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Greetings to you, dear audience. The Al-Yarmouk channel has published a clip featuring Dr. Ibrahim Al-Jarmi, host of the Fatwa program on Hayat FM radio, titled "On Congratulating the People of the Book on Their Occasions." I would like to pause and reflect on some of the points made in the clip.
Firstly, my dear brothers, I am speaking to you as someone who has Christian students, colleagues, and acquaintances. My relationship with them is very good, despite their lack of flattery towards their religion. It is a relationship based on justice, kindness, and a concern for their benefit in both religious and worldly matters. I have taught dozens of Christian students who show me respect and appreciation even after graduation. I ask any graduate who may have a disagreement with what we say to clarify it here if I have wronged them or if they have ever been repulsed by my religion.
The words I will say here are driven by a love for the religion of God and a desire for the good of non-combatant Christians, that Allah may guide them to accompany us to Paradise. I am currently preoccupied with other topics such as the Journey of Certainty, but I felt that Dr. Ibrahim's words require methodological pauses, as the issue goes beyond the matter of congratulating the People of the Book on their holidays. I ask Allah the Almighty to guide us, Dr. Ibrahim, and all those who listen to this speech, to guide us all to the truth in what we differ upon, by His will.
Firstly, Dr. Ibrahim refers to the jurisprudence that prohibits congratulating Christians on their religious holidays as "the alleged jurisprudence openly imported from inappropriate environments." We claim, Dr. Ibrahim, that the prohibition of congratulating them on these holidays is not imported but rather the guidance of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and those who followed him with kindness.
The Prophet interacted with Jews and Christians and their messengers and lived with them for many years. He is the one about whom Allah said: {Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have a good example to follow}. The Prophet, as you mentioned, taught us noble morals. So, was congratulating them on their religious holidays one of the noble morals that the Messenger of Allah taught us?
Can you, Dr. Ibrahim, bring us a single hadith where the Messenger of Allah congratulated a Jew or a Christian on their religious holiday? A single hadith, I won't even ask you for an authentic one, no, do you even have a weak one? We are not talking about a recent issue that the Prophet did not address, and we are trying to infer and deduce what the Messenger of Allah would have done if he had faced what we are facing today, the presence of the People of the Book among us. They are not new people who came after the Prophet by centuries, so we are not sure how he would have treated them. Rather, he interacted with them for many years and did not congratulate them on their holidays.
You, Dr. Ibrahim, have used the verse to permit congratulations: {Allah does not forbid you from those who did not fight you in religion and did not expel you from your homes - to treat them kindly and act justly towards them}. Our question is: Did the Messenger of Allah understand this verse as you do, that it permits us to congratulate them on an occasion in which they claim the birth of the Lord or the Son of the Lord?
And let us remember that the Messenger of Allah is the one who said: "There is nothing that brings you closer to Paradise except what I have commanded you to do." We also know that the Prophet, peace be upon him, invited the Jewish boy who served him to Islam before his death, and he accepted Islam. The Prophet left him saying: "Praise be to Allah who saved me from the fire through him." So, he did not flatter the boy nor congratulate him on his holiday, but rather invited him to the religion.
Someone may say: How do you know that the Prophet did not congratulate them on their holiday in which they claim the birth of the Lord? We say to him: "Look at your question and how it answers itself, look at your question and how it answers itself."
After the Prophet, can you, Dr. Ibrahim, bring us a single report of a Companion who congratulated the People of the Book on their holiday? It is as if they never imagined that someone would one day permit congratulating on the birth of the Lord, far be it from what they say.
Notice, Dr. Ibrahim, when you mentioned those who permit this congratulation, you mentioned enough to make us aware that some of the great scholars when they went to this opinion, at the forefront of them, for example, Sheikh Muhammad Abduh, may Allah have mercy on him, the school of Muhammad Abduh, our great Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ghazali, Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut, the Sheikh of the Ummah, the Sheikh of the age par excellence, our Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, are of this opinion.
Meaning, Dr. Ibrahim, you go beyond the Prophet, the Companions, the Followers, and the jurists of all schools of thought, you go beyond fourteen hundred years, and you come to cite Muhammad Abduh, Al-Ghazali, Shaltut, and Al-Qaradawi. For the sake of focusing, my brothers, and so we do not deviate from the main point, I will not discuss the personalities mentioned nor what they have and what they do not have and the general lines of their methodology. However, our point here: Is it not something noteworthy, Dr. Ibrahim, that you do not find evidence for your position except from these individuals?
