[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]
Every year, toward the end of December, warnings come from some of the conservative Islamic voices in Turkey. They advise their co-religionists to avoid indulging in New Year’s Eve celebrations, which they see as a “Christian tradition.” Some of them, especially the most orthodox, even go as far as saying that Muslims will be betraying their faith if they sympathize with Santa Claus or Christmas trees.
This year, it was “Cübbeli Ahmet” i.e., literally, Ahmet the robe-wearer, who was the most vocal bias-monger. This ultra-orthodox imam gave a shivering message to his small community of devout followers: had they died while celebrating the new year, they would have gone to the after-life as infidels.
Jesus of Nazareth
Of course, there is a lot ignorance, and confusion, here. First of all, Christmas and New Year’s Eve are separate things. While the former is specifically Christian, the latter is secular and somewhat universal — at least if you do not have an objection to the Gregorian calendar that most of us use. So, a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, or anybody else can well skip Christmas and celebrate New Year’s Eve as the beginning of a new round of our lives.
But confusion is abundant and found on all sides. In Turkey, they exist among not only the ultra-orthodox, but also the ultra-secular as well. The latter happily use the imagery of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree by totally abandoning their religious meanings and attaching them rather to the secular, and often quite hedonistic, New Year’s Eve. Thus, in the last days of December, you can see Christmas trees in the houses of upper-class Turks. For them, it is simply the Western way to celebrate the new year. The secularists in the United States, who want to de-Christianize the “holiday” season, might perhaps take a hint from this Turkish way of de-Christianizing the symbols of Christ.
In fact, there is a good reason for secular Turks to dismiss the religious meaning of Christmas: for them, Jesus Christ does not mean much. But is this true for religious Turks, as well?
Well, if they get their religion right, it shouldn’t be. Because, although some of them are not fully aware, Jesus Christ is also a holy figure for Muslims. The “Son of Mary,” as he is sometimes called in the Koran, has a very special place in the Islamic faith. A very long chapter of Muslim Scripture, the “Sura of Mary,” is devoted to the praise of his mother and the virgin birth she gave. In this chapter and also others, the preaching and miracles of Jesus are told in detail. In the sura named “Saff,” Muslims are told to take his apostles as examples to follow. Jesus is even referred to in the Koran as “the Word of God,” a term which has a curious resemblance to the introduction of the Fourth Gospel.
To be sure, the Koran rejects that Jesus is God, or “Son of God,” and denounces the Doctrine of Trinity. What I have found always intriguing is that although this Koranic picture of Jesus contradicts mainstream Christianity, it looks very similar to that of the earliest Christians: the Jewish followers of Jesus who regarded him as the promised messiah, the Son of David, but not God. From a careful reading of the New Testament, we can understand that the leader of these Jewish Christians were James the Just, the brother of Jesus, whereas Paul started another line that would ultimately became gentile, and thus mainstream, Christianity.
While gentile Christianity was making inroads in Rome, to ultimately become its official faith, Jewish Christianity was struggling in the wilderness to perish in a few centuries. Early church history hints that the members of this line latter were called either “Nazarenes” or “Ebionites.” The Jewish Encyclopedia notes that the Nazarenes “exalted Jesus as a just man, and read the Gospel of Peter,” which only survives in fragments today. Wikipedia underlines that the Ebionites “regarded Jesus as a mortal human messianic prophet, but not as divine.” Had this earliest form of Christianity lived today, it would probably have a Christology that is much closer to the Islamic view.
Another Mevlid Kandili?
Whatever happened, happened. And Christianity took a Pauline form, whose logical end was the creation of the Doctrine of Trinity, which is unacceptable both to the Jewish and the Muslim understanding of monotheism.
Yet the fact remains that despite their different opinions on his nature today Christians and Muslims are the only groups on Earth which adore Jesus Christ. The Koran even describes Muslims as “those who have faith in God and His Messengers and do not differentiate between any of them,” (4: 152). So, their affection to Jesus, or any other prophet, should not be less than to Muhammad.
That is why Christmas does not need to be seen by Muslims as an alien idea. The birthday of Prophet Muhammad is widely celebrated in the Muslim world as “Milad an-Nabi.” In Turkey, it is called the “Mevlid Kandili.” Why not welcome the birthday of another prophet, a most revered one in the Koran?
Well, then, I guess all that’s left is for me is to extend to my not just Christian, but also Muslim readers, that joyful wish: Merry Christmas!
