KHUTAB III - 33. CHRISTMAS

33. CHRISTMAS

Brothers and sisters in Islam,

          There is an Arabic proverb which says النَّاسُ أَعْدَاءُ مَا جَهِلُوْا   “meaning people are the enemy of what they do not know”. If you encounter a strange animal, for example, you might think that it is a dangerous one, until someone tells you that it is harmless and friendly. A tall Canadian man told me that when he visited an isolated village in Indonesia as one of the participants of the Youth Exchange Program between Canada and Indonesia, a young boy was very scared when he saw him. I told him that the boy might think that he could be a giant who fed on children as mentioned in Indonesian fairy tales and legends. He might be the first white man the boy had ever seen.  People who do not know anything about religion might think that we Muslims worship the Ka‘bah, and the Christians worship the Cross, and the Zoroastrians worship fire. It is true that they are holies according to these respective followers of Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrian, but they do not worship them.

Living in a country where its people are predominantly Christians it is very important to have some information about Christmas. Last Monday, on the 25^th of December most of the Christians in the world celebrated the Christmas. The word Christmas is originally from the Old English, Cristes maesse, meaning “Christ’s Mass”, a festival celebrated by the Christians on the 25^th December to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.

a. Christmas

The word Christmas is derived from the Old English Christes maesse (Christ’s Mass). It was first used in the eleventh century. In German     Weihnacht (holy night) is used, and in Latin Dies natalis Domini (“the Birthday of the Lord”) from which the Italian uses the word Il Natale. The French used the word Noël which is probably from the Anglo-Saxon word geol (a feast, especially the feast of the winter solstice, about 22 December). The solstice is the time when the sun is farthest North of the equator (on 21 June, i.e., summer solstice in Northern hemisphere) and South of the equator (22 December, winter solstice in Northern hemisphere).

The festival of the 25th December was the celebration of the birth of Mithra (or Mitra) the Persian mystery god, “the Sun of Righteousness”,  the ancient Persian god of light and truth. Mithra in Zoroastrian belief  was a god acting as mediator between the Supreme God and man. In the later Avesta, the sacred writings of Zoroastrianism, he is the most important god in Zoroastrians after Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd), the supreme deity, the source of light, and the creator of the world. Later Mithra was considered the saviour god in Mithraism, the centre of the Roman mystery cult. In Vedic Mithra, he was said to have maintained harmony in the social order.

During the first three centuries of the Christian era there was a considerable opposition in the Christian church to the pagan custom in celebrating the birthdays, but the Roman Emperor Aurelian (Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, c. 214-275), who became emperor in 270 established a festival on this date, namely, 25^th of December, in the third century, not as the birthday of Christ, but associated with the winter solstice, namely, when the sun is farthest from the North on the shortest day (22 December). After the triumph of Constantine the Great (c. 274-337), in 336 this pagan festival on this date was adopted and Christianized by the Romans who referred Christ (instead of Mithra), as “the Sun of Righteousness”, and called the festival (“The Birthday of the Sun of Righteousness”). However, Christian scholars know well that Jesus was not born on 25 December. They acknowledge that it is impossible to determine the exact date of the birth of Christ, either from the Bible or from tradition.

Constantine was the first Roman emperor who embraced Christianity. We do not know whether his conversion to Christianity was genuine or for political motives. He summoned and convened the first general council of the Church at the old city Nicaea (on the site of the modern Turkish village Iznik) in 325. This council promulgated the first version of the Nicene Creed which gave the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity against the Arian heresy[1]. In 330 Constantine moved his capital to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople (now called Istanbul).  

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[1] Arius (c. 256-336), was the founder of Arianism which completely denied the divinity of Christ. He was born in Libya, became a priest in Alexandria in 311, and was excommunicated and fled to Palestine in 318, but his heresy spread extensively, so that Constantine called a council at Nicaea to affirm the dogma of the Trinity.

