Dought & clear - , Ruling on the Muslims celebrating at the time of Christmas and decorating their homes with balloons

What do you say to Muslims in the United Kingdom who celebrate at
Christmas time by holding dinner parties intheir houses on Christmas
or afterwards, for their Muslim families,such as preparing roast
turkey and the other dishes of the traditional Christmas dinner, and
they adorn their houses with balloons and paper chains, and they do
the "secret Santa" tradition, whereby each relative brings a gift for
one of the people present and these gifts are brought to the party to
be given to the one for whom he bought it, without the recipient
knowing who he is. ["Secret Santa" is anew, growing custom among
non-Muslims who celebrate Christmas,and is in accordance with their
belief in the myth of Santa Claus].
Is this action regarded ashalaal or haraam, if no one is attending
this party except Muslims (relatives and family members)?.
Praise be to Allaah.
There is no doubt that what is mentioned of celebrations is haraam,
because it is an imitationof the kuffaar. It is well known that the
Muslims do not have any festival apart from Eid al-Fitr andEid
al-Adha, and the weekly "Eid" which is Friday (Yawm al-Jumu'ah).
Celebrating any other festival is not allowed and is either of two
things: either it is aninnovation (bid'ah), if it is celebrated as a
means of drawing close to Allah, such as celebratingthe Prophet's
Birthday (Mawlid); or it is an imitation of the kuffaar, if it is
celebrated as a tradition and not as an act of worship, because
introducing innovated festivals is the action of the people of the
Book who we are commandedto differ from. So how about if it is a
celebration of one of their actual festivals?
Decorating the house with balloons at this time is obviously joining
in with the kuffaar and celebrating their festival.
What the Muslim is required to do is not to single out these days for
any kind of celebration, decorating or adornment, or special foods,
otherwise he will be joining the kuffaar intheir festivals, which is
something that is undoubtedly haraam.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Similarly it
is forbidden for the Muslims to imitate the kuffaar by holding parties
on these occasions, or exchanging gifts, or distributing sweets or
other foods, or taking time off work and so on,because the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever imitates a
people is one of them." Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book
Iqtida' al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem Mukhaalifat Ashaab al-Jaheem: Imitating
them on some of their festivals implies that oneis happy with the
falsehood they are following, and that could make them (the
non-Muslims) take this opportunity to mislead those who are weak in
faith. End quote.
Those who do any of these things are sinning,whether they do it to go
along with them, or to be friendly towards them, or because they feel
too shy (to refuse to join in) or any other reason, because it is a
kind of compromising the religion of Allah to please others, and it is
a means of lifting the spirits of the kuffaar andmaking them proud of
their religion,
End quote from Fataawa Ibn 'Uthaymeen, 3/44
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked
about a Muslim who makes the food of the Christians on Nawrooz
(Persian New Year) and on all their occasions such as Epiphany and
other feastdays, and who sells themthings to help them celebrate their
festivals. Is it permissible for the Muslims to do any of these things
or not?
He replied: Praise be to Allah. It is not permissible for the Muslims
to imitate them in any way that is unique to their festivals, whether
it be food, clothes, bathing, lightingfires or refraining from usual
work or worship, and so on. And it is not permissible to give a feast
or to exchange gifts or to sell things thathelp them to celebrate
their festivals, or to let children and others play the games that are
played on their festivals, or to adorn oneself or put up decorations.
In general, (Muslims) are not allowed to single outthe festivals of
the kuffaar for any of these rituals or customs. Rather the day of
their festivals is just an ordinary day for the Muslims, and they
shouldnot single it out for any activity that is part of what the
kuffaar do on these days.
End quote from al-Fataawa al-Kubra, 2/487; Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 25/329

Dought & clear - , Is it prescribed to offer condolences to a Muslim for loss of his wealth?

