A Muslim on Christmas

By: May Rostom

As a little kid being brought up in British schools, Christmas trees and Santa Claus were as good as the Ramadan Fanoos and Eid sheep. Every Christmas our school held a tree-decorating competition. All the classes participated into decorating their class tree and the class with the best tree would win gifts from Santa himself. I would go to my parents and ask for the BEST Christmas décor they could find, being the wonderful Muslims they are, they would manage to get me the best tree-star they could find at Hallmark just so that my tree wins. A week before Christmas, we would send greeting cards to our pen-pals abroad and anxiously wait for ours to pop into the school's mail box. I would wait for my name to be called out in the classroom to see what Rebecca from Thames got me this Christmas. I would go to the mall with my dad to find the cutest necklace to send her too. We would all try to sneak around other classrooms to see what their tree looks like so we can snatch off ideas. The day the winners are announced is more joyful than Christmas itself.
There were no religions standing in the way of sharing a great holiday spirit across the universe. There were no "angry" parents spreading hate rather than love in their child's heart. There were no such thing as mine and yours but instead there was Ours! It was our tree, our holiday, and our Santa. Same thing happened when it was time for Ramadan. A lot of foreign, Christians at my school would not eat during lunch break just so we Muslims wouldn't feel hungry or thirsty when we saw them munch away as we fast. The only thing we weren't allowed to share was nationality and culture. We had national's day where each of us wore their national clothes and spoke for 10 minutes about where we come from and what's it like there. Other than that, we were all equal.
When I came back to Egypt, things were quiet different. A Christmas party held at a Muslim's house suddenly became Haram, a nice Christmas gift for my neighbor probably meant I'm thinking of converting, and the only relationship I have with Christmas now is it being a bank holiday for me to sleep more. Why can't we all celebrate Christmas? We all believe in Jesus and Mary, we believe that God wants us to love each other, and we believe that solidarity is our only way up towards a better Egypt. Why can't we get past our grudges and petty thoughts and enjoy ourselves for once? Why can't we show people love by actions and not words or some SMS greeting?
In the middle of all those wars, unrest, revolutions, and corruption, reach out for the Christmas spirit within you. Send your Christian neighbor some cookies, send them tree décor, a wreath maybe, or even go have dinner with them on that special day, because when it's time for Ramadan, they'll probably do the same for you :)