The imam\nbegan by referencing the 140th ayat of Sura An-Nisa which is translated to\nsay:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has already revealed to you in the Book that when you hear\nAllah\u2019s revelations being denied or ridiculed, then do not sit in that company\nunless they engage in a different topic, or else you will be like\nthem.1 Surely Allah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers all\ntogether in Hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear\nbrothers and sisters, it is clarified by Allah SWT in the Glorious Quran that\nthere is no religion to be followed except the religion of Islam. That is not\nto say that the religions that predated Islam were invalid, it is simply that\nthe religion of Islam, which is to submit to Allah SWT alone and to worship Him\nalone, is now conveyed through the teachings revealed to the final Prophet\nMuhammad SAWS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are to\nbelieve in his message but also to believe in all the messengers that came\nbefore the Prophet Muhammad SAWS and all their messages, provided that they do\nnot contradict the message of the Quran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear\nbrothers and sisters, we live in a country in which we have celebrations that\nare both religious and secular. We need to be mindful that we do not imitate\nthe celebrations of a religion that is not ordained in our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One such\nexample of this celebration is the one we have at this time of year. In a\nfestival that involves Christmas Trees and Santa Claus, both by the way that\nhave no origin in Christianity either, we need to be clear that this is not a\nreligious holiday that we celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The imam\nwarned us of following in the footsteps of other religions and imitating them\nby relaying the following hadith which is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Prophet (\ufdfa) said, “You will follow the wrong ways,\nof your predecessors so completely and literally that if they should go into\nthe hole of a lizard, you too will go there.” We said, “O Allah’s\nMessenger (\ufdfa)! Do you mean the Jews and the Christians?” He replied,\n“Whom else?” (Meaning, of course, the Jews and the Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear\nbrothers and sisters, to accept our religion is to accept our obedience, which\nis to always follow the commandments, even when the going gets a bit tough. This\nmay appear like a difficult ask and in the current climate asking this may\nraise the question of us being perceived as intolerant to others. However, this\nraises a wider question of mutual respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see, we\nlive in a city in which people are from many different faiths and backgrounds.\nThe local children for example attend a school in which all different faiths\nare taught. They are taught how Muslims and Jews do not eat pork. They are\ntaught Hindus do not eat beef. And they are taught how Christians celebrate the\nbirth of Jesus Christ on December 25th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nalongside these facts about their faiths, the children are taught respect for\none another. Growing up they have friends from all different religions but they\nare taught that if they are to progress in society then having a difference in\nfaith does not mean having intolerance for the other person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are\ntaught that if a Hindu is present, offering beef may be disrespecting that\nperson\u2019s faith. They are taught that if a Muslim is present, offering bacon may\nbe disrespecting that person\u2019s faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so they\nare taught that being different is OK, provided you do not force your opinion\nonto others. Provided you do not be hateful towards others. Provided you show\nkindness, respect and tolerance towards others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear\nbrothers and sisters, this is what is taught to us in the Glorious Quran.\nUnderstand the message of Sura Kafiroon and you will see that difference in\nopinion on the most important of topics, faith, can exist in a society and yet\nstill have a society that functions. This is what our faith teaches us and what\nwe must teach ourselves and our children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The imam\nreminded us of the 72 ayat of Sura Al-Furqan which is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u02f9They are\u02fa those who do not bear false witness, and when they\ncome across falsehood, they pass \u02f9it\u02fa by with dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear\nbrothers and sisters, Christmas is a time when living in the UK it is\nimpossible to escape this festival. But actually we don\u2019t have to. Take\nhappiness from the fact that others are using this time to think of family and\nof friends. Take happiness from the fact that this is the time when schools are\noff, family-friendly movies are on TV, adults have holiday leave from work and\neven as Muslims, we get the time together with our family and our loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We don\u2019t\nneed to believe in Christmas to take all that is good from this time of year.\nWe do though need to remind ourselves that our identity cannot be compromised\nduring this time of year. We need to hold firm to our belief on who Prophet\nJesus or Isa was. What he stood for and why we don\u2019t celebrate this festival.\nWe need to use this opportunity to create common bonds with those people who\nalso think of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. But alongside that, we hold\nfirm to our teachings of tolerance, respect and kindness to all of Allah SWTs\ncreation, Muslim or otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The imam began by referencing the 140th ayat of Sura An-Nisa which is translated to say: He has already revealed to you in the Book that when you hear Allah\u2019s revelations being denied or ridiculed, then do not sit in that company unless they engage in a different topic, or else you will be like them.1 Surely […]<\/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-2765","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\/2765","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=2765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2765\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}