 

During the Middle Ages (5^th -15^th Century) this festival became the most popular one of the year in the church and at home with a blend of pagan tradition and Christianity. However, during the Reformation, the Christmas festival was suppressed. The Puritans in England condemned it, and from 1642 to 1645 they issued ordinances forbidding all church services and festivities. In 1644 Oliver Cromwell who took over England later in 1645 enforced an Act of Parliament banning Christmas celebrations as it was regarded by the Puritans as a wasteful festival that threatened core Christian beliefs.

 Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, but the actual date of his birth in Bethlehem was unknown. With the exception of St. Mark and St. John (who did not mention about Jesus’ birth), the authors of the Gospels claimed that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Mat. 2:1; Luke 2:4-6) and therefore, the place was regarded as a holy place by Christians.

Apart from the New Testament, and to some extent the Qur’ān, historically, we do not know much about Jesus. According to the New Testament Jesus died at the age of 33, but it records the events of the last three years only of his life. In 1906, Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), the Alsatian[2] clergyman, physician, missionary, philosopher, and musicologist, began the final chapter of his book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, as follows:

There is nothing more negative than the result

of the critical  study of the life of Jesus.

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[2] Alsace belonged to Germany after the Treaty of Frankfurt in 1871, returned to France after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

 Another scholar, Rev. Dr. Charles Anderson Scott said in an article on Jesus Christ written for the 14^th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, as follows:

The attempt to write a Life of Jesus should frankly be abandoned.

 The material for it certainly does not exist. It has been calculated that

 the total number of days of his life regarding which we have any

record does not exceed fifty days.

 (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14^th edition, vol xiii, pp. 16-17).

So, we have Biblical Jesus described extensively in the Bible, the Qur’ānic Jesus (‘Isa a.s.) described in the Qur’ān very briefly, and historical Jesus based on brief account of history.

Why did not the Qur’ān explain the history of Jesus, ‘Īsá a.s. in detail? Well, the Qur’ān is not a book of history, but of guidance and enlightenment. Like any other history or biography of any prophet mentioned in the Qur’ān, the brief history of Jesus, ‘Īsá a.s., gives us a moral lesson, guidance. The Qur’ān’s many scientific statements are confirmed by modern science, but is not a book of science. It is a book of awakening. If we read and follow what the Qur’ān said, we would become enlightened and awakened. For just one example, Allah says, 

وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَ كُلَّ دَابَّةٍ مِنْ مَاءٍ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَمْشِي عَلَى بَطْنِهِ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَمْشِي عَلَى رِجْلَيْنِ

وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَمْشِي عَلَى أَرْبَعٍ يَخْلُقُ اللَّهُ مَا يَشَاءُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (45)

 Allah has created every moving creature from water. Of them there

 are some that creep on their belies, and some that walk on two legs,

 and some that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills.

Verily, Allah is able to do all things. (Q 24:45).

Snakes creep on their bellies when they move. There are about 2,500 species of snakes presently known; about 500 of them are poisonous. The Arabs claimed to have about 200 names of snakes, among them are, ثُعْبَان  أَفْعَى , حَيَّة   and  حَنَش. Men and birds walk on two legs.

 Some ornithologists [experts in scientific study of birds] said that

there are about 100 billion [GB “milliard, thousand millions”, world

 pop. 6 billion] individual birds in the world and about 8,600 species…  

(Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1989, vol. 4, p. 195).

Camels, horses, cats and dogs have four legs. Allah did not mention the creatures which have more than four legs, 6, 8, 10, 100, a.s.o. Wake up, men! Observe nature! Do not stop at creatures with four legs. Have you seen an ant? A chapter in the Qur’ān is called sūrat al-Naml, “the Ant”, chapter 27. They have 3 pairs of leg, namely, 6 legs. All ants are social. Termites, usually called white ants, are not true ants. Ants have more than 4,500 species. Keep on observing nature! Have you seen a spider? A chapter in the Qur’ān is called sūrat al-‘Ankabūt (“the Spider”, chapter 29). It has 4 pairs of leg, 8 legs. There are 30,000 known species of spiders in the world. Have you seen a scorpion? They have 4 pairs of legs too, 8 legs. There are more than 650 species of scorpions. Have you seen a centipede?  The Arabs call it أُمُّ أَرْبَعٍ وَ أَرْبَعِيْن  “the creature that has 44 legs”. But the word centipede is from Latin centum meaning “hundred” and pes and pedis meaning “foot”. Do you remember the word pedestrian and pedometer which measures the number of step and the approximate distance taken by a walker? Based on the meaning of its name, it must have one hundred legs. Some centipedes have 15 pairs of leg = 30 legs, some 31 pairs = 62 legs, and up to 173 pairs = 324 legs, more than 100 legs. Here we are just observing the legs only of Allah’s creatures. 

