Muslim Santa Celebrating Christmas And Praying In A Mosque

By Rashid Samnakay, New Age Islam 2 January 2023 The Suggestion Is Tsunami And A Paradigm Shift To Those Who Consider All Other Faiths, Out Side The Pale Of Holy Spirituality Except Of Their Own ---- I, as such, not being Spiritual person, that is following the rituals and liturgy of Church Services, do not attach much value to them. The exception being the Friday prayers in a Mosque. This gathering in its proper context is a venue for meeting one's friends and socialising with the Muslim community, on a restricted level. The restriction being that the service is limited to a particular community ,by management authority; and for a specific faction of Muslims who may read the name plaque of the mosque before entering! Then the hand shakes and greetings is only for ones friends whom one may by chance encounter! Thus the Socialising is on a micro scale. Most of what is said above applies more or less to all Church Services. So it is not implied here that only Mosques-- Muslim Houses of worship--Churches, are so selective and insular . The above is prompted by the common trend today of forwarding videos and picture, as quick and easy form of keeping in contact and the forwarded material to impart the message the sender wishes to give. A similar picture was received during this festive season. A picture is worth more than thousand words they say HAPPY NEW YEAR ---- A picture of an Elderly Muslim person engrossed in Namaz-prayers in a Mosque, assumed to be in some country in the West, was received. The striking feature of the picture was that the Elderly person praying in typical Muslim dress , was wearing a Santa's red and white head wear in the spirit of Christmas Celebration, instead of the usual Muslim head dress that is common attire for Holy Namaz purposes . Knowing the sender of the picture, it was realised that it was supposed to be attached with a huberist message...."hahaha, a Muslim Santa celebrating Christmas and praying in a Mosque"! Unthinkable act!!? On repeated viewing of the picture, some questions started popping up and eventually it dawned that, from the stand point of a Muslim, the picture has profound message to impart! - The Christmas celebration is Eid Milad of Nabi Isaa ibn Maryam, name repeated the many times in Quran... the Scripture of Muslims. Hence the gentleman was celebrating the birthday of the Apostle, along with his Christian brothers in Faith. Similar to what some Muslims do too, in celebrating Eid Milad Nabi of Muhammad . - This is significant issue, as Nabi Issa ibn Maryam is also God's Apostle as is Nabi Muhammad (2-4), along with many before Muhammad, named and not named; and the Belief in their message forms part of a Muslim's Faith. - The picture therefore formed a classic WORD PICTURE delivering a profound Message. - Thus it invites non Muslims to come closer...look up the Community of Muslims and gain some knowledge. Maintaining peace and Harmony by association and friendship is a commandment of the Book, as opposed to creating turmoil/Fitna in the Country. A citizen is part of the community and Community an integral part of the Country. It may be considered Blasphemous to suggest that the Jummah prayer during the Christmas week, minority in the non-Muslim Countries should don such festive attire for Worship, to join in the spiritual Spirit of Eid Miladun Nabi Issa ibn Maryam. It may be a long bow to draw, but the elderly gentleman's picture praying in a MOSQUE with Santa's hat during Christmas has delivered a Message to the Jihadis that many a Khatibs/ priests have yet to act upon. The suggestion is Tsunami and a Paradigm Shift to those who consider all other Faiths, out side the pale of Holy Spirituality except of their own. However much we argue against, the inherent Message of Religion is "We are Different" and you shall not pray differently in any form in our Church, not even Dress wise. The commoners, the masses, the followers shall maintain uniformity, but the Courtiers shall don appropriate "regalia" in keeping with the hierarchy of the learned, the priesthood! "All are Equal But Some are more Equal than others". What does one picture with hubrist intention give a Message of Unity of Faiths and so of humanity? ---- A regular contributor to New Age Islam, Rashid Samnakay is an Indian-origin Engineer (Retd.) based in Australia for over forty years. URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/muslim-santa-christmas-mosque/d/128772 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism