The Shaykh’s response to the argument of some ignorant people regarding imitating the Christians in celebrating the birth of Isa (peace be upon him).

The Shaykh : And if you are amazed, then truly amazing is that some of these deviants from the straight path say, "The Christians celebrate the birth of their prophet, Isa; why do we not celebrate the birth of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?" I say that this reminds us of something even lesser, which the Messenger (peace be upon him) rejected when he was on a journey. They passed by a large tree of the polytheists, on which they used to hang their weapons. They said a word that is very innocent, but it is similar in wording: they said "O Messenger of Allah, make for us a Dhat Anwat as they have a Dhat Anwat". He (peace be upon him) said . One might wonder how the Messenger (peace be upon him) derived an argument from this verse against these people who did not say, "Make for us a god as they have gods," but rather said, "Make for us a tree on which we can hang our weapons as they have a tree." He said And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke the truth when he said . Finally, I say that Satan is lying in wait for man; he is always and forever striving to divert Muslims from their religion. He does not divert them by openly declaring enmity toward them in their religion, but rather he comes to them with ways that he decorates for them, leading them to adopt them, satisfying the people with them, and thereby turning them away from following the Shari'ah brought by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).