Iraqis in uproar after Grand Mufti issues anti-Christmas fatwa

[Kailash Kumar]

Iraqis in uproar after Grand Mufti issues anti-Christmas fatwa

Religious leaders call for removal and prosecution of Sunni cleric

Mina Aldroubi

December 30, 2018

An Iraqi youth dressed as Father Christmas hands over gifts to children at the Church of Mar Jacob Al Muqataa in the predominantly Iraqi Christian town of Qaraqosh, in Niniveh province.

Iraqi Christians condemned on Sunday a fatwa by prominent Sunni cleric Sheikh Abdul Mahdi Al Sumaidaie banning Muslims from engaging in Christmas and New Year celebrations.

The ruling by the Grand Mufti comes days after the cabinet's approval to make Christmas day an official holiday across the country.

"December 25 will now be a holiday for residents of the predominantly Muslim country, not just the Christians as it had been for decades," the government announced on Christmas eve.

"It is not acceptable to take part in the New Year celebrations or to congratulate Christians during Christmas," he said during Friday prayer.

His statement caused uproar among many Iraqis, who called for him to be removed and prosecuted.

"If you join Christians in their celebrations, it would mean that you believe in their doctrine," the Mufti told Muslim worshipers in Baghdad. And doing so, he added, can threaten social cohesion and fuel hatred.

In response, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Cardinal Luis Rafael Sako, said that "a man of religion should call for tolerance, love and equality and not to create a divide and incite hatred in society".

Cadrinal Sako demanded his prosecution.

The head of Iraq’s Sunni Endowment authority Abdul Latif Al Heymem described the statement as “offensive, irrational and unacceptable.”

“It does not represent the Iraqi Sunni Endowment authority, which works towards establishing a national unity,” he said, adding that Christians have deep historical roots in Iraq.

Iraqi youths dressed in Father Christmas suits walk through the streets of the old city of Mosul as they distribute gifts.

“Such reckless and irrational statements will result in hatred, incitement and the rejection of other religions. It does not represent the joint co-existence among Iraqis of all nationalities and sects, whether Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen," said Shiekh Al Heymem.

The development follows a visit to Iraq by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin to celebrate Christmas mass in solidarity with the region's Christian minority, many of whom over the years have lost family members and homes to armed groups.

Cardinal Parolin celebrated mass in the Altahera Syro-Catholic Cathedral in Qaraqosh, which was overtaken by ISIS in 2014.

The Vatican official said that Christmas is a celebration for all and its message is “addressed to every person of good will”. He also stressed the importance of collaboration between Christians and Muslims for peace in Iraq.

Iraq's Christian numbers have been dwindling since the 2003 US invasion, after which attacks by terror groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS increased.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/me...nd-mufti-issues-anti-christmas-fatwa-1.807749

 

[war&peace]

That's stupid..Christmas is not even celebrated by Christians...

 

[Kailash Kumar]

That's stupid..Christmas is not even celebrated by Christians...

Well, that depends.

If you mean a 'Christian' Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ), then only religious Christians celebrate that.
If you mean an 'American' Christmas (Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! / Santa Clause) then many people, Christians and non-Christians, celebrate that.

When I look at the pictures, I see an 'American' Christmas.
This is the result of American soft power.

 

[war&peace]

Well, that depends.

If you mean a 'Christian' Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ), then only religious Christians celebrate that.
If you mean an 'American' Christmas (Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! / Santa Clause) then many people, Christians and non-Christians, celebrate that.

When I look at the pictures, I see an 'American' Christmas.
This is the result of American soft power.

Man you need to learn about Christmas..It is European phenomena and travelled from Europe to USA and not the other way around.. I have a lot of Africa Christians as friends and they do not celebrate Christmas and they don't even wish merry Christmas because according to them these westerners hijacked Christianity and changed it.

 

[Kailash Kumar]

Man you need to learn about Christmas..It is European phenomena and travelled from Europe to USA and not the other way around..

I do know that Christmas celebrations has started in Europe and then went to America.
However, in the years following, Americans have changed that European style of Christmas into their version of Christmas.
You can see that version in American movies, for example, Home Alone, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and in songs, for example, Mariah Carey 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' etc.
And that American version of Christmas has traveled 'back' to Europe due to the American media and the fact that many Europeans nowadays copy everything from American culture.

I have a lot of Africa Christians as friends and they do not celebrate Christmas and they don't even wish merry Christmas because according to them these westerners hijacked Christianity and changed it.

