What is the Relation Between December 25 th & Christ’s Birthday?

According to all historical records, people in European countries used to consider December 25 ^th a day of festival, several centuries before Jesus Christ.

Among the upper classes throughout the Roman Empire, the holiest day of the year was December 25 ^th, which they called the birthday of Mithras, believed to be the Sun God. Who was Mithras (or Mithra)? “In the ancient Persian myth Mithras is the God of light, identified with the sun, who slew a primordial bull and fertilized the world with its blood” (Definition by the Free Dictionary).

By the 4^th century the Church decided to begin celebrating Jesus’ birth. Since the birthday of Mithras was already a widely observed holy day, the Church simply declared December 25 ^th  to be the “Feast Day of the Nativity”. So the feast day of “the Sun” became the feast day of “the Son”. The Church also adopted and transformed many of the old winter solstice holiday traditions. Protestant churches in the United States of America did not begin to celebrate Christmas until the middle of the 19^th century. (www.Truthbook.com).

The Qur’an has made clear statements about Jesus, the son of Mary, and exalted him as a pious personage, a great prophet, the announcer of the coming of the last prophet Muhammad  (peace and God’s blessings upon both).

Prophet Jesus is mentioned many times in the Qur’an:

“When the angels said: O Mary, God gives you the good tiding of a Word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored shall he be in this world and the Hereafter, and of those brought close (to God)” (3:45).

“And We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign (a symbol of God’s grace), and provided for both an abode in a lofty place of lasting restfulness and running springs” (23:50).

The Qur’an did not mention the date of Jesus’ birth, but it has given a beautiful panoramic story of it:

“Thus she (Mary) conceived him (Jesus) and then withdrew with him to far-off place. And the birth pangs brought her to the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: O would that I had died before this and become a forgotten thing, beyond recall. Then he called her from below her: Do not grieve. Your Lord has made below you a rivulet. And shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards you there will drop on you dates fresh and ripe. So eat and drink and (let) jour eye be comforted; and if you (happen to) see any human being, then say (by sign): I have vowed to the Compassionate One a fast, so I will not speak to any human today. Then carrying him, she brought him to her folk and they said: O Mary, truly you have done a curious thing! O sister of Aaron, your father was not a wicked man, nor was your mother unchaste. Thereat she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, (still) a little child? He said: Lo! I am God’s servant. He has revealed to me the Scripture and made me a Prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I may be and He has enjoined upon me prayer and the giving of purifying alms, as long as I remain alive; and (He has made me) dutiful towards my mother. And He has not made me arrogant wretched. And peace be upon me the day I was born and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!” (19:22-33). Then God said: “That is Jesus, son of Mary, a statement of truth concerning which they are in doubt” (19:34).

The Qur’an tells us about the announcement which was done by the Great Prophet Jesus Christ about the coming of the last of God’s messengers and the seal of all prophets:

“And (remember) when Jesus son of Mary said: O Children of Israel, I am indeed God’s messenger to you, confirming what is before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad. Yet when he came to them with manifest signs, they said: This is a clear magic” (61:6).

“Ahmad” or “Muhammad” is the name of the seal of all prophets, whose mission was announced by Jesus son of Mary. This Arabic word, which means “The Praised one” is almost a translation of the Greek word “Periclytos”. It is however falsely mentioned in the present English version of the Gospel of John xiv. 16, xv. 26, xvi. 7, as the “Comforter” from the Greek word “Paracletos” and not “Periclytos”, the praised one.