{"id":2478,"date":"2019-12-20T11:04:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T11:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/?p=2478"},"modified":"2019-12-20T11:04:34","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T11:04:34","slug":"christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/12\/20\/christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The imam began by referencing the 19th<\/sup> ayat of\nSura Imran which is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the religion in the sight\nof Allah is Islam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear brothers and sisters, it is clarified by Allah SWT in\nthe Glorious Quran that there Is no religion to be followed except the religion\nof Islam. That is not to say that the religions that predated Islam were\ninvalid, it is simply that the religion of Islam, which is to submit to Allah\nSWT alone and to worship Him alone, is now conveyed through the religion\nrevealed to the final Prophet Muhammad SAWS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are to believe in his message but also to believe in all\nthe messengers that came before the Prophet Muhammad SAWS and all their\nmessages, provided that they do not contradict the message of the Quran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Muslims, if we understand the definition of Muslim correctly\nthen we know that those who followed their messengers in the past were also\nMuslim as the message revealed came also from Allah SWT. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, since the Prophet Muhammad SAWS came down with the final\nmessage, it is a fact that the religion of Islam will be valid from his time\nand until the end of time. There is to be no other religion or message that\ncomes after this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are explicitly told in ayat 85 of Sura Imran that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And whoever desires other than\nIslam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the\nHereafter, will be among the losers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The imam also mentioned a hadith in which this point is\nmentioned. It is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Messenger of Allah (\ufdfa)\ndelivered a moving speech to us which made our eyes flow with tears and made\nour hearts melt. We said: ‘O Messenger of Allah. This is a speech of farewell.\nWhat did you enjoin upon us?’ He said: ‘I am leaving you upon a (path of)\nbrightness whose night is like its day. No one will deviate from it after I am\ngone but one who is doomed. Whoever among you lives will see great conflict. I\nurge you to adhere to what you know of my Sunnah and the path of the\nRightly-Guided Caliphs, and cling stubbornly to it. And you must obey, even if\n(your leader is) an Abyssinian leader. For the true believer is like a camel\nwith a ring in its nose; wherever it is driven, it complies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear brothers and sisters, we live in a country in which we have\ncelebrations that are both religious and secular. We need to be mindful that we\ndo not imitate the celebrations of a religion that is not ordained in our own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such example of this celebration is the one we have at\nthis time of year. In a festival that involves Christmas Trees and Santa Claus,\nboth by the way that have no origin in Christianity either, we need to be clear\nthat this is not a religious holiday that we celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to accept our religion is to accept our obedience, which\nis to follow the commandments at all times, even when the going gets a bit\ntough. We had an example from back then when Muslims used to pray facing\ntowards the city of Jerusalem before the order came to face towards the Qibla.\nThis was done immediately and without question and that is the level of worship\nwe look to attain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And therefore as we have been given clear direction in our\nreligion, some of it will overlap previous religions but some of it will be different.\nThe celebration of Christmas is one of these examples and it is something which\nis not considered permissible to celebrate and so we should follow the correct\nreligion and avoid doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear brothers and sisters, this may appear like a difficult\nask and in the current climate asking this may raise the question of us being\nperceived as intolerant to others. However, this raises a wider question of\nmutual respect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, we live in a city in which people are from many\ndifferent faiths and backgrounds. The local children for example attend a\nschool in which all different faiths are taught. They are taught how Muslims\nand Jews do not eat pork. They are taught Hindus do not eat beef. And they are\ntaught how Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But alongside these facts about their faiths, the children\nare taught respect for one another. Growing up they have friends from all\ndifferent religions but they are taught that if they are to progress in society\nthen having a difference in faith does not mean having intolerance for the\nother person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are taught that if a Hindu is present, offering beef\nmay be disrespecting that person\u2019s faith. They are taught that if a Muslim is\npresent, offering bacon may be disrespecting that person\u2019s faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so they are taught that being different is OK, provided\nyou do not force your opinion onto others. Provided you do not be hateful\ntowards others. Provided you show kindness, respect and tolerance towards\nothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear brothers and sisters, this is what is taught to us in\nthe Glorious Quran. Understand the message of Sura Kafiroon and you will see\nthat difference in opinion on the most important of topics, faith, can exist in\na society and yet still have a society that functions. This is what our faith\nteaches us and what we must teach ourselves and our children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is a time when living in the UK it is impossible\nto escape this festival. But actually we don\u2019t have to. Take happiness from the\nfact that others are using this time to think of family and of friends. Take\nhappiness from the fact that this is the time when schools are off, family-friendly\nmovies are on TV, adults have holiday leave from work and even as Muslims, we\nget the time together with our family and our loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t need to believe in Christmas to take all that is\ngood from this time of year. We do though need to remind ourselves that our\nidentity cannot be compromised during this time of year. We need to hold firm\nto our belief on who Prophet Jesus or Isa was. What he stood for and why we\ndon\u2019t celebrate this festival. We need to use this opportunity to create common\nbonds with those people who also think of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. But\nalongside that, we hold firm to our teachings of tolerance, respect and\nkindness to all of Allah SWTs creation, Muslim or otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The imam began by referencing the 19th ayat of Sura Imran which is translated to say: Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam Dear brothers and sisters, it is clarified by Allah SWT in the Glorious Quran that there Is no religion to be followed except the religion of Islam. That is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_regular_price":[],"currency_symbol":[],"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-2478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-christmas"],"blocksy_meta":[],"post_slider_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","post_slider_layout_landscape_large":"","post_slider_layout_portrait_large":"","post_slider_layout_square_large":"","post_slider_layout_landscape":"","post_slider_layout_portrait":"","post_slider_layout_square":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}