To say That the early Christian where all Ebonite or that that James the Just did not belief the Divinity of Christ is I think an over statement. By locking at history we can clearly see that all of Jesus disciple believed in his Divinity( John, Peter,Thomas etc.) Even James was most probably in the same line of believe. It is true that a very small segment did not but they where from the beginning a very small minority and we cannot say that they where the early( or earliest christian). Paul did not invent the doctrine of Jesus Divinity( the gospel of john is not his). But ending on a less divisive issue I agree that the Koran and Muslims have some common doctrines with Christians and that Jesus is revered by Islam so Merry Christmas to all!
Dear Sir,
I have read this text in the newspaper and I was very happy to find your personal blog so that I could thank you for bringing this matter into discussion.
I am a Romanian young girl, but I am much interested in Turkish culture, which I find absolutely fascinating, even though I am and will remain a Christian. I deeply disagree with extremism, whether it comes from Europeans, Arabs or Turks, so my heart was indeed filled with joy reading your explanations. There are, indeed, many common values between Christianity and Islam and both Bible and Quran should be read by all people, no matter the faith they share.
I am a little nervous to have the chance to “talk” to you, but I am sending you my best regards in a most sincere manner
Merry Christmas!
Ada
Yes, but how do we even know when the Prophet Jesus was born? December 25 is probably made-up. If we celebrate the birthday of Jesus, then should we celebrate Moses’s, Noah’s, Joseph’s, etc?
I thought at first not to comment, but revisited your page and decided to share. I am a Muslim woman, raised Christian, in the United States. I have Christian friends and family members and our commonality in Jesus opens the doors for much dialogue around our tables as we break bread with one another. Thank you for wishing all a Merry Christmas, so many Muslims feel it taboo to express this. History lessons aside, the Christmas season should be appreciated by Muslims for what it is and for what it is not. Happy Holidays !!!
A very bad article. I wouldn’t expect you to write something like this, Mr. Akyol.
The celebrations at 25 December is a remnant of ancient Roman pagan festivals. That date was also the birthday of the ancient persian sun god Mithra. In the Roman Empire a cult of Mithraism had developed around the same time that Jesus (salaam be on him) lived. Along with many other beliefs such as the descent of Mithra onto the Earth to die to wipe out the sins of humans, this birthday of Mithra also became part of Christianity.
No, I will not celebrate this pagan holiday.
In pre-Islamic Arabia, Allah was used by Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity.
Allah was not considered the sole divinity; however, Allah was considered the creator of the world and the giver of rain. The notion of the term may have been vague in the Meccan religion.[4] Allah was associated with companions, whom pre-Islamic Arabs considered as subordinate deities. Meccans held that a kind of kinship existed between Allah and the jinn.[15] Allah was thought to have had sons[16] and that the local deities of al-ʻUzzá, Manāt and al-Lāt were His daughters.[17] The Meccans possibly associated angels with Allah.[18][19] Allah was invoked in times of distress.[19][20] Muhammad’s father’s name was ‘Abdallāh meaning the “servant of Allāh.” or “the slave of Allāh”
Just as the word ‘Allah’ was originally used to refer to a pagan god, Christmas Day was originally used to refer to a pagan god’s birthday. That doesn’t make the use of the word ‘Allah’ to be wrong and that doesn’t make the celebration of Chistmas Day to be wrong. What counts is what the word or the date means NOW, NOT what it meant in the past. Just as nobody thinks of a pagan god when they say ‘Allah’, nobody thinks of a pagan god named Mithra when they celebrate Christmas.
@ Mehmed
Yes originally the symbolism of Christmas was related to Northern European pagan tradition. But today it is associated with Christianity and the birth of Isa, so there is no problem for us to celebrate as well.
Mr. Akyol, admittedly I focused only on one aspect of your article above and passed a totally negative judgement.
I understand your real point better now. I agree that Jesus (peace be on him) is a common point between Muslims and Christians. Christianity is not a completely “alien” faith to Islam, and vice versa. The common points between Christianity and Islam should be remembered by members of both religions for world peace and for a common front against the mindless secularism coming from circles who hold enmity towards all religions without understanding their inner meanings at all.
Nevertheless, because of the reason that I put forward in the above comment of mine, Christmas was a wrong choice to emphasize this commonality between the two faiths that are both “Abrahamic” (although in our viewpoint Christianity has definitely deviated from the Abrahamic origin a lot due to reasons such as you explained above in your article).
