2006, IV - The Muslim Sunrise

three wise men show up. Shortly after,the star comes down on top of the barnwhere Jesus as is born. For a people whohave scientific, geographic andatmospheric knowledge, it is a testamentto their blind faith.How else could you tell a story likethat with a straight face? After thisscene, the story kind of disappears. Allyou hear is hallelujah, hallelujah, (peaceon earth, peace on earth) and theChristmas music starts. I wouldn’t wantto join the “peace marching” ofChristians at this point in time. Startingfrom the Crusades, the Spanishinquisition, Vietnam and now Iraq, the“peace march” is still on. Just themention of this long historical peacemarch is enough to ruin the Christmasspirit.My suffering continues with theconcept of Santa Claus. Being raised ina Muslim country, I knew nothing aboutSanta Claus. As a matter of fact, I don’tthink he exists anywhere in the SouthernHemisphere or the hot climate countries.I mean to wear what he does and slidedown chimneys in areas around theequator would be a serious undertaking.I looked up “Santa Claus” in theencyclopedia to satisfy my curiosity. Icouldn’t believe what I found out. Hisorigin is Saint Nicholas from Izmir,Turkey. The details of his travels and theNorth Pole house continued to be madeup as children kept on asking questionsabout who he was. You’ve got to lookup the details in the encyclopedia – Iapologize; this was before we had theInternet.You have to look it up on the Internet.I think you type in the word Santa Clausand you get options to learn about hishistory. Even the old timers know howto find information faster these days.The cold hard fact is that the 25 th ofDecember is when the sun worshippingpagans used to celebrate the coming ofthe sun. The sun starts its movementtowards the north during that week. Thecelebration is called Saturnalia. So atsome time, the Christians figured theywould join in on the dancing, music,food and fun and do it in the name ofJesus as . I found that out in theencyclopedia as well, but this was underthe word “Christmas”.Many Christians have Christmasblues also. The number of gifts theyhave to give to family members andfriends is enough to turn anyone blue,and this is after they have agreed to keepgifts to a $25 minimum. They can’tescape it.The Holy Qur’an has referred to it asthe chains around their necks and ankles.People strap themselves with this sortof custom and find no way out. Some ofmy friends even say that they hateChristmas for this reason alone.The Jehovah’s Witnesses hateChristmas too but they have differentreasons altogether. This is not a joke.Don’t ever say “Merry Christmas” to aJehovah’s Witness unless you want tolose him as a friend. We don’t need totake sides. Just be careful so we don’tget caught in the middle.While I was at the Chicago publiclibrary looking up these words, Idecided to look under the word “Jesus”also. That opened up a whole new set ofshockers for me. EncyclopediaBritannica said that there was noauthentic history about Jesus as . So Ilooked up other encyclopedias likeStandard, Americana and Collier’s. Theyhad the same opinion. Now I knew whythe Christians were sticking to theirstory. How can anyone challenge theirstory, the real stuff is missing. Logic, ofcourse, is something they don’t want tomix with their faith. It could take awaytheir Christmas holidays.I think their belief in Jesus as being theSon of God is due to the same reason.The story just kept on getting biggerwith time and before you know it,resemblance to reality disappeared.Making equals to God is sin. The firstcommandment should be sufficient toclarify that. “Thou shall have no othergods before Me.”To hate a sin is a virtue but we mustnot hate the sinner. This is truly a greatprinciple and we should understand it.It also fits in with our motto of ‘Lovefor all, hatred for none.’When your mother saw you as a childcoming home full of mud and filth, shedid not hate you. She hated the mud andthe filth but not you. She just wanted toclean you up. We should hate the sin ofa human being, but not the onescommitting the sin. We need to helpthem clean themselves of that sin.So let us not ruin Christmas by hatingthe Christians. We should share theirhappiness with them. We don’t have tocelebrate with them by drinking withthem and going to their churches. Givingthem a gift at their time of happiness andpraying for them is not something weshould be hesitant about. We shouldpray for their health, prosperity, wellbeing and especially for freedom fromtheir bondage of sin.We can give them the real thing byintroducing them to the real God. But,how are we going to deliver it if we can’teven get close to them. Christmas seasonwill be over in a few weeks but ourrelationships could last for the rest ofthe year.I have told all my Christian friends Iam open to receiving gifts at Christmas.I quote them the famous words of theSalvation Army bell ringers:It is better to give, than to receive.So let us not ruin Christmas by hating theChristians. We should share their happiness withthem. We don’t have to celebrate with them bydrinking with them and going to their churches.Giving them a gift at their time of happiness andpraying for them is not something we should behesitant about. We should pray for their health, prosperity, wellbeing and especially for freedom from their bondage of sin.42 MuslimSunrise