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Christmas
Source: IslamiCity -
Featured on: Dec 25, 2014
Many Christians are unaware that
the true spirit of reverence
which Muslims display towards
Jesus
Many Christians do not know that
in the Holy Quran Jesus
.. We gave Jesus the son of Mary
Clear (Signs) and strengthened
him with the holy spirit. .. Quran 2:87
Behold! the angels said: "O
Mary! Allah gives thee glad
tidings of a Word from Him: his
name will be Christ Jesus, the
son of Mary, held in honor in
this world and the Hereafter and
of (the company of) those
nearest to Allah. Quran 3:45
.. Christ Jesus the son of Mary
was (no more than) an apostle of
Allah .. Quran 4:171
And in their footsteps We sent
Jesus the son of Mary,
confirming the Law that had come
before him ..Quran 5:46
And Zakariya and John, and Jesus
and Elias: all in the ranks of
the righteous: Quran 6:85
The Quranic Titles of Jesus
Though Jesus is mentioned by
name in twenty-five places in
the Holy Quran he is also
addressed with respect as: "Ibne
Maryam” – son of Mary; as Masi
(Heb) Messiah – translated as
Christ; "Abd-ullah" servant of
Allah; "Rasul -Ullah" –
Messenger of Allah.
He is spoken of as “the word of
God”, as “the spirit of God”, as
a “Sign of God”, and numerous
other epithets of honor spread
over fifteen different chapters.
The Holy Quran honors this great
Messenger of God, and over the
past fourteen hundred years
Muslims continue to hold Jesus
as a symbol of truth.
Christmas and 25th of December
Jesus
Grolier’s encyclopedia says:
“Christmas is the feast of the
birth of Jesus Christ,
celebrated on December 25 …
Despite the beliefs about Christ
that the birth stories
expressed, the church did not
observe a festival for the
celebration of the event until
the 4th century…. since 274,
under the emperor Aurelian, Rome
had celebrated the feast of the
“Invincible Sun” on December 25.
In the Eastern Church, January
6, a day also associated with
the winter solstice, was
initially preferred. In course
of time, however, the West added
the Eastern date as the Feast of
the Epiphany, and the East added
the Western date of Christmas”.
So who else celebrated the 25th
of December as the birth day of
their gods before it was agreed
upon as the birth day of Jesus
The Egyptians celebrated this
day as the birth day of their
great savior Horus, the Egyptian
god of light and the son of the
“virgin mother” and “queen of
the heavens” Isis. Osiris, god
of the dead and the underworld
in Egypt, the son of “the holy
virgin”, again was believed to
have been born on the 25th of
December.
The Greeks celebrated the 25th
of December as the birthday of
Hercules, the son of the supreme
god of the Greeks, Zeus, through
the mortal woman Alcmene
Bacchus, the god of wine and
revelry among the Romans (known
among the Greeks as Dionysus)
was also born on this day.
Adonis, revered as a
“dying-and-rising god” among the
Greeks, miraculously was also
born on the 25th of December.
His worshipers held him a yearly
festival representing his death
and resurrection, in midsummer.
The ceremonies of his birthday
are recorded to have taken place
in the same cave in Bethlehem
which is claimed to have been
the birth place of Jesus
The Scandinavians celebrated the
25th of December as the birthday
of their god Freyr, the son of
their supreme god of the
heavens, Odin.
The Romans observed this day as
the birthday of the god of the
sun, Natalis Solis Invicti
(“Birthday of Sol the
invincible”). There was great
rejoicing and all shops were
closed. There was illumination
and public games. Presents were
exchanged, and the slaves were
indulged in great liberties.
These are the same Romans who
would later preside over the
council of Nicea (325 CE) which
lead to the official Christian
recognition of the “Trinity” as
the “true” nature of God, and
the “fact” that Jesus
In Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, Gibbon says: “The Roman
Christians, ignorant of his
(Christ’s) birth, fixed the
solemn festival to the 25th of
December, the Brumalia, or
Winter Solstice, when the Pagans
annually celebrated the birth of
Sol ” vol. ii, p. 383.
Christians opposed to Christmas
There are several Christian
groups who are opposed to
Christmas. For example, they
take the verse from the Bible in
Jeremiah 10:2-4 as an admonition
against decorating Christmas
trees.
The King James Version reads:
"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not
the way of the heathen…. For the
customs of the people are vain:
for one cutteth a tree out of
the forest, the work of the
hands of the workman, with the
axe. They deck it with silver
and with gold; they fasten it
with nails and with hammers,
that it move not."
In order to understand this
subject, it is helpful to trace
some of the history of Christmas
avoidance, particularly its
roots in Puritanism.
The Puritans believed that the
first-century church modeled a
Christianity that modern
Christians should copy. They
attempted to base their faith
and practice solely on the New
Testament, and their position on
Christmas reflected their
commitment to practice a pure,
scriptural form of Christianity.
Puritans argued that God
reserved to himself the
determination of all proper
forms of worship, and that he
disapproved of any human
innovations – even innovations
that celebrated the great events
of salvation. The nameChristmas also
alienated many Puritans. Christmas, after
all, meant "the mass of Christ."
The mass was despised as a Roman
Catholic institution that
undermined the Protestant
concept of Christ, who offered
himself once for all. The
Puritans’ passionate avoidance
of any practice that was
associated with papal Rome
caused them to overlook the fact
that in many countries the name
for the day had nothing to do
with the Catholic mass, but
focused instead on Jesus’ birth.
The mass did not evolve into the
form abhorred by Protestants
until long after Christmas was
widely observed. The two customs
had separate, though
interconnected, histories.
As ardent Protestants, Puritans
identified the embracing of
Christianity by the Roman
Emperor Constantine in the early
300s CE as the starting point of
the degeneration and corruption
of the church. They believed the
corruption of the church was
brought on by the interweaving
of the church with the pagan
Roman state. To Puritans,
Christmas was impure because it
entered the Roman Church
sometime in this period. No one
knows the exact year or under
what circumstances Roman
Christians began to celebrate
the birth of their Lord, but by
the mid-300s CE, the practice
was well established.
Islam requires Muslims to
respect the faith of others
Regardless of historical facts
and theological differences that
Christians may have among
themselves or theological
differences Muslims may have
with Christianity we cannot
disregard the sentiments of
practicing Christians who use
this occasion to revere Jesus
Prophet Muhammad We should never ridicule the religious beliefs of others, no matter how much we disagree with them. God says in the Quran: "And insult not those whom they worship besides God, lest they insult God wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them of all that they used to do". Quran, 6:108 |
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