If we keep going on observing further, such as the eyes, the ears, the behaviour, the habitats of Allah’s creatures, starting from creatures that have no eyes to bees which have compound eyes, and further, we would become a scholar in this field. Fish living at the bottom of the ocean where sunlight cannot reach, do not need eyes. Bees -- a chapter in the Qur’ān is called sūrat al-Nah.l, “The Bee”, Chapter 16 -- (about 20,000 known species of bees in the world) have compound eyes, composed of a very large number of sections, each with a separate lens functioning independently, so that its vision is a kind of “mosaic vision”. These three chapters of the Qur’ān, namely, the Bee (ch. 16), the Ant (ch. 27) and the Spider (ch. 29) are all Makkan sūrahs, revealed in Makkah or before hijrah (migration to Medinah). Allah wants us to observe nature, including ourselves, to appreciate it, take advantage of it, and to become obedient to Him.  Man has invented many things based on his observation of nature.

          Back to Christmas, some Christian scholars suggest the birth of Jesus was about the first month of the 4^th year of Christian Era. But according to Matthew, King Herod who heard the birth of Jesus from the “the wise men from the East” wanted to kill Jesus who might be a rival to his throne. Jesus was taken to Egypt by Joseph and his mother, and returned only after the death of Herod in 4 B.C. Therefore, based on Matthew’s account, Jesus might be born in 6 B.C. The Eastern Church, such as the Armenian, celebrates the birth as well as the baptism of Jesus on 6 January. The Greek theologian and a father of the early Christian Church, Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-c.220) suggested May 20. There is an indication in the Qur’ān that Jesus, ‘Īsá a.s., was born in Spring. His miracle birth is mentioned in the Qur’ān, sūrat Maryam, (chapter 19, Mary). When the archangel Gabriel (Jibrīl) appeared before her in the form of man, in all respect (verse17),

فَاتَّخَذَتْ مِنْ دُونِهِمْ حِجَابًا فَأَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهَا رُوحَنَا فَتَمَثَّلَ لَهَا بَشَرًا سَوِيًّا. قَالَتْ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِالرَّحْمَنِ مِنْكَ

إِنْ كُنْتَ تَقِيًّا. قَالَ إِنَّمَا أَنَا رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَامًا زَكِيًّا. قَالَتْ أَنَّى يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ

وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّا. قَالَ كَذَلِكِ قَالَ رَبُّكِ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ وَلِنَجْعَلَهُ آَيَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَرَحْمَةً مِنَّا وَكَانَ أَمْرًا مَقْضِيًّا. فَحَمَلَتْهُ

فَانْتَبَذَتْ بِهِ مَكَانًا قَصِيًّا. فَأَجَاءَهَا الْمَخَاضُ إِلَى جِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ قَالَتْ يَا لَيْتَنِي مِتُّ قَبْلَ هَذَا وَكُنْتُ نَسْيًا

مَنْسِيًّا. فَنَادَاهَا مِنْ تَحْتِهَا أَلَّا تَحْزَنِي قَدْ جَعَلَ رَبُّكِ تَحْتَكِ سَرِيًّا. وَهُزِّي إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ

تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًا جَنِيًّا. فَكُلِي وَاشْرَبِي وَقَرِّي عَيْنًا ... (مريم , ١٨-٢٦)

She said: “Verily, I seek refuge with the Most Gracious

(Allah) from you, if you do fear Allah.” (The angel) said: “I am

only a messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift

of a righteous son.” She said, “How can I have a son, when no man

has touched me, nor am I unchaste?” He said, “So (it will be), your

Lord said: ‘That is easy for Me (Allah). And (We wish) to appoint

as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (Allah), and it is a matter (already) decreed (by Allah).’ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place (i.e. Bethlehem valley about 5 miles from Jerusalem). And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date palm. She said: “Would that I had died before this, and had been orgotten and out of sight!”  Then [the babe ‘Īsá (Jesus) or Gabriel] cried to her from below her, saying: “Grieve not: your Lord has provided a water stream under you. And shake the trunk of the date palm towards

 you, it will let fall fresh ripe dates upon you. So eat and

 drink and be glad….” (Q. 19: 18-26).

