
the meaning):
"Allah does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly
with those who fought not against you on account of
religion nor drove you out of your homes. Verily,
Allah loves those who deal with equity"
[al-Mumtahanah 60:8]
But kindness and fair treatment does not mean
friendship and love, because it is not permitted to
take a kaafir as a friend or love him. Allah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"You (O Muhammad) will not find any people who believe
in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with
those who oppose Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad),
even though they were their fathers or their sons or
their brothers or their kindred (people). For such He
has written Faith in their hearts, and strengthened
them with Rooh (proofs, light and true guidance) from
Himself. And He will admit them to Gardens (Paradise)
under which rivers flow, to dwell therein (forever).
Allah is pleased with them, and they with Him. They
are the party of Allah. Verily, it is the party of
Allah that will be the successful"
[al-Mujaadilah 58:22]
"O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your
enemies (i.e. disbelievers and polytheists) as
friends, showing affection towards them, while they
have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth"
[al-Mumtahanah 60:1]
"O you who believe! Take not as (your) Bitaanah
(advisors, consultants, protectors, helpers, friends)
those outside your religion (pagans, Jews, Christians,
and hypocrites) since they will not fail to do their
best to corrupt you. They desire to harm you severely.
Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, but
what their breasts conceal is far worse. Indeed We
have made plain to you the Ayaat (proofs, evidences,
verses) if you understand"
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:118]
"And incline not toward those who do wrong, lest the
Fire should touch you, and you have no protectors
other than Allah, nor you would then be helped"
[Hood 12:113]
"O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the
Christians as Awliyaa' (friends, protectors, helpers),
they are but Awliyaa' of each other. And if any
amongst you takes them (as Awliyaa'), then surely, he
is one of them. Verily, Allah guides not those people
who are the Zaalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers and
unjust)"
[al-Maa'idah 5:51]
and there is other evidence which indicates that it is
haraam to take a kaafir as a friend or love him.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on
him) said: As for accepting a gift from them on the
day of their festival, we have quoted above that ‘Ali
ibn Abi Taalib was brought a gift on the occasion of
Nayrooz and he accepted it.
Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated that a woman asked ‘Aa'ishah:
We have some wet nurses from among the Magians, and
they have a festival on which they bring us gifts. She
said: As for what is slaughtered for that day, do not
eat it, but eat from their vegetables.
It was narrated from Abu Barzah that he had some
Magian neighbours who used to bring him gifts on the
occasion of Nayrooz and Mahrjaan, and he used to say
to his family: Whatever is of fruits, eat it, and
whatever is otherwise, reject it.
All of this indicates that the festival does not make
it forbidden to accept their gifts, rather the ruling
is the same whether it is their festival or not,
because that does not involve helping them with the
symbols of their kufr.
Then he pointed out that meat slaughtered by a kitaabi
(Jew or Christian) is halaal except that which is
slaughtered for their festivals, which it is not
permissible to eat. He said (may Allah have mercy on
him): It is only permissible to eat of the food of the
people of the Book, during their festivals that which
has not been slaughtered for the festival, whether it
is bought or received as a gift. As for meat
slaughtered by the Magians, the ruling on that is well
known, and it is haraam according to all. As for that
which is slaughtered by the people of the Book for
their festivals and that which they slaughter as an
act of worship to draw close to anything other than
Allah, as the Muslims offer sacrifices as an act of
worship to draw closer to Allah, namely as that which
they sacrifice to the Messiah, two views have been
narrated from Ahmad concerning that, the most well
known of which in his texts is that it is not
permissible to eat it even if the name of something
other than Allah has not been mentioned over it. The
prohibition on that was narrated from ‘Aa'ishah and
‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar … End quote from Iqtida' al-Siraat
al-Mustaqeem (1/251).
Conclusion: It is permissible for you to accept the
gift from your Christian neighbour on the day of their
festival, subject to the following conditions:
1 – This gift should not be meat that has been
slaughtered for the festival.
2 – It should not be something that may be used to
help in imitating them on the day of their festival,
such as candles, eggs, palm leaves etc.
3 – You should explain to your children the belief in
al-wala' wa'l-bara' (loyalty and friendship vs.
disavowal and enmity), lest a love of this festival or
a fondness for the giver be instilled in their hearts.
4 – The gift should be accepted with the aim of
softening her heart and calling her to Islam, not with
friendship and love.
If the gift is something that it is not permissible to
accept, then the refusal to accept it should be
accompanied by an explanation of why it is being
refused, such as saying, "We only refused your gift
because it is meat that was slaughtered for the
festival, and it is not permissible for us to eat it,
or these things are only accepted by those who are
taking part in the celebrations, and we do not
celebrate this festival, because it is not part of our
religion, and it involves beliefs that we do not
believe in" and so on, which is a starting point for
calling them to Islam and explaining the danger of the
kufr that they follow.
The Muslim should be proud of his religion and apply
its rulings, and he should not give them up out of
shyness or to impress anyone, for Allah is more
deserving of us feeling shy before Him.
Please see also question no. 947 and 13642 for more
information.
And Allah knows best.
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