Ruling On The Muslims Celebrating At The Time Of Christmas And Decorating Their Homes With Balloons
Islamic Rulings -
Living Shariah Verdicts
Islamic Questions & Answers
What do you say to Muslims in the United Kingdom
who celebrate at Christmas time by holding dinner
parties in their houses on Christmas or afterwards,
for their Muslim families, such as preparing roast
turkey and the other dishes of the traditional
Christmas dinner, and they adorn their houses with
balloons and paper chains, and they do the "secret
Santa" tradition, whereby each relative brings a gift
for one of the people present and these gifts are
brought to the party to be given to the one for whom
he bought it, without the recipient knowing who he is.
["Secret Santa" is a new, growing custom among
non-Muslims who celebrate Christmas, and is in
accordance with their belief in the myth of Santa
Claus].
Is this action regarded as halaal or haraam, if no one
is attending this party except Muslims (relatives and
family members)?.
Praise be to Allaah.
There is no doubt that what is mentioned of
celebrations is haraam, because it is an imitation of
the kuffaar. It is well known that the Muslims do not
have any festival apart from Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha,
and the weekly "Eid" which is Friday (Yawm al-Jumu‘ah).
Celebrating any other festival is not allowed and is
either of two things: either it is an innovation (bid‘ah),
if it is celebrated as a means of drawing close to
Allah, such as celebrating the Prophet's Birthday (Mawlid);
or it is an imitation of the kuffaar, if it is
celebrated as a tradition and not as an act of
worship, because introducing innovated festivals is
the action of the people of the Book who we are
commanded to differ from. So how about if it is a
celebration of one of their actual festivals?
Decorating the house with balloons at this time is
obviously joining in with the kuffaar and celebrating
their festival.
What the Muslim is required to do is not to single out
these days for any kind of celebration, decorating or
adornment, or special foods, otherwise he will be
joining the kuffaar in their festivals, which is
something that is undoubtedly haraam.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him)
said: Similarly it is forbidden for the Muslims to
imitate the kuffaar by holding parties on these
occasions, or exchanging gifts, or distributing sweets
or other foods, or taking time off work and so on,
because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) said: "Whoever imitates a people is one of
them." Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book
Iqtida' al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem Mukhaalifat Ashaab al-Jaheem:
Imitating them on some of their festivals implies that
one is happy with the falsehood they are following,
and that could make them (the non-Muslims) take this
opportunity to mislead those who are weak in faith.
End quote.
Those who do any of these things are sinning, whether
they do it to go along with them, or to be friendly
towards them, or because they feel too shy (to refuse
to join in) or any other reason, because it is a kind
of compromising the religion of Allah to please
others, and it is a means of lifting the spirits of
the kuffaar and making them proud of their religion,
End quote from Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 3/44
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on
him) was asked about a Muslim who makes the food of
the Christians on Nawrooz (Persian New Year) and on
all their occasions such as Epiphany and other feast
days, and who sells them things to help them celebrate
their festivals. Is it permissible for the Muslims to
do any of these things or not?
He replied: Praise be to Allah. It is not permissible
for the Muslims to imitate them in any way that is
unique to their festivals, whether it be food,
clothes, bathing, lighting fires or refraining from
usual work or worship, and so on. And it is not
permissible to give a feast or to exchange gifts or to
sell things that help them to celebrate their
festivals, or to let children and others play the
games that are played on their festivals, or to adorn
oneself or put up decorations. In general, (Muslims)
are not allowed to single out the festivals of the
kuffaar for any of these rituals or customs. Rather
the day of their festivals is just an ordinary day for
the Muslims, and they should not single it out for any
activity that is part of what the kuffaar do on these
days.
End quote from al-Fataawa al-Kubra, 2/487; Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa,
25/329