Christmas wishes from Muslims

Facebooks statuses with Christmas wishes and celebration photos are almost flooding my newsfeed. And these statuses and photos are not coming from Christians but my Muslim friends from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. What an admirable attitude towards a people of different faith!

In the USA, I have personally met Christians whose minds and hearts are filled with hatred toward the Muslims. Many of them gave me a look of astonishment when I said to them that Muslims respect Jesus Christ as one of their most important prophets. Anyway, I wish I could share these Facebook statuses and photos with those particular Christians. There are peace-loving Muslims all over the world, just like there are peace-loving Christians everywhere.

I have rarely been wished by a Christian acquaintance or friend on Eid. In the USA, most people do not even know much about Islam, the faith of over 1.6 billion people around the world. However, I did receive Eid wishes from a Christian friend, who is also a Catholic priest, in the past. He is also not an American. Perhaps, a large percentage of Christians in the USA do not know Muslims well enough to recognize and respect their religious beliefs. They therefore generalize. I am glad that many of my Muslim brothers and sisters from South Asia do not think like that - it makes me so proud of them.

Knowledge is power. I therefore pray that every man reads extensively before he generalizes.

Merry Christmas, followers of Christ around the world! May the occasion fill your lives with love, peace and prosperity.

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Comments

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