Merry Christmas !

[Gomig-21]

As Kaptaan said, you seem to be putting your financial/economic situation before your faith. In fact I believe according to your religion you should always put ISLAM and Allah's commandments first before anything else(including your family) NO?
So you can't use the excuse of your family to say you will put your family before your religion.
If you were really a pious Muslim as you said, then you will be ready to abandon even your family for the sake of your religion. After all, I'm sure your family will find a way to survive without you here in Britain.
So you need to practice what you preach, else those of your compatriots back home in Pakistan who have not been lucky enough like you to be here will rightly point out that you are being hypocritical by preaching this 'illusionary' ummah concept while living happily in the comfort of your home in a Christian kafir country thousands of miles away from your home country. In this case, we can't blame them for having such an opinion to be honest.

Your point, as well as @Kaptaan 's is well taken. It's been a long-standing topic among the millions upon millions of Muslims who live in non-Muslim majority countries and the basic premise of how to be that pious Muslim while living in the land of "kafirs" as you put it, is to do the best you can, and in some cases, you might be rewarded with greater rewards for you efforts since practicing Islam to its fullest in non-Muslim countries is not exactly easy. Try making wudu 5 times or day and properly locating the Qibla (which is really not that diffiucult in this day and age of smart phones ) and then finding a place to pray in oh, let's say NYC or Los Angeles? The challenge is much greater than let's say if you were living in Riyadh or Cairo. Try fasting in the United States for 30 days when Ramadan comes in the middle of summer and people on the streets are dressed for the occasion, and people at your work are eating and drinking all day while food and alcohol is rampantly available everywhere you turn. The challenge then becomes much greater, hence the reward is greater.

As far as being in the midst of kafir, the solution to that is to participate in your Muslim community as much as possible. Through the Masjid you attend and other Muslims you befriend, you develop that community and you share your time with them as much as possible and that takes care of that particular issue. That is probably the primary reason why you see the largely Pakistani communities in the UK that are quite tight with one another. They practice that adherence to their Muslim community.

 

[Desert Fox]

Thanks for the tag, bro. Hey it's snowing out here as we speak, so definitely a white Christmas in MA.
We'll probably go out later with the kids and build a snow man and have a snow fight. Although I would much rather be skiing ATM, but stuck here today, entertaining people! That's a great video and NY cops are usually cool on days like today.

Speaking of Christmas in Texas, you're right, it doesn't have the same spirit as it does up here in the North East. Just the amount of decorated homes is 1000% more in the NE. And if you really want to get away from the Christmas spirit, try Miami looool. You might see a palm tree here and there with some lights on it and that's about it.

And speaking of Egypt, I think Egyptian Copts celebrate the birth of Christ on January 7th, if I'm not mistaken. Either way, Merry Christmas.

Nice!! I could imagine it must be very beautiful in New England states right now. Autumn and Winter are the best seasons to visit that region.

 

[Verve]

Allah's commandments

So you can't use the excuse of your family to say you will put your family before your religion.

You don't know jack about Islam so kindly refrain from this fabricated nonsense.

Staying in UK whilst looking after parents is not going against Allah's commands. Looking after parents IS one of the commands and there's no 'country of residence' condition attached!

 

[Nilgiri]

That being said, the winter season and the snow certainly do add a magical appearance/feel to the holiday along with the many decorations and rituals rooted in Pagan Germanic/Norse traditions that predate Christianity.

Indeed. The whole concept of the brightest (manifested saviour/hope etc) light coming during the darkest period, and the winter solstice is technically the darkest day in northern hemisphere It speaks to us as a species fundamentally. Hence the earlier yule and saturnian pagan stuff around the same time that simply got displaced by the newer religion.

Thats why Jesus b-day was moved from when it was in the summer/fall (and the levant didnt really have much of a winter solstice/season effect to begin with) to where it is celebrated today in context of what Europe faced season-wise since their societies can remember.

Nice!! I could imagine it must be very beautiful in New England states right now. Autumn and Winter are the best seasons to visit that region.

Yep incredibly pretty. From the appalachian mountains up to Saint Lawrence is one of worlds most prettiest areas during this time of year.

 

[I.R.A]

So we are almost there - time for me to say "Merry Christmas" to all. Let's celebrate the one thing that all members here share - our essential humanity and that goodness is quality that is trans-national and found across all of our species. So where ever you and and who ever you are I wish you a happy X'mas and peace. Our house will be full because my twin daughters birthday is on the 25th and family members from far and near are coming - the holidays affords everybody a unique opportunity to get together. So we might not be Christians but every years this time of the year is time to get together. Lots of Chicken, Kebabs, Karai, cakes, sweets, desserts are going to be consumed.

@django @Zibago @Vergennes @DESERT FIGHTER @Taygibay @Desert Fox @Georg @Talwar e Pakistan @Joe Shearer @Hamartia Antidote @I.R.A @war&peace @gambit @Solomon2 @KAL-EL @xenon54 @KediKesenFare @T-123456 @AmirPatriot @Serpentine @Saif al-Arab @beijingwalker @Chinese-Dragon @Piotr @bobo6661 @mike2000 is back @AUSTERLITZ @AND @Penguin others

@Horus @WebMaster and other fellow TTs

Ps. Apology to many others I know I will have missed out. My memory is not what it used to be although it never was good even then !

Thanks and ...... Merry Christmas to you too ........ sorry I was away and couldn't reply in time. Went to see historical site (by chance but worth it) and refresh meself and kids with some snow sight (my area used to get heavy snow but now its too little) ...... hope you enjoyed your holidays .... May ALLAH bless you and your family ..... my best wishes.

 

[Hamza913]

@dsr478 Kindly keep your garbage out. I don't need lessons on Islam from any two bit Youtube link. Punks like you reduce faith to a binary.

Can I cough and sneeze
Can I spit and fart
Can I burp and shat at the same time
Is it permissible for me to breath air in my town where there are pubs
Is it permissible for me to open my eyes in my town where there are wanton lascivious ladies about

If I need lessons on Islam I have my faith, my quran, the sunnah and my intellect. Don't you dare to come between me and my maker. Now shoo off ....

@Kaptaan

I'll delete the post if you remove the negative rating. Deal?

 

[Indus Pakistan]

remove the negative rating.

Done without any conditions. Meaning you don't have to delete if you don't want to. It was a kneejerk reaction on my part.

 

[Hamza913]

Done without any conditions. Meaning you don't have to delete if you don't want to. It was a kneejerk reaction on my part.

It's alright.

People on this forum don't like preaching, and tbh, it is against forum rules so I'll keep my
mouth shut unless someone asks for my opinion on religious issues, or I'll be nicer about it.

For some reason, I can't edit or delete it though so I think it does have to stay.