Participating in the Christians' Festivals and Imitating the Disbelievers
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
What is the ruling on Muslims participating in the Christians' festival, and so on?
The Shaykh:
Look at the house. In fact, they might even suspend work for two or three days. It is not permissible to imitate them or to participate with them. Is it considered an innovation or something greater? Imitation is among the sins, meaning that imitating Allah’s enemies is a sin. If they introduce a festival, it becomes an innovation, and if you participate with them, it is a sin. Also, if someone who works in the government dies, if he holds a high position, they lower the flags for two days or one day or so? It is not permissible at all. It is an abomination. Imitating the enemies of Allah, may Allah’s wrath be upon them, is not acceptable.
What is the ruling on Muslims participating in the Christians' festival, and so on?
The Shaykh:
Look at the house. In fact, they might even suspend work for two or three days. It is not permissible to imitate them or to participate with them. Is it considered an innovation or something greater? Imitation is among the sins, meaning that imitating Allah’s enemies is a sin. If they introduce a festival, it becomes an innovation, and if you participate with them, it is a sin. Also, if someone who works in the government dies, if he holds a high position, they lower the flags for two days or one day or so? It is not permissible at all. It is an abomination. Imitating the enemies of Allah, may Allah’s wrath be upon them, is not acceptable.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم [ الشرح الأول ]، بداية من باب قضاء رمضان متتابعا ومتفرقا وتأخيره إلى شعبان — islamhouse.com (30:33)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.