Muslims “celebrating Christmas”

[lastofallthebugs]

I follow a fair few Muslim footballers from the premier league on social media. Every year they post pictures of their children in front of Christmas trees, wish followers/fans a merry Christmas and seem to be enjoying the holiday for exactly what it is - time with family and friends. They always seem happy and grateful for the break.

And every year, without fail, they are attacked by a seemingly strange subset of people who think they shouldn’t be doing this at all and shouldn’t join in. The same seems to extend to other Muslim people I see online - they get hatred for having a big family dinner at Christmas time.

AIBU to think you can’t have it both ways? You can’t say you want people to integrate, but get angry when they do!

I live in the middle east and there are Christmas decorations everywhere! The rulers posted a Christmas message to everyone celebrating yesterday.

You can do Christmassy things without celebrating the birth of Christ. When I taught in a London primary school, almost all of the children said they had a tree at home and talked about presents and Santa, yet they were nearly all from Asian and Arab backgrounds. They took part in our nativity plays too!

Sort of Christmas celebrating Muslim here. We have a big roast dinner and exchange cards and gifts with friends/neighbours on Christmas Day. We buy for DC but not for my (Muslim) side of the family. We are a mixed household DH is white British so we include traditions from his side of the family. It's fun and we feel like we are taking part.

All Muslim festivals are religious so for me we always saw Christmas as a festival for Christians when growing up. My lovely mum used to buy turkey as it was available at that time of year and we would have a big dinner but not decorate the house or swap gifts.

The rapid commercialisation of Christmas and it's largely non secular now mean I view it very differently. It's more about seeing family, lots of shows and events and spending time with those you love. Also it's everywhere from Sept onwards and you can't get away from it!

i sm Muslim and have always celebrated Christmas, even in North Africa before I moved to the UK, as my dad was an ex-Christian who reverted to Islam and wanted to keep the tradition going. I never heard any negative comment back in my Muslim country, neither by Christians or Muslims, it’s only the Muslims here in the UK that have given me crap about it, funnily enough.

Muslims love and highly respect Jesus, so I see nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas, even if one sees it as a religious holiday, personally.

I don't think racists are ever going to be logical. A Muslim family celebrating Christmas is no different than all the atheists and agnostics who celebrate Christmas, which is probably most of the uk. Christmas is as much a cultural as a religious celebration.

It's just sheer Islamophobia. The same ones who bang on about Muslims not assimilating/integrating get enraged when they "steal our holidays". It makes no sense at all.

I couldn’t give a shit who celebrates Christmas, it’s not a religious thing these days (for the majority) it’s about pretty decorations, family, food and gifts ! Who wouldn’t want to join in ?!

DC’s cousins are muslim. They don’t celebrate Christmas at all, but they will get together over Christmas as they have time off as live in the UK. We are invited over (the kids and I) for a meal on Sunday, which is lovely as ex and I split 15yrs ago. Not seen them for 2yrs so be nice to catch up. SIL is the most amazing cook, can’t wait!

My ex is a muslim and always puts up a tree and celebrates the day. He gives me some money to buy kids some gifts but doesn’t go to a massive effort. But he does enjoy Christmas. We celebrate Eid too.

It so happens that I live very close to Sadiq Khan and see him every Christmas Day at a local sporting event where he wishes everyone Happy Christmas (despite the regular claims of his online critics that he wants to ban the festival)

Agree - we’ve celebrated with friends of all backgrounds. We’re an atheist family but celebrate family time, good food and drinks and time to have some fun.
Many of my American friends wish you at Happy Holidays rather than Happy Christmas - all ok with me.

I don’t think this is unreasonable at all. This is what integration actually looks like: people sharing in the cultural life of the country they live in, enjoying time with family, and extending goodwill — without pretending to be something they’re not.

It’s also worth remembering that Muslims aren’t celebrating “nothing” at Christmas. Jesus (Isa) is honoured in Islam as a great prophet, and Mary is revered too. So for many Muslims, showing goodwill at Christmas can sit comfortably alongside their faith, especially when Christmas is also a cultural moment of family, peace and generosity.

From a Christian perspective, there’s something quietly hopeful about this. Jesus is a figure who already bridges faiths — even if Christians understand who he is differently. Christmas has always drawn people toward light, peace and love of neighbour, and that shouldn’t surprise us. The beauty of Jesus can be played out in different ways.

I agree that people can’t argue for integration and then criticise people when they actually live it out. That isn’t inclusion — it’s gatekeeping.

The house with the most garish xmas lights, reindeer, inflatable santa etc in my street is lived in by a Muslim family. Grandad goes to the mosque everyday , the whole family at different times on Friday.
They do it because they like it, and will wish 'merry christmas' to anyone they meet on the 25th.

