New Year, and with every Christian holiday

All praise is to Allah. We thank Him, depend on Him, seek guidance through Him, ask Him for forgiveness and seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and sinful nature of our deeds. Whoever God guides, nobody can misguide and whomever God misguides, you shall not find for him or her guide. I bear witness that there is nobody worthy of worship except God alone, who has no partner. He is One, the Absolute, the Eternal. He does not beget, nor is He begotten, and there is none like Him. I also bear witness that our master, our prophet, Mohammad, is God’s servant, messenger and friend. He delivered the message, upheld the trust, gave advice to the Ummah (community), uncovered the sorrow and left us on the bright path, its night like its day, only those who are perished deviate from it. May God’s blessings be upon him, his pure family, his companions, and all of those who followed their way until the Day of Judgment. May God’s approval be upon them and us. O servants of God, I advise you and myself to be God-conscious, to follow his commandments and to fear him. Obey God and his messenger so that you may be under God’s mercy. O believers, Allah Almighty says, “O you who believe, be God-conscious as he deserves, and die not except in the state of Submission (Islam)” (3:102).

With every New Year, and with every Christian holiday, we see Muslims take different positions, regarding what is most suitable during these occasions. There are those Muslims who celebrate Christmas more than many Christians and at the same time, there are those Muslims who do not see value in congratulating their Christian neighbor, partner, relative or teacher in regards to their holidays, even though these same people may have congratulated them regarding their own Islamic holidays. Perhaps they have even given their Muslim friends some gifts during Eid. There is another type of Muslim who completely refuses to congratulate others on their holidays, as if it is a prohibited sin, to the point that some may consider it an unbelieving action. This is another type of Muslim.

So what is the best position between these extremes? Brothers and sisters the most suitable Islamic position is that we are peaceful and friendly with those non-Muslims who are peaceful and friendly with us, even if they were pagan, so what if they were People of the Book? Allah Almighty says, “Allah does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of your religion, and have not driven you from your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with them justly; surely Allah loves the doers of justice.” (60:.

Please know, o Servants of God, that God does not command against good will towards people who are not Muslim, whether it be good will in social interaction or good will in congratulating them during their holidays, as this is good will that is not prohibited by Allah, especially as we live amongst them, interact with them in this country. So perhaps there may be a special obligation of keeping in touch with Christians, as there may be relation or marriage that bind you together. People of relation have rights of communication and kinship and one must respect those rights, even if the relation is not Muslim.

Asma Bint Abi Bakhr, may God be pleased with both of them, came to the Prophet, pbuh, and said: “O Messenger of God, my mother has come, should I still maintain kinship with her, even if she still has not embraced Islam?” The Messenger of God said: “Maintain kinship with your mother.” Even in the case of neighbors, they have their own rights. There was one time during Eid that Abdullah bin Amro said to his son: “Do not forget our Jewish neighbors if a sacrifice is made for Eid.” Every time he entered or left, he kept reminding his son to not forget their Jewish neighbors. One day his son said, you have reminded me too many times to take care of our Jewish neighbors. So he said, “I heard the Prophet, pbuh, say: ‘Angel Jabreel (Gabriel) has advised me to take care of the neighbor so many times, to the point that that I thought they will inherent me.’” It is clear through these examples that neighbors indeed do have rights. At the same time, it is incumbent upon us to maintain a balance in regards to engaging the People of the Book in their holidays, as it is very possible that behaving like a certain people may make you one of them. Muslims should have their own distinct Islamic identity and Mohammedan manners, which we would be proud of as a fine example of manners and mercy calling onto God with wisdom, good logic and excellence in logic, discipline and speech, as the Muslim preacher is appealing, not a deterrent, makes things easier, not harder. A Muslim is truthful and may take advantage of these holidays to show others what Islam is really about, as this is what the Prophet, pbuh, used to do during the Meccan pagan holidays.

My Muslim brothers and sisters, its our obligation to show people who Jesus son of Mary really is and show them that God Almighty has given Christ the highest rank and status, to be God’s servant.

