Resources > Engaging Muslims > Engaging as individuals > My Muslim friends at Christmas
Resources on how to talk about Christmas with Muslims
Advent resources
Resources for use in the Advent season with your Muslim friends leading upto Christmas.
Blogs about Christmas with Muslim Friends
Sharing the Reason for the Season
Miriam writes here about opportunities to use the customs of Christmas to talk about faith with our friends
What Surprised the Arab Guest at the Carol Service?
Ken writes here about inviting a Muslim friend to church as a Christian.
A Halal Christmas
Chas writes here about inviting friends to their home
Suggestions for Christmas activities with Muslims
Party games & activities with Muslims
We have run different party type things over the years at Christmas with our Ladies ‘Stay and Play/Conversation’ class.
Things we have done include crafts, silly games, picture quizzes, other Christmas themed quizzes, Nativity Pass the Parcel (where you get a layer and have to dress up as the name inside), we’ve always told the story of the Nativity involving children/adults, and of course invited people to bring food to share, so end with a lunch.
One year, we ran a bigger Saturday afternoon party for the whole family, so some of our Stay and Play mums along with other international families connected to the church came along. We did a full programme with games, craft, nativity and a small talk, all followed of course by a Bring and Share dinner, which was amazing as always! We’re planning a similar event this year - it’s great to involve church families as well as Stay and Play families.
We shared the Christmas story with our English conversation class using the resource Christmas in a Box. It went down so well, evoking a lot of interest and questions.
We had a women’s craft event for our ESOL ladies – making angel decorations, biscuits etc
We are going to show parts of the Jesus film to our ladies and then give them a small bag of chocolates to take home, with a gift tag that has the web address where they can watch the whole film at home in their own language.
Can I give Christmas presents to Muslim friends?
Of course! Your friends will be happy to receive your gifts. Biscuits and sweets are always welcome, especially if homemade. But avoid sweets with gelatine and remember most mince pies have suet or similar, so check for halal ingredients. Calendars are always popular and we pray that the words printed on them will give spiritual life to those who receive them. ‘Hope’ calendars are available here in many different languages. Duncan Peters’ modern translation of Luke makes a lovely gift for some friends.
Be aware that your friend might or might not give you a gift in return. A Mahabba member posed this question on the discussion site:
I had a wonderful time of sharing over Christmas with my Muslim friends. I visited one friend who told me that the mosque is saying it is sin to give Christmas presents. This is the first she has heard of this and is very confused. She feels that this could be very divisive. Have you heard of this teaching? She gave me a present anyway as a ‘thank you for all you’ve done over the year' gift!
Two people responded:
Response 1 - This may not necessarily be a teaching that you have come across, but for some persuasions in Islam it is a logical conclusion. If you say Christmas is not something that Muhammad celebrated, it is therefore not sunna (accepted practice). Indeed, Wahabi and Deobandi (strict sects within Islam) teach that celebrating birthdays is haram (forbidden). That includes Jesus’ and, sadly, the little girl’s who lives round the corner. However, it was nice that she gave you a present, and often the fun of parties and presents is more powerful than dull doctrine.
Response 2 - Given that Christmas is also a celebration of the incarnation of God in human form on earth, it is a particularly severe heresy in Islam. Therefore, giving Christmas presents is seen as participating in, and affirming, something that is un-Islamic and wrong.
Further reading on Christmas and Islam
These are both quite detailed, theological articles:
Can I wish a Muslim Merry Christmas?
Explaining the real Christmas to Muslims
Christmas Cards & Muslim friends
Christianity Explained has some ideas for evangelistic Christmas cards for Muslims in various formats. Click here.
And another idea for a card:
https://christianityexplained.net/to/children/candy-cane-gospel-christmas-gift-for-children/
Here is a link to a picture that leads to an evangelistic article:
http://christianityexplained.net/to/cm/
Sending Whatsapp greetings to muslim friends
Christmas time is great time to send messages but we need not limit ourselves to conventional cards. If you have a verse of scripture you want to send someone, try opening Google, selecting images and then writing in the reference. Chances are you will find that someone else – probably lots of people have already combined that verse with an attractive image. Not everyone chooses what is going to suit your needs or your friend’s needs, so hunt around. Find something suitable, download and send with Whatsapp – or even just send the link. Some may have copyright attached but a lot of what is displayed is there for other Christians to use.
You can also make your own. Apps like YouVersion for example, allow you to select a text by placing your finger on it, the text appears underlined and options appear below including the addition of a background image. An opportunity to be creative! No equipment required other than your phone!
A christmas story from a Muslim perspective
Halal-lujah! Just because I'm Muslim doesn't mean I don't celebrate Christmas
There aren’t many Muslims who don’t appreciate the warmth and cheer that the UK collectively indulges in at this time of year.
For my own family, Christmas was the time that TV really upped its game. My dad would buy the Radio Times and, once he’d finished marking out his schedule of James Bond films, my siblings and I would descend upon it, scouring through its pages for Mary Poppins and The Snowman.
Our house began to fill with Christmas cards from colleagues and school-friends. Then probably to ensure we wouldn’t feel left out in playground conversations post-Christmas break, we started receiving gifts from our parents, lovingly arranged by our gas fire for us to wake up to on Christmas morning.
It was around this time we were invited to our first specially-organised Christmas dinner at The Earnshaws: my best friend at school’s practising Christian family who considerately provided a halal chicken and omitted all pork-based products from the table for our sake.
Seeing how easy it was for us to have the fullest Christmas experience, we went on to emulate this for ourselves every year since. My Muslim family’s Christmas dinner proves to be an almost identical experience to the original – with a few tweaks. All the vegetables can remain just as they are, though the Turkey is, of course, halal – and ideally marinated overnight in the choicest spices. In fact, not feeling obliged to stick to the letter of tradition, we’re free to concede that Turkey isn’t all that great anyway and go for chicken or roast lamb instead. The same laissez-faire attitude cannot be applied to Brussels sprouts, of course. Even Muslims recognise that Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without them. Shloer (a fizzy grape juice in suitably fancy bottles) provides the perfect non-alcoholic substitute. And of course no pigs in blankets here please. No pig in anything for that matter.
Christmas is a very special time for us as a family. Like the rest of the country, it’s one of the few times of year when our now-disparate clan can get together. We appreciate the values associated with the festive season: the spirit of giving, sharing and concern for our fellow human beings resonates with our own Muslim beliefs. Any opportunity to participate in the recognition of these values is a welcome one.
Also in accordance with our Muslim beliefs is the commemoration of Jesus (upon whom be peace) as an honoured, revered and important prophet for us. His birth is a joy we also feel entitled to share with our Christian neighbours.
This isn’t a call for every non-Christian family in the country to feel they have to join in with Christmas as much as we do, or even at all. But those who do choose to take part in the celebrations will recognise the special affinity it allows us to share with our neighbours. Being able to partake in the happiness of those around us is a genuine privilege and an intimate gesture. Far from taking away from who we already are, it strengthens those values and bonds that hold us together.
It feels like these affirmations of what we have in common are more important than ever. It’s in this spirit, therefore, that I’d like to raise my glass of non-alcoholic bubbly and wish all my neighbours across Britain, whatever their faith, a very merry Christmas, peace on earth and goodwill to all.
Avaes Mohammad is a researcher at the independent thinktank British Future and coordinator of the Unknown & Untold project to highlight the contribution of Muslim soldiers to Britain in the First World War
More Christmas blogs
More Christmas resources
Some helpful responses to an important question, this season.