The secular parts of Christmas - the tree and gifts and turkey dinner - have nothing to do with Christianity and are just a reflection of a general human reaction to dealing with the cold dark depressing dampness of midwinter by having a big party. However, Jesus is regarded as a prophet (though lesser than Mohammed and not the Son of God) within the Islamic scripture so there is nothing un-muslim about acknowledging the festival.

Sadly some people keep their racist dickishness very thinly disguised (or entirely undisguised)

I didn’t realise that people of other faiths celebrated at Christmas, taking parts of it that they want to, and I think it’s wonderful. It’s really warmed my heart thinking of those families getting together and having a roast with their own foods added.
I saw one family on TikTok covering a chicken in Indian type spices to roast, and having roast potatoes and parsnips and I think it’s great. I’d love to know what part of Christmas other people take and how they change it for their own style.

How is posting a picture of yourself with a Xmas tree non sensical hate

Wouldn’t it be nice if at Christmas, all our neighbours, whether Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim, just wished each other a happy Christmas and invited us over for a mince pie. Then when it was Ramadan, Diwali or Chinese New Year, we all did the same.

In fact I used to live in a country where all of the above resided and that’s exactly what we all did. I’ve been to CNY, Diwali, end of Ramadan feasts and gatherings and was very welcome, learnt a lot about the festival and got along better with people a little bit different to me.

Quite agree.

I partly agree because those shouting the loudest are never having the intelligent discussions. But given young girls are being put to death for trying to escape the man (usually at least twenty years older) they've been sold to, given the removal of rights of women, we can discuss how privileged the male Muslim footballers are by posting putting up Christmas celebrations, especially when their wives still cover up. Many young female SM influencers are being killed in the M.E. for their behaviour. How parts of a religion is picked by the privileged men, while the women are suffering for the new rules around modesty, leaving the house, driving (the women are still being dragged from cars etc) from many Muslim countries. Many Muslim countries are rejecting a theocrasy interpretations of Islam and moving to more secular rules. Unfortunately, it's again, the men who can live like that. I can remember someone in a Big Brother series objecting to the meat needing to be halal and alcohol restrictions, yet the Muslim man dressed in drag, with makeup and smoked. You can't cherry pick to that extent. It puzzles me as much as some of the career driven, relationships rejecting, single mothers, who adored Charlie kirk. I'm hoping the footballers, when retired, will campaign for better conditions for women and aren't just going for SM popularity.

It's just racism and spreading racial hatred. Social and traditional media need to do a lot more to combat it.

That's exactly what people do up and down the country.

There was a Muslim event celebrated yesterday, can't remember it's name without checking but think it began with K?
My Muslim friend wished me a happy Christmas, likewise I wished her a lovely day with her family. I also wish her Happy Eid.

We can't have it both ways we either embrace each other's cultures or we dont, but not to the detriment of what we each believe.

Other Muslims are ripping apart the ones that are celebrating Christmas on TikTok. Ironically it’s the British people that are sticking up for them on that platform but I haven’t seen anything on other social media. Religion always causes arguments, it’s a tale as old as time.

I don’t know of any who would hate on people joining in tbh. I love seeing my neighbours fairy lights going up and them welcoming family in on Christmas Day for their big meal. They’re Muslim. Makes me feel cosy

Surely this is a non issue?
It's hard to escape Christmas especially if you have small children. We did all the Santa, Tree & decorations shebang while DC were in primary school despite being atheist. It's a bit of fun and an excuse for some good food and getting the family together.

I hate self-righteous people who feel the need to place everyone in a little designated box.

Strictly speaking it's impermissible.

@Veronicasharmonica How does she celebrate Eid? Is she a practising Christian?

I am from a very welcoming place where there is harmony among people of different faiths. Christians don’t celebrate Eid but Muslim neighbours will share food, etc, during Eid. Christians do the same at Christmas. Other faiths celebrate their festivals freely. No one comments about one religion taking over but that has been the case for a long time. No one feels pressure to fit in.

It surprises me when I see photos of Muslims with Christmas trees, presents, etc. Because my family members who are Muslims do not do this and they’re not expected to, at all. It would be considered haram. I also seem to work only with staunch Muslims who do not celebrate Christmas either and that may have influenced my views. They do spend quality time with family during the long break but it does not involve Christmas trees or presents. They do roasts but they do that other times in the year.

Ime, it’s similar to fasting in support of Muslims at Eid. I fast as a Christian and it’s a spiritual exercise very heavily linked to me getting closer to my God. I would never trivialise my faith or that of others by ´just joining in’.

I understand Christmas is controversial for some though because of course many non-Christians believe it’s been “stolen”.

À part of me is concerned about people doing this to fit in. I mean even the posts about Muslims doing this to show integration. Why do they have to celebrate a Christian festival or a winter festival when they have their own faith already?