Bokhair narrates that Muslim bin ‘Abada, may God be pleased with him, that the Prophet, pbuh, said: “Whoever bears witness that there is nobody worthy of worship except God, who has no partner, and that Mohammad is His servant and messenger, and that Jesus is the servant of God, Messenger and the His Word and Soul that He had given to Mariam, and that Paradise is true, that Hellfire is true, God allows him/her to enter paradise according to their deeds”

We believe in Jesus, peace be up on him, we believe in the original Gospel, we believe in the original Torah and we believe in all the Prophets. Allah Almighty says, “…we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit” (3:84). The Eman (faith) and Islam (submission) of a believer is not complete unless they believe in all God’s previous books and messengers. Whoever does not do this, Islam considers them a non-believer. Allah Almighty says: “Surely those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers and those who desire to make a distinction between Allah and His messengers and say: We believe in some and disbelieve in others, and desire to take a course between this and that. They are in truth unbelievers; and we have prepared for unbelievers a humiliating punishment.” (4:150-151). Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to believe in all the messengers, whoever disbelieves in one Prophet, it’s as if they had disbelieved in all of them. Verily, we do believe in, Christ, Jesus son of Mariam as a messenger and prophet ranked high amongst messengers and we believe that God revealed to him the Gospel, which contained guidance, light and we believe in his truthful innocent honorable pure mother, Mariam bint ‘Imran.

The Quran contains many of the signs and miracles of Jesus, pbuh, that has not been mentioned in the Gospel, therefore unknown to the Christians. For example, the Quran mentions that Jesus spoke as a baby, which is not mentioned in the gospel. Also mentioned in the Quran is that Jesus used to mold clay into the shape of a bird, blow into it and it would come alive, all with the permission of God almighty. This miracle is in addition to healing the deaf, the blind and bringing the dead back to life. Another miracle mentioned by the Quran is the table spread that was brought down from the sky that was requested by the disciples. Allah Almighty says, “…O Allah, our Lord! Send down to us food from heaven which should be to us an ever-recurring happiness, to the first of us and to the last of us, and a sign from Thee, and grant us means of subsistence, and you are the best of the Providers. Surely I will send it down to you, but whoever shall disbelieve afterwards from among you, surely I will chastise him with a chastisement with which I will not chastise, anyone among the nations” (5:114-115).

The Quran has mentioned the story of Jesus in many of its Surahs. There is a Surah called “Surat Mariam.” In this Surah, the birth of Jesus is described in detail. Also there is another Surah called “Surat Al ‘Imran.” Al ‘Imran is the family of Christ, pbuh. The grandmother of Jesus, who is the wife of ‘Imran, is highlighted by the verse: “When a woman of Imran said: My Lord! surely I vow to you what is in my womb, to be devoted to your service; accept therefore from me, surely you are all Hearing, all Knowing.” (3:35) The story of Jesus is a great thing to Muslims, but Christ in the Quran narrative is not a god, Son of God or the third of three. Allah Almighty says: “Certainly they disbelieve who say that God is the Messiah, son of Mariam. The Messiah said: O Children of Israel! serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be no helpers for the unjust” (5:72). How can Christ be God as he is calling to worship God alone, calling against associating anybody with God, with punishment promised against those who do associate anybody with God.

When Jesus was born he spoke. The Quran talks about what he said: “Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and poor-rate so long as I live” (19:30-31) Jesus remained worshipping God all of his life. Does God worship or is He worshiped? The Quran says: “And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to you, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to say; if I had said it, you would indeed have known it; you know what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in your mind, surely you are the great Knower of the unseen things. I did not say to them except what you had commanded me: To serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord, and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when you do cause me to die, you were the watcher over them, and are are witness of all things. If you should chastise them, then surely they are your servants; and if you should forgive them, then surely you are the Mighty, the Wise.” (5:16-18).

I say these words and I seek refuge God Almighty’s forgiveness for myself, my parents and for all the Muslims.

بارك الله فيك اخي العزيز وجعلها في ميزان حسناتك

» Friday Khutbah: The New Hijri Year 11/25/2011