O believers, servants of Allah, fear Allah and obey Him, be submissive to Him. Thank Almighty Allah for guiding you to the straight path, while most people have gone astray and deviated from the commands of their Creator.
وَاذْكُرُوهُ كَمَا هَدَاكُمْ وَإِن كُنتُم مِّن قَبْلِهِ لَمِنَ الضَّالِّينَ
praise Him for having guided you, for surely before this ˹guidance˺ you were astray. (Quran, Surah “The Cow,” 2:198)
O people, one of the great prophets and messengers of the Almighty Creator, one of the five most outstanding and revered of all messengers—Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus, son of Mary), peace be upon him and his mother. Almighty Allah sent him to the children of Israel with true guidance, revealed to him the Scripture—the Injil (Gospel), and commanded him to give glad tidings of the coming of the last, final messenger from the Almighty Creator, who would complete the chain of divine messengers—Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). And Almighty Allah spoke of him in the Quran:
وَقَفَّيْنَا عَلَى آثَارِهِم بِعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَآتَيْنَاهُ الْإِنجِيلَ فِيهِ هُدًى وَنُورٌ وَمُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَهُدًى وَمَوْعِظَةً لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ
Then in the footsteps of the prophets, We sent Jesus, son of Mary, confirming the Torah revealed before him. And We gave him the Gospel containing guidance and light and confirming what was revealed in the Torah—a guide and a lesson to the God-fearing.
(Quran, Surah “The Table,” 5:46)
However, as time passed, those who declared themselves followers of Christ, followers of Jesus, began to introduce various innovations into his teachings, so that, in the end, the teaching of Isa (Jesus) became so distorted that virtually nothing of it remained. What is now called the teachings of Christ has very little in common with the message that Jesus brought to the people from his Creator. Moreover, the teaching that is today called the teachings of Christ contradicts Jesus’ teachings in major points and contradicts him on the most important principle, the key principle—the principle of Tawhid (the Oneness of God). Jesus came to the people to call them to worship only the one Creator—the Lord of all worlds, the true God, the one and only God. But they, calling themselves followers of Jesus, began to worship Jesus himself, declaring him the only begotten son of God, then they began to worship his mother, declaring her the Mother of God, and later started to worship the apostles and various holy righteous people.
And one of these innovations, which has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus, the Sharia of Jesus (peace be upon him), or the Sharia of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), is the celebration that many are about to observe in the coming days.
O Muslims, O servants of Allah, even if Jesus himself had established this holiday—the New Year’s celebration—we still would not have the right to observe it. Why? Because after Isa (peace be upon him), Allah sent His final messenger to humanity—Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)—and His final Scripture, the Quran. And the Quran abrogates and invalidates everything that came before it, and if something from the previous Scriptures does not align with the Quran and the Sunnah, the Sharia of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), then it is abrogated and not accepted by the Creator, and it is meaningless to observe it. What can we say then about this celebration, which has no relation whatsoever to any of the religions that came from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He)?
❓⚠ Where did this celebration come from, this so-called New Year, which has so firmly entered the hearts of many people? This celebration was introduced into Christianity from paganism, from idolatry, from polytheism. In fact, idolatry and paganism began to infiltrate the rituals and influence the teachings of those who declared themselves champions of Christianity very early on. What was called Christianity absorbed many pagan rituals, many beliefs of the ancient sins, the ancient Romans, and others, eventually making these pagan rituals the foundation of this religion and attributing them to the Messiah—Jesus (peace be upon him) and his apostles, even though they had no connection to these practices whatsoever. One of these unacceptable rituals is the pagan holiday, the festival of idolatry, which is called Christmas and which is called New Year’s. The celebration of these holidays is accompanied by a whole range of impermissible actions: polytheism (shirk), paganism, a whole range of sins, a whole range of misconceptions.
Unfortunately, even some Muslims today have not been able to avoid celebrating these days with their pagan rituals. Calls to celebrate this holiday pour in on believing Muslims and their children from everywhere: from television screens, websites, the internet, and street advertisements. Even more alarming is when Muslims themselves start to congratulate others on these forbidden holidays, begin to regard them as their own, start to celebrate them, give gifts to loved ones, visit each other, rejoice, and have fun. If you wish well for people, you must certainly explain to your loved ones, to those around you who have fallen into this great sin, who have been deceived by the bright colors of this holiday, about the harmfulness of this celebration and keep them away from it.
