Is it permissible for me to say to non-Muslims "And the same to you" when they wish me a Happy New Year or say Best Wishes?
Islamic Rulings -
Living Shariah Verdicts
Islamic Questions & Answers
Is it permissible for me to say to
non-Muslims "And the same to you" when they wish me a
Happy New Year or say Best Wishes?.
Praise be to Allaah.
It is not permissible to greet or congratulate the
kuffaar on the occasion of Christmas, New Year or any
of their other holidays, and it is not permissible to
respond to them when they greet us on those occasions,
because they are not festivals that are prescribed in
our religion, and returning their greeting is an
affirmation and approval of them. The Muslim should be
proud of his religion and its rulings, and he should
be keen to call others and convey to them the religion
of Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him)
was asked about the ruling on greeting the kuffaar on
the occasion of Christmas and how we should respond
when they greet us on this occasion. Is it permissible
to go to the parties that they hold on this occasion?
Is a person sinning if he does any of the things
mentioned without intending to, and he only does it to
be nice, or because of or shyness or embarrassment or
other reasons? Is it permissible to imitate them in
that?
He replied:
Greeting the kuffaar on the occasion of Christmas or
any of their other religious holidays is haraam
according to scholarly consensus, as was stated by Ibn
al-Qayyim in his book Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, where he
says:
"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." End
quote.
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."
[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
End quote from Majmoo' Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn
‘Uthaymeen, 3/44.
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