In today’s world, where children are exposed to a variety of ideas and celebrations, it’s important to ground their beliefs about Isa (Jesus) in the Quran and Sunnah. At Christmas, children encounter various beliefs about Isa that might not align with our core beliefs as Muslims. It’s important to address these misconceptions and provide a clear Islamic narrative about Isa and the origin of Christmas celebrations. Read on for suggestions about what to teach your Muslim child about Christmas.
What we believe about Isa (peace be upon him)
Education about our foundational beliefs as Muslims is always the best place to start. There can be a lot of beliefs that kids are exposed to about Isa around Christmas time and the best way to combat that is to establish the authentic beliefs we have about Isa based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. You can find a blog post all about the Muslim Jesus here.
If you would like a free resource pack about Isa designed especially for Muslim kids then click here.
Why we don’t celebrate Christmas
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“Similarly it is forbidden for the Muslims to imitate the unbelievers by holding parties on these occasions, or exchanging gifts, or distributing sweets or other foods, or taking time off work and so on, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book Iqtida’ al-Sirat al-Mustaqim Mukhalafat Ashab al-Jahim: Imitating them on some of their festivals implies that one is happy with the falsehood they are following, and that could make them (the non-Muslims) take this opportunity to mislead those who are weak in faith.”
“Whoever innovates anything in this matter of ours that is not part of it will have it rejected.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, al-Sulh 2499; Muslim, 1718)
So we teach our kids that we don’t copy the non-Muslims when they celebrate Christmas and we don’t worship Allah except through the ways that he has legislated for us for example Eid.
The real origins of Christmas
Many of the festivities commonly associated with Christmas actually have pagan roots. They actually originated as part of Roman and Greek celebrations of their gods or as part of mid-winter festivals. It can really help to educate kids about these origins. They develop a natural distaste for joining traditions that involve the worship of false gods.
You can download a reading passage/comprehension pack about the real origins of various holidays on Etsy, TPT and the Teach Me Islam Website.
The importance of Eid and our own traditions
When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to Medina, the people had two days on which they engaged in games. He asked: What are these two days (what is the significance)? They said: We used to engage ourselves on them in the pre-Islamic period. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah has substituted for them something better than them, the day of sacrifice and the day of the breaking of the fast. Sunan Abi Dawud 1133 Sahih (Al-Albani)
Festivals like Christmas are naturally going to appeal to young kids. They involve special food, clothes and traditions. When we emphasise our Eid celebrations where we worship Allah and have our own fun traditions, kids have something to look forward to. It massively reduces the possible feeling of ‘missing out.’
Free resources to help you teach kids about Islam
I hope you have found these tips about what to teach your child about Christmas useful. If you would like to get a FREE resource for kids about the Muslim beliefs about Jesus, click here. Plus Join the mailing list here to gain access to the free resource library. It’s full of resources to help teach your kids about Islam.
Here are some other blog posts you may be interested in:
What to teach kids about the Muslim Jesus?
Why you should carefully select non-fiction texts for Muslim kids