Regards
Mehmed Mustafa Hamdi (in the above comment I omitted the Hamdi in my name)
Muratcan, the Armenian church celebrates Christmas on the sixth of January. Are you going to celebrate it on that day again?
It does not make sense at all to celebrate the birthday of our sayyid Jesus, peace be on him, at certain dates just because some people (who happen to believe that Jesus is God Himself!)wrongly think that those dates are his birthday. Moreover Christmas is even today not purely a monotheistic and religious holiday.
And above all, our Prophet, peace and blessings be on him, told us not to celebrate any other festivals other than the two eids/bayrams. He specifically and emphatically annulled for Muslims all the other festivals of all nations and religions including the pre-Islamic festivals of the Arabs themselves.
Our two eids are no ethnic or racial group’s festivals. They are purely Islamic, purely God-given, purely neutral to all nations. The European white man’s festivals of pagan origin such as Christmas are not more valuable than the various non-white peoples in the world. So Christmas cannot be privileged in that way by Muslims.
In short, we have our two great eids that do not belong to any ethnic or racial group historically but only to Islam and only to God and we celebrate only them with the permission of God.
@ Mehmed
Very good point. It is annoying to see parts of “white” culture being adopted as cool things by non-white peoples. Not just us Turks, but even Indians and most prevelant is Japanese culture.
However me personally and many Muslims are from Western nations. I think it is fine for us to celebrate it. But for Muslim nations to incorporate aspects of it does seem a little farfetched.
To Mehmed Mustafa,
i understand what you are saying about Christmas. Chris Hedges, himself a Christian who went to Harvard Seminary, did say in this interview at the Colbert report that Christmas was originally a pagan holiday to celebrate the winter solstice. However, missionaries told these pagans that this coincides with the day that Jesus Christ was born, so as to gain more converts.
Nonetheless the vast majority of Christians and even non-Christians celebrate Christmas, as it has its secular value as well which can be enjoyed by all. The only reason a Muslim should not celebrate Christmas is if it involves the association of God with some idol, person, etc in worship. And Christmas obviously does not require the worship of other things or beings other than God. Therefore, it is perfectly fine for a Muslims to celebrate Christmas.
Decorating a tree was a pagan tradition among pre-Christtian Germanic tribes. Similarly, pre-Islamic Turks were fond of decorating trees as well. The star or the angel on the top of the Christmas tree is a religious symbol not the tree itself.
The Christmas tree tradition was introduced to the world by the German descent members of the British Royal family.
During the new year celebrations in Turkey, you can see not only Christmas tree but also Chinese ornaments as well. Anyone who attends ‘Chinese New Year’ celebrations can see the similarities. So cool down and join the celebrations whenever possible.
Quite good article here again. I did not read the comments yet, but i’d like to say :
the first christians, the jews who followed Jesus as the Messie, were at my opinion in the best path. Some say they read the Gospel of Peter, some say the Gospel according to Matthew in his original hebraic version. Those christians were called nazarene (maybe because of Esaie 11, see Pritz, jewish nazarene christianity). And strangely it is the name given to christian by both jewish and Quran.
Some says the eastern christian in time of Muhamad were nazarenes. It is an option, but a lot of different christianism exists in orient, so we d’on’t know.
Christmas is and will always be a pagan feast. Neue hell : new light. It is the winter solstice : the birth of the sun god, exactly nine month after eastern : the eggs feast. Old testament is very clear against it and the cult that come with. never would have the nazarene have christmas, take it for granted. It is part of mainstream christianism, the one who accord with paganism to take power. surely it did gave the gospel to the whole earth, good for him, but it did mix with paganism.
For the Quran, what you avoid, is to said that Jesus is the Messie. Not only the word of God (and thus taking the most controversial part of the fourth gospel as you said). According to Quran ‘Issa is the Messie. So more than just a prophet. And this is very consequent with muslim’s eschatology, who wait for the Messie to come, as jews and christians.
SO in conclusion, we have a reconciliation, and definitely not in Christmas, for all those who believe. And that is one of the main aspect of Quran : the believers agree on Scripture and on the last day.
“those who have faith in God and His Messengers and do not differentiate between any of them,” (4: 152)
i have christain Friends. i like to wish hem “Marry Christmas”
there is no evidence for Jesus Christ Peace be upon him has born on Dec 25. So rather than wishing the Birthday of christmas.
as a muslim can i wihs them. and celebrate that Dec 25 day.