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Fatwa ID: | 85952 |
Title: | If somebody greeted you a merry christmas, what should I say? |
Category: | Issues of Muslim Minorities |
Scholar: | Shaykh Jamaal Zarabozo |
Date: | 11/19/2011 |
my family is non- believer so they celebrate x-mas and new yr.I'm reverted in islam so my question is if the non -believer greet you a merry x-mass what can i response. Assalamalaikom warahmatullahi wabarakatu.
All praise be to Allah. Let me first state that I faced the same issue with my family after embracing Islam.
Obviously there is a problem with responding with, “Merry Christmas,” or anything similar to that because you would then be congratulating them on a practice that is related to a belief that Allah has clearly called shirk.
Allah willing, after some time your family will understand that you do not believe in or celebrate Christmas and they will probably stop saying that to you. In the meantime, what I found worked fine for me—and your situation may or may not be similar—was simply to change the topic of the conversation. If they greeted me with merry Christmas, I would say something like, “So how have you been…” If they departed with merry Christmas, I would say something like, “I hope to see you again soon.”
May Allah guide you to what works best for you under your circumstances and which may also contribute to your family understanding Islam better and coming to Islam.