Humbled by the Muslim response to Christians at Christmas time

Each Christmas, my family receives more greetings and gifts from Muslim friends than from fellow Christians.

We treasure handmade cards by Muslim children who do not celebrate Christmas. We cannot dismiss these efforts as tokenistic as they are annual and original. They are not five-second, to-from cards but well-worded peace messages in English and Arabic.

I only wish we took the time to reciprocate this goodwill gesture at the two Islamic Eids, their religious festivals, annually.

Throughout my childhood, we would be visited by Lebanese Muslim friends laden with generous gifts. This did not mean they had suddenly elevated the prophet Issa, as Jesus is known, to the son of God.

Their faith was not compromised and we felt humbled and honoured.

As I write this article, there is a knock on the door. Ahmad, my late father’s carer when he had Alzheimer’s, arrives looking like a bearded, smiling Santa bearing gifts.

When people say to him ”You do this but you are a Muslim?” he replies ”I do this because I am a Muslim”.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE AGE

Jews, Muslims support Christian neighbors

Volunteering on Christmas day brings a double reward for Nancy Welber-Barr of West Bloomfield.

Not only is she receiving the joy of giving back on Mitzvah Day, a community-wide day of volunteering, she also receives the gift of giving back.

“It’s a real bonus. I like to be able to help other people, and I also get the chance to help people enjoy their holidays,” she said.

Sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit, Mitzvah Day combines efforts of local volunteers who step in to help local charities on the holiday and provide the opportunity for Christian volunteers to take the day off to celebrate the tradition of Christmas.

“It’s a chance to give Christians a chance to celebrate without feeling like they have neglected their volunteering duties,” Barr said.

The Jewish community has been sponsoring Mitzvah Day in the Metro Detroit area for some 20 years and this is the fourth year that area Muslims will join with them in an effort to relieve their Christian neighbors of their volunteer responsibilities on Christmas.

FULL ARTICLE FROM OBSERVER AND ECCENTRIC 

A Palm Sunday Parable For Christians: The Good Muslim

Excerpt:

“A man was traveling from Washington DC to Manassas in the predawn hours Friday morning. At a stoplight, a gang broke his window and dragged him from his car. They stripped him naked, beat him to a pulp, took his wallet, his laptop, his iPhone and his car, leaving him on the sidewalk half dead.

A Catholic priest drove by minutes later and stopped at the light. He saw the man bleeding on the concrete and trying unsuccessfully to stand, but it was a seedy part of town, so he continued on his way.

Then a Protestant minister drove up and stopped at the light, but he too sped off as soon as the light turned green. But a Muslim, driving that same road, stopped at the light and saw the man. His heart was moved with pity, so he covered the man’s nakedness with a raincoat, helped him get in the car, and drove him to the nearest clinic.

When they arrived, the man had passed out, perhaps from loss of blood. The clinic did not want to take this unconscious naked man with no ID or proof of insurance, but the Muslim insisted, giving them his credit card and promising he would pay whatever it cost.”

When he finishes telling this parable, Jesus asks the Christian* ministers, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was beaten and robbed?”

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES