Tuesday, December 21, 2004

A Kuwaiti Christmas?

Walking around the malls and shops of Kuwait, you can't help but notice the Christmas trees and decorations everywhere. A trip to the مشاتل on the 4th Ring Road will even get you a variety of real trees in all shapes and sizes. Of course these are businesses that are owned by business-minded people, as opposed to the Co-Ops where any sign of Christmas can be a ticket to hell.


The cold weather and the ugly fake trees with flashing red and green lights at every intersection seem to be adding to an unintentional Christmas spirit. Will this be the the wake-up call for Islamists to object to these crimes against taste?

I remember last year some idiots distributed an infammatory flyer warning Muslims not wish fellow Christians a Merry Christmas because to do so would be to accept the divinity of Jesus Christ, and that Christians are all infidels and going to hell anyway.

If an ill-informed friend or family member - or indeed some deranged bearded stranger - tells you not to wish Merry Christmas to anyone, you may remind them politely that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus (a legit prophet last time I checked), and is similar to our celebrations of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, minus the trees, angst and commercialism. You may also gently remind them how our fellow Christians go out of their way to wish us a Ramadan/Eid Mubarak every year.

A little reciprocal civility never hurt anyone.

18 comments:

  1. Absolutely right, Zaydoun, more reciprocal civility needed.

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  2. Merry Christmas to all Christians in Kuwait & the world.

    Zaydoun, if you wanna see something really ironic & funny, when you drive from Jabriya to Surra (through the bridge that connects them together), once you cross that bridge and just before you reach the 1st speed bump look to ur left & you?ll see a house. The ground floor is rented for Jam3iyat i7yaa?a altorath (you?ll see their big sign) and the first floor is rented to another party & through their big window you could clearly see a big, beautiful Christmas tree!!!
    I don?t know if it still there or not, but its worth checking.

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  3. I wish if we can put religion a side some times and enjoy moments like this.
    Merry Christmas everyone :)

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  4. The nice thing about Xmas is that it comes in a fixed month, so people can plan ahead for it. The winter and snow add to the coziness... I was in Sydney for Xmas once and that was just weird.

    The reason its more fun, HWKW, is because it's a joyous occasion that can be celebrated in countless ways. Our religious holidays are more somber in nature and are nowadays celebrated by calling your travel agent and hightailing it outta here!!

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  5. nychick... give me your email and I'll send you a note

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  6. Portuga: I didn't say I like Christmas more than Islamic holidays! bel3aks I enjoy 3eed as much as I enjoy Christmas...in both you celebrate something and when I was a kid I loved 3eed because of the money and dressing in new clothes...and I also get to see relatives I haven't seen for a while.
    Christmas: I love it because I also get to see some family and one of my uncles would always dress up as Santa(Santa with Kuwaiti twist) as a child you love the gifts and the lights on the Christmas tree...
    I come from a multi cultural family and I enjoy all the holidays...I don't have a preference really :)
    Christmas Kareem everyone ;)

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  7. Abu Al-Hakam usually posts once a week, on random days... expect something soon

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  8. I wonder why these long-ass web addresses keep screwing up the page alignment

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  9. Actually, christmas has nothing to do with the birst of christ, but has it's origins in european paganism. It was a celebration of (what they thought was) the longest night of the year.

    They mixed this with christianity for PR reasons. The idea of one god was a strange one for the pagans so people thought, what they hey, mixing christ with this holiday could be good PR.

    The stuff they mixed it with includes the following:

    It is an appropriation by early Christians of a day on which the birth of several pagan gods, Osiris, Jupiter, and Plutus, or the ancient deified leader Nimrod, was celebrated.

    It is an appropriation of the pagan Midwinter festivals, such as the Germanic Yule and the Roman festival of the birth of Unconquered Sun, celebrated on the day after the winter solstice, or the Roman festival of Saturnalia.

    Also the current mixing of christmas with commercialism (Santa Clause was thought up by Coca Cola) further estranges it from it's so called "true" meaning.

    Don't want to be a Negative Nancy, but just thought I should note that it's not as innocent as you think.

    I am not some deranged bearded stranger, nor do I believe that all christians are going tell anyway. I just don't think we should follow them with this, one of there wordt traditions instead of their better ones (*cough* democracy *cough*).

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  10. Rayyes.. I do not advocate celebrating Xmas at all, because it's none of our business. BUT I do believe that we should make the effort to wish fellow Christians living among us a Merry Christmas. It's the least we can do!

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  11. أعياد مجيدة و كل عام و أنتم بخير.
    أتتني هذه الرسالة المريضة على هاتفي النقال.........شوفو
    ( احذر مشاركة النصارى عيدهم فإنهم ينسبون فيه الولد للرب عز و جل. تكاد السموات يتفطرونمنه و تنشق الأرضو تخر الجبال هذا أن دعوا للرحمن ولدا. انشر.)
    و قد نشرت............فقولوا قولكم.........الله يكون بعونكم.

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  12. كل عام والبشرية في خير

    والأديان جميعها سواء تلك التي تنسب للرب ولد أو تتركه وحداني تدعو للقيم الإنسانية ذاتها وقد جاءت في الأصل لتخفف على الإنسان معاناته في رحلة الحياة بأن تعده بأن هناك من سيثيبه أو يجازيه

    والمفارقة أنها حادت عن هذا الدور وأصبحت سبباً للكوارث والحروب والنزاع... اللهم يا كافي

    ناس يبون يحتفلون بعيد ديني بشكل جميل - يا الله من فضلك- أشجار وزينة وهدايا مغلفة .......
    ما هي مشكلة المسلمين مع الجمال؟ سؤال أوجهه لزيدون وأبو حفص

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  13. ولادة... كما ذكرت أعلاه، هم يحتفلون بميلاد المسيح بالزينة والهدايا والأناشيد بينما نحن نحتفل بميلاد الرسول (ص) بزيادة جرعة العبادة أو الاتصال بمكتب السفريات للهروب

    لم تكن الأمور دائماً هكذا.. أذكر أيام طفولتي كيف كانت الأعياد (الفطر والأضحى) مناسبات جميلة ومسلية

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  14. دلوعة... في الأمس كانت منشورات واليوم رسائل هاتفية. ماذا تعني المشاركة لهؤلاء المرضى؟ هل يحرم علينا حتى أن نبارك للأخوة المسيحيين في مناسباتهم بينما هم يتسابقون في تهنئتنا في أعيادنا؟ قد يبالغ البعض ويضع شجرة مزينة في منزله من باب العناد، وهذه بصراحة ما لها سالفة... لكن ما علي من أحد، أنا ذاهب يوم السبت لأبارك لأصدقائي وأصدقاء أهلي بهذه المناسبة الجميلة

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  15. Well, you've got a point there. So called "religious" people spend far too much time on trivial things like this instead of using islam as a base for creating a better society in all fields (philosophy/society/technology etc. etc.).

    While islam of course doesn't support the divinity of christ it is also stated that we must respect the christians customs, no matter how ubsurd as long as they keep it to themselves. It always seems to make laugh how religious zealots seem to look over this point.

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  16. Well said Z.

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, hanuka and kwanza to all :P

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  17. Aren't pagan values the foundation of Christianity?

    bad credit bill consolidation for credit card debt

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Keep it clean, people!