Re: Greeting others with Merry Christmas…
Peace sister Chicken Biryani
From this response I think you misunderstood me …
Shirk has to be with intent to be shirk … I didn’t mean the intent of “shirk” has to be there … What I meant was the intent of “consciously worshipping other than Allah” or “consciously placing an Attribute of Allah (SWT) to another” is shirk …
This means Christians and Hindus are mushrik … And they do shirk … Because they worship that what should not be worshipped … Even unknowingly, even if Islam has not reached them … They are still doing shirk …
But forbidden (haram) acts are not all shirk … You see … Eating pork is not shirk … Otherwise I have no idea what it means to be “close to shirk” … It is either shirk or it is not …
the reason why the festivities of Christmas is not acceptable is not because the Muslim who returns the gesture is doing the shirk … But because the Muslim is condoning the Christian in his shirk by returning that gesture … That does not amount shirk for the Muslim but is still wrong … As it amounts to giving misguidance …
WaAllahuRahmanu’alim