Mutharika with Muslim children at Christmas party raise eyebrows: Muslim scholar speaks
The photo opportunity of President Peter Mutharika, First Lady and Muslim youth he hosted at Mzuzu State Lodge on Wednesday as part of Christmas celebration has raised eyebrows from the Islamic community.
The Muslims who spoke to Nyasa Times say while they appreciate the Head of State hosting a treat to the children, it is unfair to involve Muslim youth to a highly mythical account of the Christian version of the birth of Jesus which is celebrated as Christmas on December 25.
They say it will bring confusion to Muslim young faithfuls by their being involved in Christmas celebrations.
Sheikh Salmin Omar Idruss, chairman of the Muslim Association of Malawi, said he considers parading Muslim youth in their religious regalia celebrating Christmas as un-Islamic
And Islamic scholar Sherif Kaunde, who is also an expert in Islamic Law, said there is no doubt that Islam does not allow Muslims to celebrate any other festival other than Eid al-fitr, a celebration that marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and Eid Al-Adha as prescribed in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
“Therefore anything outside these two is considered either an innovation or imitation of others,” Kaunde told Nyasa Times when interviewed.
“It is an innovation in a sense that they are celebrating as a means of drawing close to the Almighty God but with no origin in the scriptures or religious texts. Also an imitation of non-Muslims who celebrate their festivals as a tradition and not as an act of worship,” he argued.
Kaunde, who is also chair of an association of Malawi Muslims in UK , explained that the Holy Quran venerates both Jesus and Virgin Mary by sharing their story of Jesus’ miraculous birth and his ability to perform miracles with the help of God.
However, he said, it is not the practice of Muslims to celebrate the birth of their prophets.
“Christmas has become such a cultural phenomenon and is observed as a tradition and not an act of worship for some people if not the majority. Therefore, imitating these people or taking part in them implies that one is happy with what they are following and in the end that could make them take this opportunity to mislead those who are weak in faith especially the children,” said Kaunde.
He continued: “For many, Christmas is a fun and joyous occasion about being with family and giving. However, celebrating it with those that oppose such a belief no matter their age is unexplainable contradiction and misleadingly wrong.”
Addressing the children who were drawn from Mzuzu city, President Mutharika urged them to work hard in school so that they are able to take up different public positions, including that of state presidency, in the future.
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WHY WOULD ANYBODY THINK JESUS WAS A MUSLIM? ——————————————————————————— 1. Jesus never said the Islamic Shahada. (the “Shema” is One Yahweh God confession WITHOUT Muhammad) 2. Jesus never prayed to “Allah” but He called God His “Abba”. (Hebrew “Abba” is never “Allah”). 3. Jesus never bowed toward Mecca or any direction for prayer. 4. Jesus never mentioned the importance of the “Kaaba” or a temple. (John 4:21-24) 5. Jesus never prayed repeating the same words or phrases over and over again. (Matthew 6:7) 6. Jesus never did “Ramadan daylight fasting”, but fasted “day and night”. (Matthew 4:2) 7. Jesus never… Read more »
Quotes from any holy book are useless! A Muslim can quote the Koran would that make his belief valid? Is quoting from the bible different. If the universe was created by any god? Why did he inspire humans to write these useless, primitive and non sense piece of poetry? Books with talking snakes, and world floods that never happened? Books that wans us to kill people suspected of witchcraft or homosexuals or women who are not virgins? If these books are your evidence of his divine powers, then only an imbecile would believe in him! The bible, Koran , the… Read more »
Muslim’s teachings have a core basis, Islamise nations. You know, they have forced everyone to eat/consume Halaal foods which Christians are not part of. Everyone must follow their traditions, why? This is where we should all take great notice and keen interest into how these people want to conquer the world. They have philosophies which they use to hoodwink people, seemingly understanding them, is a victory to them. Imagine every hotel, restaurant, eating place must be Halaal, just to mention but a few. There’s another weakness to this Christmas argument, the same muslims use Christmas festivities and even Easter to… Read more »
These two parties won’t agree forever
Ndi ma rival just like
Derby ya bt
Wow! I am impressed! We have truth on both side, its true Islam is a violent religion. Full of hate etc, but again xstian also went thru the same, 3-4 centuries ago, in fact Christians have murdered more than Islam, except they did not have space age weapons then! ( which is good). Muslim are right, xmas is 100% pagan! Its not about Jesus at all. The bottom line about religious people is: you are all able to smell your neighbour’s SH*T but you fail to smell your own!
Koma xmas bonus mumalandira. Mukuti simu panga chikumbutso pa tsiku lobadwa Prophet want nanga ma ziyara ama página aja ndi chiani?
Mathanyula,do not encroach our Christian Malawi into Islamic inferno.Muluzi opened the gets for these libidinous killers and now you want these people to strengthen your political status within Islamic society in the country especially at this time when the National elections are close by.The fact is that ISLAM is not a religion,but rather a murderous cult fed on human blood.As Iam writing this piece,Western Nations which received them in millions when they left their countries to protect their lives from their own killers,are now the targets of Islamic terrorists or jihadis.In Nigeria,Boko Haram is still spilling the blood of Christians… Read more »
First and foremost when you speaking concerning something you should research first or ask expert of religions people of knowledge may be you can hate something which is good out of anger. Regarding ISIS who started ISIS or who formed the group called ISIS? If you following World politics today and do the research properly,you will come across that is not the Muslims who terrorising World piece. The answer I’m giving you is the so called World Super Powers who tries all means to control the World. They are the ones who started ISIS the American and the westerns not… Read more »
Kudya ndi kudya bax……ndsamvenso wna akut few fwe fweeeeeee apa ndmuonetsa nsana wa njira…….kkkkk ndagona ine…….zikanganani.
Christians are mostly very selfish, ofcoz exacerbated by ignorance and lack of thorough understanding of issues. Somebody is arguing of a holiday on Eid as a reason enough to parade Muslim children on a pre-xmas party. Somebody say ‘we fail to feed the children’ eish maguys… One thing, Muslims do not need to atke party in Xmas bcoz we understand it is mythical thing, originating from pagan tradition as opposed to Christian teachings . Now, if Muthalika wanted to have a retreat with Muslim kids, why not wait until 01st January, 2017? It act is wrong and am at pain… Read more »
Silly scholar.Haven’t we seen christian presidents parading with the muslim believers during eid ul adha in the beautiful city streets of ours?U scholar wa jando eti fwetseki.
Osadanda.Ku state house kumadibwa za Halaal. Kunalibenso za chipembezo ai. Kudyerera ndi kumwerera basi.