Your African friends, are they Orthodox Christians?
Because they celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January.

And if they are not, what do they do on the 25th of December, the day that Christians believe Jesus Christ was born?
In The Netherlands, the religious Christians go to church to attend a Christmas service.
Do your African friends not go to church on that day?

I do not think that Westerners hijacked Christmas, but in religions, some holidays or festivals are more popular than others which results in people exploiting these holidays / festivals for monetary gain.
The same could also be said of 'Divali' or 'Eid'.

 

[Nein]

Good to see non christian countries taking a stand against the cancer of christmas.

 

[Falcon29]

Well, that depends.

If you mean a 'Christian' Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ), then only religious Christians celebrate that.
If you mean an 'American' Christmas (Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! / Santa Clause) then many people, Christians and non-Christians, celebrate that.

When I look at the pictures, I see an 'American' Christmas.
This is the result of American soft power.

Correct, it's American christmas theme being displayed in many nations around the world. In America, Christmas is mostly about shopping(big sales), getting together with family and exchanging gifts. I don't know where Christmas originates or if it even was a thing in early Christianity. I don't think it was ever a thing. Same with Muslims who celebrate the Prophet's birthday. You're not supposed to do that under any circumstance.

Regarding Christmas as a modern holiday, Middle Eastern states should make it a national holiday. For Arab Christians it is more a religious thing/meeting up at Church rather than Santa costumes and what not. I think the Mufti struggled to explain himself, and probably is referring to the Santa costume stuff or other cultural norms arising that are more related to American themed Christmas.

 

[CAN_TR]

Christmas - Christians go to church and celebrate Jesus birth.

American (Capitalist) Christmas - Santa Clause, Christmas discounts, presents and party.

 

[PakSarzameen5823]

I didn't know Iraq was full of so many snowflakes.

 

[Falcon29]

That's stupid..Christmas is not even celebrated by Christians...

The Mufti is addressing cultural norms and people are misunderstanding him. Christmas/New Years celebrations in the Arab world or even Middle East are mostly Arabs trying to emulate Americans. Like if you look at Dubai for example, they do these kinds of celebrations to attract tourists or appear like a country that is embracing modernism. And I guess they think the best way to get acceptance or 'fit in' is to adopt American cultural norms. Problem with that, with these holidays you are also adopting other cultural norms. An example of that is a new popular song comes out in America that includes a dance or activity or belief that becomes popular and emulated by younger people quickly.

Such as the whole 'YOLO' or 'Twerking' phenomena. Or the other Drake song that is making people to do this stuff:

^^

So what comes with embracing/celebrating holidays is that the people adopt other cultural trends(local or foreign) that erode the Islam in society. And what would be left is a bunch of 'cultural religion' practices or cultural Muslims, Christians, etc.... We are not supposed to be 'cultural' Muslims and supposed to stick with the pure doctrine. Because it is real and God is real, and its not a side product of culture nor an invention of humans. I'm American and I don't celebrate Halloween, New Years, Prophet's Birthday , etc.... If I do I will slip away into impure approach to Islam and become distant from God and everything will be about culture/having fun and not observing Islam and enjoining good/forbidding bad. And I'll become a nationalistic person who will not care about being fair/just to others. Also I would forget what Islam is about and add my own innovations to it....

So it's not about Christians, its for our own sake to protect our religion. Christians are our brothers and sisters and they can and should be able to celebrate their rituals. Muslims on other hand need to be careful from adopting certain cultural trends, especially those inspired by music. While also keep in mind Westerners are superior to us in many other ways though, especially when it comes to social justice and granting rights to their citizens. Or their advancements in crucial fields like science and engineering innovations. So we have many local bad norms/flaws that we could definitely learn from Western model to fix. We in the West also can learn of some good social norms from the East as well. It goes both ways. Oppressing your citizens or having some backwards mentalities is not Islamic. Ideally Muslims should strive to grant more freedoms to their citizens, better quality of life and education.

I didn't know Iraq was full of so many snowflakes.

Iraq has a lot of Shia people who think its okay to display imagined pictures of the Prophet or his cousins/grandsons all over the place, which is forbidden in Islam. Let alone other forbidden matters they engage in. So they aren't exactly the people you can count on to continue securing original Islamic norms....

Shias are to Muslims what Christians are to Jews... they took our original methodology and came up with their own insane innovations. May Allah guide them to the right path ....

