Do Muslims Celebrate Christmas?

Christmas is traditionally a Christian festival, with markedly Christian teachings, and so Muslims do not typically celebrate the holiday. However, Muslims believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus, whom Islam considers to be the Christ and Messiah (but not the Son of God), and so the birth itself is a significant event in Islam. Unique to the Islamic tradition is a miracle described in the 19th surah of the Qurʾān, in which the infant Jesus speaks from his cradle (in verses 30–33): “I am the servant of God. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet. He has made me a blessing wherever I may be, and charged me with prayer and almsgiving as long as I live, and to be dutiful to my mother. He has not made me arrogant or wretched. Peace be upon me on the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I am raised back to life.”

Some Muslims in culturally Christian regions, such as the United States, Lebanon, or the city of Bethlehem, take part in the Christmas festivities that are commonplace around them, such as decorating homes and businesses, attending Christmas parties, or exchanging gifts. But because the Christian observance of Christmas interprets the birth of Jesus as the incarnation of God, a doctrine that Islam considers blasphemous, participating in Christian religious observances is often considered a form of shirk (idolatry). Many Muslims abstain from Christmas festivities altogether to avoid practices that could verge on idolatry.