✔ As for Christmas, followers of modern Christianity celebrate it as the birthday of Jesus (peace be upon him).
However, in reality, not only is the exact day of Jesus’ birth unknown, but even the year of his birth is uncertain. Christian historians disagree about the year of Jesus’ birth (peace be upon him), let alone the month and the day.
This holiday was invented in the middle of the 4th century of Christianity. Where did it come from? From idolatry, from paganism. The Romans, who were pagans, celebrated this day as the day of the sun god. They worshiped the sun along with other gods. When the Romans converted to Christianity in the 4th century of the Christian era, church officials decided to attract the newly converted masses of Christians by combining this widely celebrated holiday with a Christian feast. So they declared this day—the day of the sun god—as the birthday of Jesus.
✔ As for New Year’s, this was also a celebration in pagan Rome — the festival of the two-faced god Janus.
That is the New Year! They celebrated the festival of Janus, the god of choices and beginnings. And with the arrival of Christianity to them, of course, in its distorted form, traditional festivals were simply replaced with new ones, with rituals of the new religion. To prevent the Romans from turning away from this religion, the church officials used this trick: they simply began replacing these holidays with other names. They declared this day—the day of the god Janus—as the Feast of the Lord’s Circumcision—December 31 to January 1. They said it was the day when Jesus was circumcised, because it was exactly seven days after his birth, and the Jews traditionally performed circumcision on the seventh day.
And on these days, they go to churches, sing hymns, exchange gifts, and offer greetings. They tell their children that gifts are brought by Saint Claus, or Saint Nicholas—a hermit saint who supposedly lives somewhere at the North Pole.
They teach children to pray to Saint Claus/Saint Nicholas/Father Frost. And then, if you pray to him, he will bring you gifts at night while you sleep and answer your prayer.
And during these days, they set up Christmas and New Year’s trees.
✔ “Why are we telling all this?” you might ask. We wouldn’t be telling this and wouldn’t need to know about it if many Muslims weren’t ensnared by Satan in these nets. We’re talking about this so that Muslims understand where the roots of all this nonsense come from, which many engage in like madmen these days; so that people are wary of it; to warn others against it. As Huzeyfa, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “People usually asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about good, but I asked him about evil, fearing that it would befall me.” (al-Bukhari 3606, Muslim 1847)
✔ The tradition of the New Year’s tree is also borrowed from idolaters, pagans. Pharaohs, ancient Chinese, followed by the Romans and Greeks, considered the evergreen tree to be a tree of eternal life, a tree of success and prosperity. Therefore, when the Greco-Romans adopted Christianity, the churchmen, as usual, distorting the religion, introducing some innovation into it, subordinating the religion to the desires and whims of people, came up with such a Christmas tradition of a New Year’s tree, which in fact has nothing to do with Jesus (peace be upon him) or the religion he brought.
How bitter it is today to see ignorant Muslims dragging Christmas trees into their homes, decorating them, rejoicing in the rites of idolatry, and teaching this to their children. It is noteworthy that many objective researchers among Christians themselves admit that these holiday rites have nothing to do with Christianity, but originate from paganism.
In our time, the celebration of the New Year has spread everywhere, passed to other communities, capturing almost the entire Earth.2 For what reason? The reason is imitation, information propaganda, and also because Julius Caesar established in pagan times that the first day of January is the beginning of the year. And most countries today have accepted this day as the beginning of the calendar. Unfortunately, most Muslim countries have also done this.
نسأل الله العافية والسلامة
It is disturbing how Muslims turn away from their own calendar – the calendar that was established by the unanimous opinion of the companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) – and rely on the calendar that was invented by the pagan Julius Caesar. What are all these fruits of? These are the fruits of ignorance – first, these are the fruits of weakness of faith – second, these are the fruits of boundless love for a transient, earthly life.
All broadcasts, news releases on channels are accompanied by congratulations these days, the front pages of newspapers, magazines, pages on the Internet are full of them, a live broadcast of the New Year celebration is conducted, especially the seconds when December 31 turns into January 1. Sacred second! Everyone at this moment freezes, waiting for some miracle.