 

[GiannKall]

"Christmas" is a joke. Its not even about jesus anymore. Its about that stupid fat dude with the red clothes

 

[un4given.1991]

Shias are to Muslims what Christians are to Jews... they took our original methodology and came up with their own insane innovations. May Allah guide them to the right path ...

Astaghfirullah shame on those who have brought intoxicants among the Ummah in order to create division and to abuse the Sunnah of our beloved prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam! This is the works of the atheist kaffir majoosi Persian Shi'a to do the works of Shaytan to weaken the Muslim world! Give respect for the the message of Allah subhanahu wa taala! The kaffir are misguided dogs who inshallah will suffer painful torment in the hereafter, but the Shi'a are much worse as they are ones who have corrupted the deen. As sheikh ul Islam the great Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah subhanahu wa taala have mercy on his soul and his family) states the Shi'a are worse for Islam than the crusaders and Mongols and even the Christians and Jews and even polytheist have a better chance to enter jannah than the Shi'a. Please my brothers who follow the Sunnah, raise your army against the Shia and end these people who are destroying the image of Islam and forcing many to leave the faith, but Alhamdulillah Islam is the truth so no matter how much you want to spread the lies of the kaffir Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world! Alhamdulillah I am the true follower of message of Rasoolallah sallallahu alaihi wasallam awaiting jannah while the followers of the filthy way of shaytan will burn forever in jahanam.

#WeAreNotApes

absolute filth #1 @SubWater
absolute filth #2 @Tokhme khar
absolute filth #3 @Persian Gulf 1906
absolute filth #4 @like_a_boss

 

[OldTwilight]

Just leave stupid people to doing stupid things or they will ruin other things ....

 

[Persian Gulf 1906]

Good to see non christian countries taking a stand against the cancer of christmas.

LOL imagine thinking Christmas is a "cancer" but a religion that idolises a warmongering child molester isn't

 

[Falcon29]

Astaghfirullah shame on those who have brought intoxicants among the Ummah in order to create division and to abuse the Sunnah of our beloved prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam! This is the works of the atheist kaffir majoosi Persian Shi'a to do the works of Shaytan to weaken the Muslim world! Give respect for the the message of Allah subhanahu wa taala! The kaffir are misguided dogs who inshallah will suffer painful torment in the hereafter, but the Shi'a are much worse as they are ones who have corrupted the deen. As sheikh ul Islam the great Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah subhanahu wa taala have mercy on his soul and his family) states the Shi'a are worse for Islam than the crusaders and Mongols and even the Christians and Jews and even polytheist have a better chance to enter jannah than the Shi'a. Please my brothers who follow the Sunnah, raise your army against the Shia and end these people who are destroying the image of Islam and forcing many to leave the faith, but Alhamdulillah Islam is the truth so no matter how much you want to spread the lies of the kaffir Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world! Alhamdulillah I am the true follower of message of Rasoolallah sallallahu alaihi wasallam awaiting jannah while the followers of the filthy way of shaytan will burn forever in jahanam.

#WeAreNotApes

absolute filth #1 @SubWater
absolute filth #2 @Tokhme khar
absolute filth #3 @Persian Gulf 1906
absolute filth #4 @like_a_boss

Epic fail man.

You are showing your bigotry towards Sunni Muslims by likening them to a fringe militant group. Something I would never do towards Shia Muslims. And what happened to your 'resist US and Israel' culture? You are employing the same mockery of the neocons you proclaim to be against.

All that aside, Shia Islam derived from original Sunni Islam. So you're historically inaccurate by portraying Sunni Islam as something other than the core Islam, or as a confused bunch. When it's the opposite, Sunni Islam is the core Islam and Shia's(as an example, there are more) have deviated in some ways from the core Islam. Having images of the Prophet or the Sahabah is not permitted, especially since people will worship these pictures or have wrong feelings towards them. There is no disagreement about this in Islam. There are also other ways in which your sect has deviated, and we hope they abandon those deviations one day.

But what can I say about you ... you are not influenced by God or the traits he commanded us to observe. All you respect is influence of man. And so for you Sunni's are weak, humiliated and hopeless today. And as the great Muslim you are, who could care less what God has commanded, for you this means open season against Sunni Muslims. And let's mock them like the rest of the neocons, evangelicals and others have mocked them. All because a normal phase in history that everyone goes through. And when the Sunni Muslims are back on their feet, I'm not going to adopt your ways and view power/influence wrongly. I will not say anything different than I am saying now. Because I actually observe the methodology of Islam.