What we learn from these verses:

When the angel Gabriel appeared before her as a man, she was scared that he might have bad intentions. Then he told her who he was, not as she thought, and gave her a glad tiding that Allah would bless her with a baby who would be a sign for mankind of Allah’s power. Jesus       (‘Īsá a.s.) was created as a mercy from Allah, which means that he would be one of the prophets who would call people to worship Allah Alone.

Maryam (Mary) went to Bethlehem (originally called Aphrath), to give birth there. In her grief a voice consoled her, that Allah had provided her with a water stream and fresh ripe dates by shaking the trunk of the date palm. Ripe dates and best season of the year, in this case, to deliver a baby, is likely to be in Spring, not in Winter when it is cold.  Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. was said to be born also in Spring (22 April 571 CE).

b. Santa Claus

          Santa Claus is an American corruption of the Dutch San Nicolaas, and was also called St. Nicholas whose feast day is 6 December, and is still retained in some countries, like Germany and the Netherlands, but transferred to Christmas day in English speaking countries, including Australia.

According to tradition Santa Claus who lived in the 4^th century was born in Parara, a city of Lycia (Present Turkey), became Bishop of Myra (present Turkey) where he died. He was said to have attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Although very little is known about him, he was venerated for centuries in the Christian Church as a patron saint of: Russia, children, merchants, and sailors. In the Middle Ages he was also regarded by thieves as their patron saint. He was made patron saint of sailors in the East when, according the legend, his apparition appeared to save a storm-tossed sailor who prayed for his rescue. In the West he was made patron saint of children when, according to legend, he was said to have given three bags of gold to three poor sisters as gift of dowries to save them from dying of starvation or becoming prostitutes. Their father was very poor, and could not afford their dowries without which they could not get married.[3] The father recognised Santa, and the news spread out. The custom of bringing presents to children at the eve of his feast celebrated on 6 December, has now shifted to the Christmas day of the 25^th December; therefore he was also called Father Christmas.

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[3]Dowry in the Western and Christian sense is not mahr in Islamic sense which is paid by the bridegroom to the bride, but property or money brought by the bride to her husband

Santa Claus died in Myra in the present Turkey, but on the 8th of May 1034 his relics, (i.e., his scull, bones, and skeleton) were secretly removed, stolen and taken to Bari in Italy (by sixty-two sailors). A church was built there in honour of him. At present, children who have no chance to see any of the Santa Clauses  in malls and stores  during the Christmas are still able to make contact with him by sending letters to him, to Santa Claus, North Pole, Alaska. North Pole is the name of a small town in Alaska, where Santa Claus has a small office opened in the day time only.

In Conclusion:

Christmas is based on two festivals: (1) the celebration of the birth of Mithra, the messenger god between the Supreme God and man, and the “Sun of Righteousness” in the Zoroastrian and ancient Persian religion on 25^th of December, and (2) the pagan festival of the Winter solstice (22^nd of December) in Europe.

 Santa Claus is the enactment of the real Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (present Turkey) who lived in the third century known for his generosity and compassion. (Canberra Mosque, 29 December, 06)

Bibliography:

Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions. Keith Crim, Generals Editor. Larry A. Bullard and Larry D. Shinn, Associate Editors. Nashville: the Parthenon Press, 1981.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Ed. by Elizabeth A. Livingstone. Oxford, London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1977

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Ed. by F.L. Cross. Second edition ed. By F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingstone. London, Oxford: Oxford University Press,  1974.

The Holy Qur’ān. Tafsir Ibn Kathir.

The New Hutchison 20^th Century Encyclopedia

Collier’s Encyclopeadia

New Testament