Dealing in alcohol, supplies for Christian holidays, condoms and cosmetic creams

i have a retail bussiness,,which during there holiday i carry there goods,,like christmas decoration,,mothers day,,easter,, holloween,,ect,,is this harram,, i use to own a supermarket once i sold it and i didnt want to get in to that again cause sold beer and pork..

also brother i hope you dont mind mentioning some of the iteams i sale,,tell me if its harram condoms,,ceramic figurs,cigarettes,lottery ,, medcine some containe alchole,,or the gel tablets,,candy that may or my not have any harram in it, toothpaste,,some of these items are harram for us to use but can it be sold to the kafir since they the only customers.

Praise be to Allaah.

You have done well not to sell things that Allaah has forbidden such as beer and pork. We ask Allaah to bless you with a halaal provision and to compensate you with good.

With regard to the things you asked about, the details are as follows:

1 – It is not permissible for a Muslim to take part in the festivals of the kuffaar, such as Christmas and Easter, or to sell the things that will help them in that, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Help you one another in Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression”

[al-Maa’idah 5:2]

The same applies to innovated festivals such as Mother’s Day. It is not permissible to sell anything that may help them to celebrate it. 

They receive instructions to preach about national holidays in their khutbahs – what should they do?

I am the imam in a mosque, and sometimes we receive instructions from the Ministry telling us to promote national holidays such as the holiday commemorating the conqueror, which will coincide with the date of the battle of Badr. We are ordered to speak about this occasion and the daa’iyahs are confused about these instructions. If they go ahead and do that, that will have a negative effect on their da’wah and make the people think badly of them and they will have doubts about what they are doing. Please note also that the department that is responsible for that will punish the imam who refuses to speak about national holidays.
My question is: How should we deal with such matters, especially on the occasions mentioned?.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:

There is nothing wrong with the khateeb speaking about the battle of Badr or Uhud, or any other battle, and describing what happened on such occasions at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). This is not regarded as celebrating it or introducing a festival that is not prescribed in Islam, because it is simply reminding the people of that battle and, more importantly, deriving useful lessons from it.

Secondly:

With regard to national holidays, if the people celebrate them and take them as a kind of ‘Eid, then the khateeb should not take any part in that, and speaking about such occasions may be understood by the listener as meaning that he is joining in and supporting this innovation.

But if the Ministry will punish those who do not speak about these occasions, by preventing them from delivering khutbahs or other penalties, then the khateeb should weigh up the pros and cons, and decide whether the interests served by his remaining as a teacher, daa’iyah and guide will be outweighed by the negative consequences of a speech which may damage his reputation among the common folk, or not.

It seems that the wise khateeb can use these occasions in order to say something useful that will reinforce the ideas of the causes of victory and the factors that lead to defeat, the laws of Allaah with regard to the rise and fall of societies, and the concept of al-wala’ wa’l-bara’ (loyalty towards the believers and disavowal of the disbelievers), the necessity of turning back to Islam, and other important concepts which the people need to know.

In this way, the interests served by his speech will be many times greater than the negative consequences referred to. Islam seeks to bring and fulfil what is in people’s interests and to ward off and reduce harmful effects, by choosing the lesser of two evils, as is well known.

And Allaah knows best.

Muslim holidays & symbol

Do Islams have certain holidays that christans don’t if so what are they?
What is your holy symbol like ours is the cross, do you have a specific symbol?

Muslims have only two Holy days to celebrate. The two Holy days are Eid Alfitir, which follows the holy month of Ramadan, and Eid Aladha, which is in the Hajj (holy pilgrimage) season. Muslims celebrate Eid Aladha by slaughtering a sheep. The slaughtering of sheep is done in following the footsteps of Prophet Abraham when he was ordered by Allah (God) to slaughter his first child, Ishmael. When he told his son about it, his son told him to carry on with the order of Allah, and that he will be obedient and patient. As Abraham was tempting to slaughter Ishmael, Allah gave them a big and fat sheep to slaughter instead. The sacrificing of a sheep has become a ritual for Muslims every year in remembrance of the obedience of Abraham and Ishmael, peace be upon them. Our celebration of this day and the slaughtering of the sheep are in compliance with the teachings of our Prophet Mohammad, praising and peace of Allah be upon him. Only Muslims celebrate these two days, while at the same time, Muslims do not celebrate the Christian holidays.

As for the symbol, Muslims worship Allah (God), therefor they reject any kind of idol worshipping. We believe that Christians believe in the cross to be a symbol of their God, or the so claimed Son of God. They seek blessing and protection from this cross. Muslims seek protection and blessing only from Allah, that is why we do not have an Islamic symbol as the Christians’ cross. Some Muslims have invented the symbol of a crescent to counter the cross, but this is not authentic and it is considered as an innovation in Islam.

