NOTE: WHAT FOLLOWS IS NOT NECESSARILY REFLECTIVE OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN GENERAL. IT DOES, HOWEVER, REPRESENT TRADITIONAL MUSLIM CRITIQUES OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY WITH REGARD TO THE PERSON OF JESUS.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, right? Christmas has come. The Christmas trees, filled stockings, mistletoe and bright lights are spectacular. What’s not to like?
So how come Muhammad down the street is not soaking up the holiday joy? I don’t see his house decorated with lights, or a tree in his house.
Trust me, your Muslim neighbor isn’t a grinch. He or she just doesn’t celebrate Christmas, and here’s why.
As we know, Christmas is a religious affair celebrating the birth of Christ, whom Christians believe to be the son of God, and a part of God Himself. Unlike our Christian brethren, Muslims don’t ascribe to this belief. Muslims believe, as the Qur’an states, that “The Majesty of our Lord is exalted. He has taken neither wife nor son unto Himself.”
Muslims are also uncomfortable with the possible connections that Christmas may have with pagan traditions. Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer writes, “The coincidences of the Christian with the heathen festivals are too close and too numerous to be accidental. They mark the compromise which the Church in the hour of its triumph was compelled to make with its vanquished yet still dangerous rivals.”
A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice: 