And how much money goes to these sinful rites, colossal funds are spent, which would be enough to provide food, perhaps, millions of hungry people, provide shelter for thousands of people, provide treatment for tens of thousands of sick people. These sinful expenses are irretrievable expenses, they do not bring people any benefit, no reward from the Almighty. Why? Because they go to the celebration of pagan rites that our Creator does not like. Everyone should think, who reached out to the celebration or felt joy in their heart from the New Year, that Allah, your Creator, does not like this, He is displeased with this. Muslims who participate in this and approve of it must realize that they thereby approve of what is hateful to their Lord. They must realize that those who do this acquire nothing but anger from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), distance from Allah, punishment and retribution from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).
✅ Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) Himself has established for us the festivals and rites with which He is pleased. These celebrations bring us closer to Him and free us from the need to imitate the misguided in their invented pagan rituals.
Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) says:
ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَى شَرِيعَةٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْرِ فَاتَّبِعْهَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
📖 Now We have set you ˹O Prophet˺ on the ˹clear˺ Way of faith. So follow it, and do not follow the desires of those who do not know ˹the truth˺.
(Qur’an, Surah Al-Jathiya, 45:18):
إِنَّهُمْ لَن يُغْنُوا عَنكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا
📖They certainly can be of no benefit to you against Allah whatsoever. (Qur’an, Surah “Kneeling”, 45:19):
“What are you imitating them for? They will not help you in anything before Allah.”
وَإِنَّ الظَّالِمِينَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ وَاللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ
Surely the wrongdoers are patrons of each other, whereas Allah is the Patron of the righteous. (Qur’an, Surah “Kneeling,” 45:19):
The festivals from Allah, O servants of Allah, are the true joy. Teach this to your families and children. You can experience true, genuine joy, real peace in your soul, and a blessed sense of elation when you know that the Creator Himself—on whom you depend, on whom it depends what will happen to you, your child, your loved ones today, tomorrow, throughout life, and after death—is pleased with you. That is joy! When you celebrate the festivals established and blessed by Allah, you earn His favor and draw closer to Him through this joy and celebration. That is a true festival!
When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to Medina, the people had two days on which they engaged in games. He asked: What are these two days (what is the significance)? They said: We used to engage ourselves on them in the pre-Islamic period. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah has substituted for them something better than them, the day of sacrifice and the day of the breaking of the fast.
(Shaykh al-Albani said: “Authentic hadith (sahih).” The chain of narration for this hadith is authentic according to the conditions of Muslim, and the same was said by al-Hakim, with whom al-Dhahabi agreed. See “Sahih Abi Dawood” 4/297.)
Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah)! The festival of Eid al-Adha and the festival of Eid al-Fitr after Ramadan. Allah has replaced for us, O servants of Allah, and what Allah provides us is sufficient. How can one rejoice in something that angers your Lord, something with which He is displeased?
وَلَا يَرْضَىٰ لِعِبَادِهِ ٱلْكُفْرَ (الزمر – 7)
And He is not pleased with disbelief regarding His servants.
Do you want to rejoice a little, laugh a little, only to cry much later? Allah does not love the exultant. Rejoicing in sin is a sign of imminent misfortune; it is a bad omen.
Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) has granted you blessings, yet instead of thanking Him for what He has given you, you spend wealth on sinful purposes. Instead of buying a Christmas tree, spending on New Year’s feasts, or wasting money on fireworks and crackers, use that money for charity, help a poor person, care for an orphan, spend in the cause of Allah, help those who study and spread the religion of Allah, or spend on a mosque, its maintenance, and its upkeep. Whatever you spend for the sake of Allah, you will later find with Him in the best form.
وَمَا تُقَدِّمُوا لِأَنفُسِكُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍ تَجِدُوهُ عِندَ اللَّهِ هُوَ خَيْرًا وَأَعْظَمَ أَجْرًا
📖Whatever good you send forth for yourselves, you will find it with Allah far better and more rewarding.
(Qur’an, Surah “Al-Muzzammil”, 73:20)
And I ask Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to strengthen all Muslims, all believers, on the straight path, to allow us to hold firmly to the faith He has revealed to us, and to distance us from the path of those who have incurred His anger and the misguided.