Selling greeting cards for Christian holidays

At work – I am a cashier, and there are Christmas cards with shirk on them “Jesus is God – and Loves You” etc…
If a customer brings these to me, and I ring him up and put the money in the register – am I a kaafir?
I hate the shirk, ……., ……, am I a kaafir?

Al-hamdu lillaah

As long as you are a true believer, who believes in the oneness of Allah, the Most Gracious, and who has not committed any act that would expel you from the religion of Islam, and as long as you hate ! shirk and (the blasphemy of) Christianity, then you are a Muslim and not a kaafir. However, you must realize that it is unacceptable for a Muslim to aid or abet the kuffaar (non-believers) by any means or medium relating to the celebration of their holiday occasions. This would encompass selling items that are used in their celebrations. Sheikh ul-Islam Ahmad ibn Abdul-Haleem ibn Taymiya (may Allaah have mercy upon him) in his classic and monumental book entitled Iqtidaa’ Al-Siraat Al-Mustaqeem Mukhalafat As-haab Al-Jaheem (In Pursuit of the Straight Path by Contradicting the People of the Hellfire) said:

“As for a Muslim selling to them (the non-believers) items that they use to celebrate their holiday occasions, such as food, clothes, perfumes, etc., or offering such items as gifts, is a way of helping them celebrate their “unlawful” holidays. This idea is based on the fundamental principle that states that it is unacceptable (for a Muslim) to sell the kuffaar grapes or juice which they will use to produce wine or alcoholic beverages. By the same token it is also unacceptable (for a Muslim) to sell them weapons that will be used to fight Muslims.

He then presented an argument presented by Abdul-Malik bin Habeeb (among the scholars of Al Malakiyya madh-hab) in which he said “Do!n’t you see that it is forbidden for a Muslim to sell Christians any item that benefits or concerns their holidays? Not meat, nor food (eaten with bread), nor clothes, nor should they even be lent an animal (to ride on). They should not be helped in any way that relates to their holidays because this would be considered a form of glorifying their shirk (blasphemy) and supporting them in their apostasy and disbelief….” Al-Iqtidaa’ p. 229, 23, Dar Al-Ma’rifah printing, tahqeeq (verified and edited by) Al-Faqiy.

We ask Allaah to help you be firmly established on the truth, and to ward you away from wrong and falsehood, and to provide you with good and righteous means of living.

May the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon our Prophet Muhammad .

Ruling on celebrating non-Muslim holidays and congratulating them

Can a muslim celebrate a non muslim holiday like Thanksgiving?

Praise be to Allaah.

Greeting the kuffaar on Christmas and other religious holidays of theirs is haraam, by consensus, as Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah: “Congratulating the kuffaar on the rituals that belong only to them is haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying ‘A happy festival to you’ or ‘May you enjoy your festival,’ and so on. If the one who says this has been saved from kufr, it is still forbidden. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that. It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realize the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or bid’ah or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allaah.”

Congratulating the kuffaar on their religious festivals is haraam to the extent described by Ibn al-Qayyim because it implies that one accepts or approves of their rituals of kufr, even if one would not accept those things for oneself. But the Muslim should not aceept the rituals of kufr or congratulate anyone else for them, because Allaah does not accept any of that at all, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):”If you disbelieve, then verily, Allaah is not in need of you, He likes not disbelief for His slaves. And if you are grateful (by being believers), He is pleased therewith for you. . .”
[al-Zumar 39:7]

“. . . This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islaam as your religion . . .”
[al-Maa’idah 5:3]

So congratulating them is forbidden, whether they are one’s colleagues at work or otherwise.

If they greet us on the occasion of their festivals, we should not respond, because these are not our festivals, and because they are not festivals which are acceptable to Allaah. These festivals are innovations in their religions, and even those which may have been prescribed formerly have been abrogated by the religion of Islaam, with which Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to the whole of mankind. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Whoever seeks a religion other than Islaam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:85]

It is haraam for a Muslim to accept invitations on such occasions, because this is worse than congratulating them as it implies taking part in their celebrations.

Similarly, Muslims are forbidden to imitate the kuffaar by having parties on such occasions, or exchanging gifts, or giving out sweets or food, or taking time off work, etc., because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book Iqtidaa’ al-siraat al-mustaqeem mukhaalifat ashaab al-jaheem: “Imitating them in some of their festivals implies that one is pleased with their false beliefs and practices, and gives them the hope that they may have the opportunity to humiliate and mislead the weak.”

Whoever does anything of this sort is a sinner, whether he does it out of politeness or to be friendly, or because he is too shy to refuse, or for whatever other reason, because this is hypocrisy in Islaam, and because it makes the kuffaar feel proud of their religion.

Allaah is the One Whom we ask to make the Muslims feel proud of their religion, to help them adhere steadfastly to it, and to make them victorious over their enemies, for He is the Strong and Omnipotent.