Muslims Celebrate the
Christian Meaning of Christmas
The
Christmas holiday is coming upon us, with colorful lights,
joyful carols and people going to churches to celebrate
the birth of Jesus (Prophet Isa). It is well known, particularly
in this holiday season, that Christians follow the teaching
of Jesus. What is less well understood is that Muslims also
love and revere Jesus as one of God's greatest messengers
to mankind.
The personality of Jesus plays a central role in Islam.
Muslims believe that God delivered the Gospel - Injeel to
Jesus, just as he did Ta'wrat with Moses and the Old Testament
(Zabur) to David and the Koran (Qur’an) to Prophet
Muhammad. It is critical for Muslims and non-Muslims to
understand that a person is not considered a Muslim unless
he or she believes in Jesus, and Islam is the only religion
that testifies to Christianity.
Islam also assigns a very high degree of respect to the
mother of Jesus, Mary (Mariam). There is an exclusive chapter
in the Koran (Qur’an) on the mother of Jesus by the
name of ''Sura-e-Mariam.'' The life of Jesus Christ is a
momentous event for Christians and non-Christians alike.
Jesus Christ's birthday is a signpost, and of all the great
people born through the ages, imagine that Jesus is so important
that his life divides time between B.C. and A.D.
Both Muslims and Christians can learn a lot from Christmas….
Christmas is an awesome time of year, but the irony is that
Prophet Jesus and his teaching are becoming more and more
absent from the celebrations. However, there is a positive
side of Christmas becoming increasingly secular. I think
it's awesome that Christmas brings some of the greatest
truths of the gospel to light. If it were not for the Christmas
or Thanksgiving holidays, family relationships would be
worse than they are. In fact, these are the only times that
many families make an attempt to mend broken relationships.
(Courtesy Morning Call, 12/19/05)
http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/anotherview/all-quote-b-a-adec20,0,4426865.story
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