Again, we are talking about an issue that has been present since the days of our Prophet, peace be upon him. Is there, Dr. Ibrahim, a clearer example than this of the saying of our Prophet, peace be upon him: "If you live to see many differences, then hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided Caliphs. Bite onto it with your molar teeth. Beware of newly invented matters." Is it correct, with all of this, Dr. Ibrahim, that you call the prohibition of congratulating on the religious holidays of non-Muslims "the alleged jurisprudence openly imported from inappropriate environments"? Which is the imported jurisprudence and which is the authentic one? May Allah guide us and you.
The second point Dr. Ibrahim makes is: "Some jurists build their fatwas and opinions on frankly imaginary issues." That is, those who say that when I say to my Christian neighbor who works with me or lives next to me: "May you be well every year" or "Blessed holiday" or "Happy holiday," and other human courtesies, that saying these things necessarily means I agree with their beliefs.
Your words, Dr. Ibrahim, are correct if they are about congratulating the People of the Book on non-religious matters. For example, if a Christian colleague achieves a beneficial certificate, I say to him: "Congratulations." If he gets married, I congratulate him and give him a gift. If he buys a car, recovers from an illness, yes, I congratulate him on all of this with permissible words to win his heart so that he may accept our invitation.
However, when my Christian colleague celebrates the birth of the Lord or the Son of the Lord, far be it from what they say, can you tell me that congratulating him on this celebration is not an approval? Congratulations are nothing but participation and approval, Dr. Ibrahim. Allah the Almighty says: {And those who do not bear false witness}, this is from the characteristics of the servants of the Merciful in Surah Al-Furqan, {And those who do not bear false witness and when they pass by nonsense, they pass by with dignity}. The believer is required not to bear false witness if he passes by it nor to stand as a spectator listening to it, so how about congratulating on it?
If my Muslim colleague, not just the Christian, drinks alcohol and says he will hold a celebration for the occasion that he finally broke the barrier and drank alcohol, is it permissible for me to congratulate him on this occasion? If someone kills a soul that Allah has forbidden, do we congratulate him on this occasion? If you ask me how this is similar, I say to you that indeed, shirk is more severe, more severe than drinking alcohol and killing the soul.
In the hadith narrated by Bukhari, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "Allah said: The son of Adam lied to me and he did not have that, and he reviled me and he did not have that." Attributing a child to Allah the Almighty is a revilement to Him, glorified and exalted be He. Do we congratulate people on reviling Allah? We say this speech either out of hatred, but rather out of love for Allah and His religion, and zeal for His Oneness, glorified and exalted be He, and out of a desire for the good of people.
Thirdly, Dr. Ibrahim says: "Here, we must ask, my brothers, what have we done with their invitation? Have we merely judged them, been strict, and tense in not congratulating them? Where is our invitation to them with Allah being the key to entering the hearts of our Christian brothers in calling them to the truth? Did not Allah say: 'Say, O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you: that we will not worship except Allah'? How will they accept you if you speak to them rudely and harshly?"
Meaning, Dr. Ibrahim, either I congratulate the Christian on the occasion they believe is the birth of the Lord or the Son of the Lord, or I am strict and harsh, speaking rudely and harshly. Is there no third option? Is there no third option? Can I not be just, kind, and equitable with the People of the Book, share in their social occasions, and console them in their misfortunes with legal words, invite them to the truth with care so that goodness encompasses them, and at the same time refrain from congratulating them on their religious occasions in which they believe in the birth of the Son of the Lord? Amazing!
By Allah, my brothers, even when I was a student in America and after the events of September that aroused hatred in many Americans towards Muslims, one of the professors congratulated me on Ramadan and her treatment of me was very respectful. When their holiday came, I said to her: "You may expect me to congratulate you, but our religion does not allow us to flatter in these matters, but we consider this congratulation a deception to you, and I do better to you by inviting you to Islam." And I invited her, and I ask Allah to guide her. And they respected that and treated me better than they treated those who flattered them.
Fourthly, Dr. Ibrahim says: "What have we done with their invitation? What is the key to entering the hearts of our Christian brothers in inviting them to the truth if we do not congratulate them?" Glory be to Allah! Who is more keen in reality to invite Christians, Dr. Ibrahim? The one who congratulates them or the one who is certain that shirk is a disease and is keen to free people from it through invitation?
Dr. Zakir Naik, we all know him, always emphasizes the prohibition of congratulating Christians on their holidays, and yet he is one of those who most invites Christians to Islam and most converts Christians to Islam in this time as far as I know. And I said and repeat it: at this time of the year, I was inviting a Christian youth from the people of Jordan to Islam and answering his questions and he converted by the grace of Allah the Exalted. Is it conceivable that I invite my colleague or neighbor to Islam throughout the year, then on the day of his religious occasion I say to him, "Happy holiday"? Meaning, I congratulate him on the religion that I have been inviting him to abandon all year? Will not my colleague feel that I have a split personality and my message is not clear to him at that time?