There are people who lose their wealth as a result of business, theft
or confiscation. Is it prescribed to offer condolences to them in this
situation?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Offering condolences means advising the person to bear their loss with
patience, with the promise of reward, warning against sin, andpraying
for forgiveness for the deceased and forthe afflicted one to be
compensated for his loss.
End quote from al-Mawsoo'ah al-Fiqhiyyah, 12/287
From the scholarly definition of condolences, it is clear that it is
prescribed to offer condolences to anyone who is stricken by calamity,
whether that is the loss of a relative, wealth or a job, or any other
calamity that may befall a Muslim.Offering condolences, as prescribed
in Islam, is not limited to cases of death.
It says in al-Bayjurami's commentary on Minhaaj at-Tullaab (1/500): It
is also Sunnah to offer condolences on the loss of wealth… And to
offer supplication for him as appropriate. End quote.
In Haashiyat al-Jamal (2/214) it says: It may be said to one who has
lost wealth or anything else that may be replaced: May Allah
compensate you and grant you something similar to that which you have
lost.If his child, father, mother or the like, who cannot be replaced,
has died, then one may say: May Allah comfort you. End quote.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: You
said concerning condolences that condolences may be offered in cases
other than death. Is it Sunnah to offer condolences in cases other
than death? How would you describecondolences?
He replied:
Offering condolences means encouraging the one who has suffered a
calamity to bear it with patience and to hope forreward, whether it is
thedeath of a loved one or anything else, such as one who has lost a
greatdeal of his wealth and the like. So you should go to him, console
him and encourage him to be patient so that he willnot flounder in his
grief. End quote from Majmoo'al-Fataawa, 17/384
And Allah knows best.

Islamic Stories - , A new Muslim and his mother

The following is a touching story about a new Muslim and his mother.
Before he was a Muslim, he lived with his mother until he was about 18
years old. Then he moved out of his home and lived in a different
place on his own. During those days, he met some Muslims and became a
very close friend of them. Eventually he himself became a Muslim after
learning about the beautiful religion of Islam from them. He made an
effort every day to learn more and more about Islam. One day, he came
to learn about the benefits of being good to one's parents. He learned
that a person who looks at his parents with the eyesof obedience gets
the reward of one accepted Hajj! (The reward is mentioned in an
authentic hadith of Sahih Muslim). After knowing this, he decided to
visit his mother whom he did not visit for many years. He bought some
flowers and fruits for her on his way. His mother was very pleased to
see him after so long. He started spending lots of time with his
mother on a regular basis. During his visits, he would stare at his
mother and tears would roll down from his eyes. The mother noticed
this happening many times and asked him one day the reason why he
visits her so much all of a sudden andwhy he cries. He told herabout
how he became a Muslim and that the position of a mother in Islam is
very high. He also told her about the reward he gets for looking at
her. But whilelooking at her, he cries because the mother is not a
Muslim and would not be able to save herself if she dies in this
state. The mother immediately recognized the beauty of Islam and
became a Muslim.

Islamic Stories - , Taraweeh Changed His Life

The following story is about how Taraweeh salah changed the life ofa
person during the month of Ramadan.
About 20 years ago, brother Khawaja used tolive with his family in an
apartment building in Toronto, Canada. During the month of Ramadan,
the local Muslims would get together and arrange a small room in that
building to offer Taraweeh prayers. Brother Khawaja states,"I wasn't
that particular about offering prayers so I didn't show much interest
in going to Taraweeh which was Sunnah and not even Fardh." His wife
would constantly tell him to go but that didn't change his mind.
However, she would prepare her two small sons and send them to the
prayer. One day, his sons returned back from Taraweeh with tears in
their eyes. Brother Khawaja became concerned and asked why they were
crying. They replied,"Everyone's father goes to Taraweeh but our
father doesn't go." This really touched his heart and he promised his
sons that he will go withthem to Taraweeh the next day. It so
happenedthat there was a speech on that day after listening to which
Brother Khawaja decided to change his life. Since then, he has been
actively participating in many Islamic activities and have built and
supported various Masjids.
Many days of Ramadan has already passed by. Let us spend our time
properly to obtain as much as we can from this Ramadan. Be generous in
this month and increase your acts ofworship.