Why celebrating Christmas is worse than murder in Islam
As Christmas approaches, it is worth noting that you should not expect your Muslim colleagues to attend the Christmas parties (unless they are nominal Muslims of course!). Do not expect them to wish you a merry Christmas as well. In fact, you may have heard the saying that “Celebrating Christmas is worse than murder!” if you pay attention to the YouTube Dawah scene.
On first sighting, this sounds ludicrous, it is a hyperbole of almost Shakespearean standard but as crazy as it sounds, there is very sound Islamic logic behind this.
By the way even if you have not heard the “Christmas is worse than murder” saying, you must have at least heard of Muslims worldwide absolutely flipping out about the footballer Mohammed Salah sharing a picture of himself and his family celebrating Christmas on social media. Why so mad though?
Allah says in the Quran,
“Lo! Allah forgiveth not that a partner should be ascribed unto Him. He forgiveth (all) save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners to Allah, he hath indeed invented a tremendous sin.”
(Surah 4:48)
And again,
“Lo! Allah pardoneth not that partners should be ascribed unto Him. He pardoneth all save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah hath wandered far astray.”
(Surah 4:116)
In other words, there is one sin Allah can NEVER forgive and that is the sin of associating a partner with him. To associate a partner with Allah is to acknowledge another God beside him. Remember the Shahada,
“I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger”
The very premise behind Christmas is that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God. Christmas day is a celebration of the birth day of God’s Son. This, in Islamic theology, is the unforgivable sin, a sin so gruesome that the very earth is going to split asunder,
“You have certainly made an outrageous claim,
by which the heavens are about to burst, the earth to split apart, and the mountains to crumble to pieces
in protest of attributing children to the Most Compassionate.
It does not befit ˹the majesty of˺ the Most Compassionate to have children.”
(Surah 19:89–92)
Even Muhammad in the hadith says the greatest enemy of Allah is the one who calls himself the king of kings,
“Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “The most awful name in Allah’s sight on the Day of Resurrection, will be (that of) a man calling himself Malik Al-Amlak (the king of kings).”
(Sahih Bukhari Book 78 Hadith 229)
This is one of the names the exalted Jesus Christ of the New Testament bears,
“ And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.”
(Revelation 19:16)
So in the Islamic framework and to the devout Muslim mind (again, not the mind of someone who claims to be a Muslim but cannot even pronounce his prophet’s name correctly), it does make sense that celebrating Christmas would be celebrating the divinity of Jesus which would be ascribing a son to Allah and associating a partner with him. A murderer stands a chance of being forgiven, especially if the murder is done in the name of Allah, as it is written,
“Allah has indeed purchased from the believers their lives and wealth in exchange for Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah and kill or are killed…”
(Surah 9:111)
There is no forgiveness for a person who associates partners with Allah. The only certain fate that awaits such a person is eternal torment in the pits of hell!
The irony in all of this is that the Quran accepts the Christmas story. It accepts the virgin birth at least 3 times (Surah 5, Surah 3 and Surah 19), but unlike in Christianity where the story makes sense in context of the theology, the Christmas story makes no sense in Islam.
Why is Jesus born of a virgin in Christianity? Because He is the divine son of God who had a lineage unrelated to Adam and because He is not part of Adam’s lineage, He is not tainted with Adam’s sin and because He is not tainted with Adam’s sin, He can die to save sinners from sin. This is literally why He is called Jesus,
“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
(Matthew 1:21)
Why exactly is Jesus born of a virgin in Islam? Allah knows best!
And if any Muslim says they know why, I look forward to interacting with your reasons in the comments.
