Why We Don’t Celebrate Christmas

It was said:

Why We Don’t Celebrate Christmas

I wish to explain to those who are not Muslim some of the reasons why Muslims do not celebrate Christmas.  Now contrary to what many people may think, Muslim do indeed believe in Jesus—not as the Creator of the universe or as the offspring of the Creator of the universe, but as among the most noble, dignified, honorable and righteous creations of God.  If a person does not believe in Jesus, then he cannot be a Muslim.  Muslims also believe that the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, is the greatest of all women.  As a matter of fact the nineteenth chapter of the Qur’an is named for her.

In summary, Muslims believe that Jesus is an Israelite Prophet who was born approximately 2,000 years ago.  God commanded the Angel Gabriel to blow the soul of Jesus into Lady Mary.  Lady Mary was a virgin whom no man had touched.  By the Will of God, Mary became pregnant in this uncustomary manner.  Jesus, when young, studied the genuine Torah that had been revealed to Prophet Moses and had not yet been corrupted.  At the age of 30, Jesus began his mission as a Prophet, a recipient of Divine Revelation, calling the Israelite people and others to the worship of the One, Perfect, Eternal, Incomparable, and Transcendent[1] Creator of the universe.  Jesus also came with a new set of Sacred Laws, which abrogated the genuine Mosaic Law.  Few believed in him—most did not.  Fellow Israelites betrayed Jesus and conspired to have him executed by the Roman state.  Jesus was protected from such treachery; God made Jesus ascend safely to the Heavens; and Muslims believe Jesus will return to Earth before the end of time, inform people that he never called people to a religion called “Christianity,” but that he is indeed among those who submit to the Will and Orders of God, that is, he is a Muslim.

Now what happened to Jesus’ Divine Message was that it was altered, distorted, and appropriated by hypocrites and pagans with ulterior motives and political agendas.  It is from this point historical perspective that I would like to start.  If a person investigates the history of Christianity with an open mind, he (or she) is going to see that the teachings of Jesus have not been reliably preserved or transmitted.  Let us consider that for centuries something as fundamental as to whether or not Jesus was human or (allegedly) Divine was widely disputed.  The standard Christian doctrine of the Trinity was not made official until the Council of Nicea, and this took place 300 years after Jesus was on Earth.  In other words, more time passed than the entire history of the United States of America before Christian leaders determined what was (supposedly) the nature of Jesus.

Also, let us consider what are called the New Testament Gospels.  The Encyclopedia Americana says: “The contents of the New Testament, as we have it today, were not fully compiled until the fourth century.”  In other words the New Testament was not “completed” until 300 years after the time of Jesus.

Furthermore, the oldest New Testaments are in Greek—but Jesus did not instruct his disciples in Greek, but in a language not remotely related to Greek.  Similarly, The Encyclopedia Americana says:

“The New Testament is from beginning to end a Greek book.  Although the earliest oral traditions of Jesus’ deeds and saying undoubtedly circulated in Aramaic [Syriac], which was still the spoken language of Palestine and some other parts of the Near East.”

To add insult to injury, Christian scholars do not know who translated those texts into the Greek language.  Also, Biblical historians doubt about the authorship of all four of what are called the “Gospels.”  Although Christians take the Bible to be the literal word of God, different churches have different Bibles.  We don’t mean here simply different translations into the respective national languages, but that the Catholic Bible does not have the same books as the Coptic Bible.  The Bible of the Ethiopian Church isn’t the same as the Bible of the Syrian Church.  The Protestant Church, which includes numerous denominations, such as, the Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, the Seventh Day Adventists, Anglicans, etc. did not get its start until FIFTEEN HUNDRED YEARS after the time Jesus was on Earth… and their Bible is different from the Bible of the Catholics—and it is from the Catholics whom the Protestants derive their denomination!   For the mindful—and sincere—this is enough to make a person refrain from calling the Bible the word of God, when it is clear it has been altered at the hands of men.

We will now discuss briefly the Islamic belief in the Creator (the Name for the Creator in Arabic is “Allah”).  As for Muslims, we believe that God gave us the faculty of reason, by which we are able—if we employ it—to discern truth from falsehood.  We all know the whole must be greater than the parts.  We all know that the daughter cannot give birth to her own mother.  We all know that something cannot be contrary to definition.  Our minds have inestimable value—and we can use them to recognize the difference between the true belief in God and the numerous false beliefs in God.

Muslims believe there is One, Perfect, Omniscient Creator.  This universe could not have brought itself into being.  Reason necessitates recognizing the existence of the Creator.  The Creator is Beginningless; the Creator is Everlasting; the Creator is not subject to time or change.  The Creator is Transcendent, that is, God is absolutely free-of-need; God isabsolutely different from the creations.  God has no size, shape, or dimensions; God is not a spatial entity; God is not a material or spiritual being; God exists without place or direction; God cannot be imagined.  Everything that exists other than God, whether it be light or darkness, entities, actions or thoughts, time or place is created by the one and only Creator.  God is One with no partners, associates, or similarities.

Muslims do not believe that God is inside of a location, for God is the Creator of all locations, and God existed before the locations.  After God created the locations, God did not transform and materialize in a place.  From this, we know that the Creator exists without being “in Heaven” or “in all places.”  The Creator exists without being inside a place.  Reason tells us that the Creator is not an object (for objects require space, and the Creator of space doesn’t need space); hence, the Creator is not a father, and no person or thing has a “part of God in him.”  This is why, although we recognize the extraordinary conception of Jesus, Muslims do not call Jesus the “son of God.”  And if we take a moment to reflect, we have to recognize that Jesus can’t be God, for God, by definition is Beginningless and Free-of-Need, and Jesus clearly had a beginning, and Jesus clearly was in need.

So when we Muslims are asked why we don’t celebrate Christmas, we politely say that we do not believe that Christmas is in compliance with the true teachings of Jesus.  God is Perfect and God does not change—hence, the true belief in God does not change.  Jesus was an honorable Israelite Prophet who called humanity to worship the one true Creator and not the creations—just as all the Prophets before Jesus did.  And the last Prophet, Muhammad, likewise called humanity to the same irrefutable belief in God that Jesus taught.  If one truly wishes to follow the path of Jesus, then he (or she) has to follow the way of Islam, for Islam is the religion of all the Prophets, and the way to the everlasting bliss of Paradise that Jesus promised.

Praise and thanks to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.