It felt strange the very first time I had to celebrate salah with my muslim friends. My dad used to see it as an initiation ritual and I grew up with that mentality. It was hard at first to take it in, but then I looked at my friends and thought to myself, this is just a matter of belief and all I saw was people eating, drinking and celebrating. I did not also feel it right to tell my friends I won’t celebrate with them because I wasn’t a muslim, and although I had christian friends do it, I did not believe it was the best way to handle things. I saw it as discrimination and didn’t think it nice to discriminate against a person who was born into a religion as I was and had to grow to learn that it was the way of life.
Photo by Theo Crazzolara on Unsplash
Later as I grew I got to understand that there is one God but different belief systems and that is the only thing that differentiate us. We are not so different from each other, and when I understood this, I stopped feeling strange celebrating with muslims. Most of my muslim friends also celebrate Christmas with me, it does not stop them from being less muslims, and does not stop us from believing what we believe. In fact, it helps us appreciate the diversity in our beliefs and makes us see that just because we are standing at opposite sides does not mean we are enemies and for most of us, it is all we have ever known.
I would like to know how other religions and traditions celebrate their holidays, so long they do not involve any diabolical practices. I am completely cool learning their belief system and trying to understand the essence of their celebration. For the christians the whole essence of Christmas is the birth of Jesus and the hope of salvation that came into the world. Other religions celebrate for different reasons, and I would so much love to know and celebrate with them in the future. It won’t change my belief, it would only bring enlightenment.
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