It always seems to be a common thing every year in Indonesia, when Christmas approaches, Muslims debate whether it is permissible or not to participate in or just say Merry Christmas to the Christians. It's not a new thing here. Actually, it's not just Christmas, but other religious festivals which have nothing to do with Islam but here I want to talk about Christmas. Is it relevant to talk about this? Yes it is because it always happened. Usually there are always narratives that prohibit Muslims from saying Merry Christmas or even celebrating it, mainly from conservative Muslims.
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Sometimes I like to be confused, especially to conservative Muslims in Indonesia. They said themselves are nationalists but in the other side they are promoting hatred, enmity and conflict against those who are not Muslim, in this case they are telling narratives that prohibit Muslims from saying Merry Christmas especially when participating on Christmas. Even though the motto of the Republic of Indonesia is "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" (Old Javanese language) which means in English unity in diversity. So, they are not nationalistic actually. They are not tolerant and just want conflict.
Personally, I am used to hearing many lots of narratives that strictly prohibit Muslims from celebrating Christmas or even just wishing Christians a Merry Christmast, some from my Islamic religious teachers and many of them are conservative Muslims (I used to go to madrasa so this is a personal experience). I initially agreed but then I refused, there's no such good reasons to prohibit Muslims even to just say Merry Christmas. This is one of the reasons why I left Islam. When I thought more deeply it turned out that these narratives were not about, as they say, carrying out religious orders, but spreading hatred. They are toxic. I know there are still many Muslims who are not toxic, who are liberal, who are moderate, who think the same as me but they are few.
The common reasons that are usually used to prohibit Muslims from celebrating Christmas, at least what I hear first hand, is that Muslims indirectly believe that Jesus Christ is God and part of holy trinity (it means a Muslim has become an infidel or in Arabic "kāfir"), that Jesus was born on 25 December and that a Muslim has become kufr like those who celebrate Christmas. I don't want to discuss about these reasons on this post but what's certainly is there is no clear basis for these. Even if you search, there are actually no verses in the Qur'an that either in general or specifically prohibit wishing Merry Christmas. They say Islam is a religion of peace but how come there are so many narrations like I said above. It's double standard and they are hypocritical.
There are also other large groups of Muslims who are not conservative in Indonesia, namely liberal Muslims and moderate Muslims. The liberal Muslims are in opposition of conservative Muslims, they are very open and most tolerant of all (I've ever been a liberal Muslim too and I have many friends of them). The moderate Muslims are in the middle of a debate like this, quite a lot of them said that it's okay say Merry Christmas without having to celebrate it. Usually these two groups like to spread narratives of religious tolerance and religious moderation. They do not like, like conservative Muslims, strictly prohibit Muslims to say Merry Christmas. There's a verse from Qur'an that, although I slightly disagree, but implicitly it is permissible for Muslims to wish a Merry Christmas:
Al-Mumtahanah verse 8:
لَا يَنْهَاكُمُ اللَّهُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَلَمْ يُخْرِجُوكُمْ مِنْ دِيَارِكُمْ أَنْ تَبَرُّوهُمْ وَتُقْسِطُوا إِلَيْهِمْ
Meaning:
"Allah does not forbid you from dealing kindly and fairly with those who have neither fought nor driven you out of your homes. Surely Allah loves those who are fair."
Sometimes I think about how the debate is going on between ordinary people who maybe they don't have much religious knowledge. Usually they are driven by local religious leaders, it's dangerous if they are conservative. Sometimes I also think about how Christians respond to narratives that prohibit Muslims from saying Merry Christmas. I think that there are some Christians who feel like they are hated by Muslims even if indirectly, I assume that they think like "why should we Christians be hated?". Demographically Christians are a minority in Indonesia, if the Islamic religious leaders can create narratives that prohibit Muslims from wishing Merry Christmas or perhaps other Christian holidays, how about other minorities?
I think it's not humanistic to prohibit Muslims from saying Merry Christmas, to greet our Christian friends, to wish them a better life and joyful Christmas. Muslims don't have to get involved in the Christmas celebrations, back to each individual. It's humanistic when everyone, not just Muslims, can freely do it. If so then tolerance between people should be higher. Avoid religious narratives that promoting hatred, enmity or conflict. Think, be rational and don't be blind. Sometimes there are people who don't want to see other people who have different religion to be happy with their religious festivals festivals, this may be due to the understanding that one's religion is the most correct and the others must be wrong.
There's nothing wrong with saying Merry Christmas or to celebrate it, no one will get hurt by it so far we are happy to do it. If everyone is happy with it why not? Even though I'm a non-theist but I'll celebrate Christmas too. Christmas is more than just a religious celebration, it's a secular celebration. It's not a problem for everyone, even for Muslims, to participate in or celebrating Christmas in many ways. We have to respect other religious festivals, it is part of building brotherhood and unity. Specifically here in Indonesia we have to respect Christmas and respect those who are celebrating Christmas (whether Christian or non-Christian). Promote religious tolerance and religious moderation!
~ Sofia the Dancing Star (24/12/2022)
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