FIRST REMINDER. Monday. 7th day of Rabeeu At-thani. HOW TO RESPOND TO THE KUFFAR FESTIVAL GREETINGS. BismilLah. Basically, It is not permissible to greet or congratulate the kuffaar on the occasion of Christmas, New Year or any of their other holidays, and it is not permissible to respond to them when they greet us on those occasions, because they are not festivals that are prescribed in our religion, and returning their greeting is an affirmation and approval of them. The Muslim should be proud of his religion and its rulings, and he should be keen to call others and convey to them the religion of Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted.  As a Muslim, if a non Muslim or Christian says to you Merry Christmas, use the opportunity to ask him what's the meaning of Merry Christmas? Then use the opportunity to do daawah to them that sorry you don't believe Jesus Christ was born on 25th and you don't believe Jesus is the son of God and you don't believe Jesus thought them to celebrate his birth as such you can't be part. If you explain to them your stand this way, they will not even dare to offer you a gift or wish you merry Christmas. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the ruling on greeting the kuffaar on the occasion of Christmas and how we should respond when they greet us on this occasion. Is it permissible to go to the parties that they hold on this occasion?  Is a person sinning if he does any of the things mentioned without intending to, and he only does it to be nice, or because of or shyness or embarrassment or other reasons? Is it permissible to imitate them in that?  He replied:  Greeting the kuffaar on the occasion of Christmas or any of their other religious holidays is haraam according to scholarly consensus, as was stated by Ibn al-Qayyim in his book Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, where he says:  "Congratulating the kuffaar on the rituals that belong only to them is haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying ‘A happy festival to you’ or ‘May you enjoy your festival,’ and so on. If the one who says this has been saved from kufr, it is still forbidden. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that. It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realize the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or bid’ah or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allaah." To be continued in Shaa Allah. May ALLAH keep guiding us all and protect us from any satanic influences. Aameen.