I was and my friends in America believe in the prohibition of congratulating the People of the Book on their holidays, and we did not leave them, but we held every year activities of "Islam Awareness Week" (Islam Awareness Week) and many converted by the grace of Allah the Exalted. I remember one of them crying after pronouncing the two testimonies of faith, and by Allah, this is dearer to us than seeing her happy with our flattery at the expense of her salvation and happiness in the abode of eternity.
Those who live with us from the Christians may cling to our necks on the Day of Judgment and say to us: "Why did you not invite us to what is our salvation? Why did you deceive us and flatter us at the expense of our interest?" "Happy holiday" huh? What happiness is this, O Muslims, and you know the consequence of violating monotheism?
The fifth point: Dr. Ibrahim mentioned what he sees as evidence for the permissibility of congratulating non-Muslims on their religious holidays, saying: "Well, then why do we not say that it is also permissible to share in the worship of humans without Allah?" Even though Dr. Ibrahim himself sees the prohibition of this participation, of course. Why the distinction? And what is the relationship between permitting marriage and congratulation?
Sixthly: How did Dr. Ibrahim deal with the words of the imams who mentioned the prohibition? We said that the four imams did not mention the issue at all, but for example, Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned it. So what was Dr. Ibrahim's response? "This is an issue, meaning, in certain circumstances when Ibn Taymiyyah gave his fatwa and was strict in this issue, he was in a state of war between the Muslims and the Romans based on that. But now, relations have become very closely intertwined, so this one becomes my colleague at work and this one becomes my neighbor at home and this one becomes my director."
And this statement is strange indeed, for Ibn Taymiyyah was not speaking about the fighting Romans, but he was speaking about the prohibition of congratulating and participating with the People of the Covenant as in his book "Majmu' al-Fatawa" and his book "Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim." Notice, my brothers, I am not here defending the opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah on the issue or the school of Ibn Taymiyyah, nor am I advocating for a particular school or the Salafi school at the expense of another. We are here talking about the action of Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his companions and those who followed them with goodness, but I mentioned Ibn Taymiyyah to show that Dr. Ibrahim's response to him is not correct.
Seventhly, Dr. Ibrahim says: "They often strike when one of them claims that if a person commits all kinds of evil, it is lighter than congratulating Christians on their religion." This strictness, which is not in its place according to your opinion, Dr. Ibrahim, is the words of Ibn al-Qayyim, and he was one of the most gentle-hearted and most keen on the guidance of humanity as we consider.
This is the words of Ibn al-Qayyim in his book "Ahmad bin Abd al-Halim." He said: "As for congratulating them on the rituals of disbelief specific to them, it is forbidden by consensus, such as congratulating them on their holidays by saying, 'Blessed holiday' or congratulating them on this holiday, then if the speaker is free from disbelief, it is one of the forbidden things, and it is like congratulating him on his prostration to the cross, but that is a greater sin with Allah and more hated than congratulating him on drinking alcohol, killing the soul, committing fornication, and the like. Whoever congratulates a servant on disobedience or innovation or disbelief has exposed himself to the hatred and wrath of Allah." End of Ibn al-Qayyim's words.
Again, our point here is not to say: Dr. Ibrahim, how do you contradict Ibn al-Qayyim? No, no, but our point is that the speech that Dr. Ibrahim saw as strictness in the wrong place is the speech of a known imam who gathered evidence on it and that it is the consensus of the scholars in his book "Ahmad bin Abd al-Halim," so it is not appropriate to belittle this speech by describing it as strictness, but we discuss it.
These are seven quick discussions on Dr. Ibrahim's speech. And all of this, my brothers, and we have not mentioned the origin of this celebration historically and that it is on a pagan occasion in which people used to sing, undress, weigh themselves, and free themselves from all laws. And we have published for you the clip of the famous priest Pat Robertson, who confirms that. And all of this is regarding congratulation, so what about participation, which is undoubtedly a clearer prohibition, and Dr. Ibrahim does not differ in its prohibition, by the way.
We conclude by saying: The greatest of righteousness, goodness, and good character with those who are good to you from your Christian acquaintances is to invite them to what brings them salvation, while coldness and harshness is to mix with them days and years and leave them to perish while you have the cure they need, but rather you flatter them at the expense of their happiness in the abode of eternity. We ask Allah to guide us all to what He loves and is pleased with and to help us in inviting the People of the Book among us to the truth so that they may convert and be encompassed by the word of Allah: "Enter it in peace and security." Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.