Farooq Siddique: If I were to doubt Jesus, I would no longer be Muslim
Ask any Muslim and they will tell you that Jesus was not born on December 25; that historically, December 25 was the time for celebrating the birth of Mithra, the Sun-god; that indeed, most of the rituals of modern day Christianity are remarkably similar to that ancient Persian religion; that even the Christmas tree is a pagan ritual; and that Jesus stood against all notions of the capitalist festival that Christmas has today become.
But Muslims should know that Christians lament all this too.
For Christians, Christmas really is about celebrating the birth of Jesus. And in that, we as Muslims can stand with them. Let us come together on what binds us.
Muslims also believe that Jesus was born miraculously, without a human father, to be a sign, like the similitude of Adam – God simply says "Be" and it is. In the Quran, Jesus is given many auspicious titles: the "Messiah", the "Spirit" of God, the "Word" of God, as well as a Prophet, and a Messenger. We believe he was "raised up to heaven" and that one day, he will return, just before the end of time, to do battle with, and defeat the Anti-Christ.
If I were to deny, or even doubt, any of this, I would, quite simply, no longer be Muslim.
The Prophet Muhammad said: "To those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I and my followers defend them, and by God, I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them.
"Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs, nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet.
"Verily, they have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them.
"Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (of Muslims) is to disobey this covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)."
So, if you haven't yet written Christmas cards for your friends and neighbours; do it now. Send one to every house in your street. And then relax and enjoy your halal Christmas turkey. Be assured, it's not a sin.
It is the season of goodwill, and there is much goodwill that we, as Muslims, have to share.
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by whitey, Bristol
Wednesday, December 30 2009, 8:00PM
“Here is a thought for the day.If a Somali has eight kids and the eight kids each have eight kids.How much benefits will the poor Taxpayer stump up?Fact of the day.Migrants have the biggest birth growth in Britain.Don't panic Mr Mainwaring, we have the Greenbelt and Labour intends to build on it.”
by Fed up, Easton
Tuesday, December 29 2009, 10:07AM
“Muslims show little tolerance to other faiths, claiming they are all pagan, and only their Islamic faith is the truth and the word of God.
If you truly feel like that then why live in the West at all, and spend all your time trying prove that everything about the West is bad.
If you feel under threat from Christians or want the country to become more Islamic, there is absolutely no need. There are several places in the world that will absorb you and your theories with no objections. Its called the middle east and as Muslims you are all welcome to go and live there. Lets see if after spending 5 or 10 years there, you still have the same views.”
by big issue, Bristol
Monday, December 28 2009, 9:37PM
“The big plan is a Multi-cultural one Religion Europe.Trouble is no one Told the Public.Muslims feel under threat and become more Islamic.Same with non Church going People.They also feel under threat and want to become more Christian.People feel the need to be Brainwashed and Controlled.The place where it all started is were people feel that killing a fellow Human is still the right thing to do.That stealing land of another race is ok because God is on your side and you have the Mother of all bombs finance by the good old USA.Most Brits had no Idea of Islam or bad feelings.Yet we are always reading of some poor Person who the baying crowd wants to behead.The USA and Britain should stop meddling and bring up the drawbridge.We all need to break off from our oil dependency it is madness or Karma for all our sins.”
by Ricardo, Bristol
Monday, December 28 2009, 1:03AM
“Mr Cynical, The City.
Although the church is in decline I'd argue that the fabric of society is held together by the pillars of strengh and the foundation of the churces throughout each and every community. It's these buildings that remind us of our greatness, stablility, family morals and traditions. There's always a friend or someone to listen amonst us and always a building to protect us.
The kingdom of heaven is within us.”
by hannah, bristol
Monday, December 28 2009, 12:15AM
“ok, so it was 30-70 years after his death, but there is so much contradiction about this its hard to know what to believe.”
by hannah, bristol
Sunday, December 27 2009, 11:34PM
“mazz? how can you say jesus was mentioned in the old testament but not as 'jesus' some do believe that the words our lord and saviour were actually in hindsight references to jesus but that is just pure assumption, most of the old testament was apparently written before jesus birth, but there is no EVIDENCE to prove jesus as we know him was ever mentioned in the old testament. and when i mentioned king herod i was referencing the bad parts of the bible, the book that you devout christians think is so great.it was originally thought herod was jewish but its not known for sure as you have already stated some of the scriptures are not accurate!!
@marina When was the new testament written then?”
by Marina, Bristol
Sunday, December 27 2009, 10:48PM
“And by the way Hannah, the scriptures of the New Testament were written by the 12 Apostles and most of those books are letters of advice and encouragement to the early Christian congregations which existed in Greece, Turkey and Rome and who I believe, unless they lived to be 300 years old, were not around 200 years after Jesus died.”
by Mazz, Bristol
Sunday, December 27 2009, 10:44PM
“Well Hannah, Jesus is in fact mentioned in the Old Testament, but not by the name Jesus, which is not given to him until his birth. His existence in heaven is noted in the book of Genesis and his birth is prophesied in many other books of the Old Testament. And people are led to believe that the so called "Kings" were present at the stable because of the lack of accuracy in people's study of the scriptures. I don't think it is very fair of people to presume they know every tiny detail of the bible when they have probably never made an effort to gain accurate knowledge or understanding of it and just follow secular understanding. Seems to me people just like to have a good old moan for no reason. And by the way Herod wasn't a Christian, because the Christian faith didn't exist yet!!”
by hannah, bristol
Sunday, December 27 2009, 2:46PM
“jesus was not mentioned in the old testament, he was mentioned in the new testament which was written 200-300 years after his death.”
by hannah, bristol
Sunday, December 27 2009, 10:58AM
“@mazz also, why have we been led to believe that the three kings visited jesus in the stable, there you go! it proves my point, its all contradictory, and that part about killing the children, not very christian is it?”