Every year, I hear about a pamphlet or a message inciting Lebanese Muslims not to celebrate Christmas and calling it a holiday for the “Kuffar”. I never knew who’s behind these campaigns but they definitely do not reflect the values and traditions of our Lebanese society. Muslims and Christians in Lebanon are used to celebrate their holidays together, whether it’s Christmas, Ramadan, Adha or Easter. I personally love attending Iftars during Ramadan and wish everyone around me a Merry Christmas, whether they are Muslims, Druze or even atheists.
Just to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with Muslims refusing to celebrate Christmas, but what’s unacceptable is using the “Kuffar” pejorative to describe others. If Muslims want to celebrate Christmas with their Christian friends, they should be free to do so the same way Christians should be free to have an Iftar with their Muslim friends.
All in all, Christmas is a joyous time of the year where people bring gifts to each other and have family dinners. Most Muslims I know celebrate Christmas and even put Christmas trees at their place because they love the customs and traditions. I don’t believe there’s a need to dig into religious interpretations and label people as “Kuffar” and spoil the holidays for everyone. Lebanese in general should be free to celebrate any holiday and can refrain from doing so if they are not comfortable with it.
Merry Christmas to all my Muslim and Christian friends!
I’m a Muslim and I love Christians a lot, I wear a cross, I have a bible in my closet and Christmas is my favorite holiday.
Muslems should not celebrate Christmas… It is ok to wish Merry Christmas to their Christian friends or relatives and yes it is a nice holdiay of love and family…. but still not for Muslems….as Muslem religious celebrations are not for Christians … they can join iftar or can give theri greetings but those holidays not for them… We all need to keep our identity…. in religion too….. we can and we must live in peace apart from religion we follow…. but we should not pull other religions’ holiday into our one. And we can not be honored while we are running after other religions traditions…we must follow and protect our religion traditions and work on it to adapt as much as we can into our changing life….
I’m an absolute moderate muslem lady before anybody thinks me being extremist… but I still think the idea is absolutely wrong to follow other religions….
PS: You never see a Christian wearing medal of Allah or reading Quaran…. and thats right way
Leyla: “You never see a Christian wearing medal of Allah or reading Qoran….”. I think that’s pure BS.
I have a Qoran, and my father very often quotes from the book…And do you know that there are dozens books in French and English explaining / clarifiying its sourates ? Now, go back to your cave and try to ponder on that.
F*** you
Hi.. Im christian lebanese and I celebrate muslim holidays with my muslim friends.. And they celebrate christian holidays with me everytime… We would never change this for anything in the world… My muslim friends are close to me like my family and nothing nor nobody would change that…
It should come out natural that Lebanese share their celebration customs. If muslims got invited or invited their friends over for christmas dinner this doesn’t mean they gave up their religious values; The fact that am a muslim never holds me back from celebrating christmas or easter.
btw: i think this notion is built in us since childhood it should not be faked. We should all get back to the platform of moderation.
However on calling people “Kuffar”, in religious texts this is described as “فتنة”
The following is from the Prophet Mohammed (p.b.u.h.) hadith
“قوله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «مَنْ لَعَنَ مُؤْمِنًا فَهُوَ كَقَتْلِهِ، وَمَنْ قَذَفَ مُؤْمِنًا بِكُفْرٍ فَهُوَ كَقَتْلِهِ”
The following is form the Holy Quraan:
“إن الله عليم بذات الصدور ”
Why would any human have the will to judge people ? Isn’t this what god do ?
Lol Leila is idiotic and ignorant for all I know. She needs to learn English before arguing. Celebrating each other’s festivities and enjoying them doesn’t mean you are losing your identity. I can’t believe I’m even answering back to her.
As for this message being circulated all around, the person who created it is a genius because he made us give him so much importance that we are actually discussing it right here. Just ignore and enjoy the holidays. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY MUSLIM FRIENDS.. Can’t wait for Ramadan to come.
I’ve never seen this, thanks for pointing it out. It’s also important to note that this is probably a fringe group while mainstream Muslim organizations and villages are supporting the holiday with tons of Christmas spirit:. See: http://www.beirutreport.com/2013/12/hezbollah-tvs-special-christmas-coverage.html
Guys please grow up, freedom of expression and religious belief are the cornerstone of human rights. Whether you agree or disagree, we all live in the same country and the only way to preserve it is by exhibiting respect to others everyday of the year and not only during holidays. Please do whatever you like, but do not offend or insult your compatriots.
I do not need anyone to tell me what is right and what is wrong, I can decide for myself. I’m not Christian but I do celebrate it with my friends and colleagues. No one has the right to even argue about it.