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
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