Radical Sheikh Says Christmas Day is Not Off Limits for Attacks
By Jeremy Reynalds (12/17/07)
Exiled radical sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed gave a shocking answer to a question he was recently asked in an Internet chat room.
Asked on one of his regular sessions on Paltalk whether Muslims can attack “Christian invaders” on Christmas Day, Bakri says that the celebration is not a holiday, or a “proper day of respect” for Muslims and is an appropriate day for attacks.
“That is really for them and not for us,” he says.
Bakri says that times of attack are chosen by Islamic commanders, and they make a decision whether to attack regardless of the festival or celebration.
Bakri is the founder of banned Islamic fundamentalist groups Al-Muhajiroun and Al-Guraba. He left London for Beirut after the July 2005 London terrorist attacks, which claimed the lives of 52 people.
He is still banned from reentering Britain (http://omar-bakri-news.newslib.com/story/5347-2391600).
Bakri caused a media storm after the bombings by declaring that the only people he blames for the London bombings are the government and British public (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4144892.stm).
Bakri and Santa Claus
Another member of Bakri’s cyber flock asks him, “I have a son going to (elementary) school, being given Christmas cards and being told to believe (in Santa Claus). What can be done?”
Bakri tells the father he needs to obey the laws of Allah, and that to save his family from Allah’s hellfire he should not send his son to the kuffar (heathen) school during the Christmas period.
Bakri says during the Christmas season, his son could be exposed at school “to all that corruption and (heathen goings on), and even celebration.”
Bakri continues, telling the man that it is also forbidden for him to take his son to visit Santa Claus, or Father Christmas, as he is dubbed in England.
Bakri says visits to Santa Claus will just cause problems for the man’s children. He says that such visits will “make them lose that title (of) children of heaven when they grow and mature, and (they will) know nothing about Islam. They will become ... the children of hell fire!”
Bakri encourages the man to save himself and his family from that fate. He then encourages his online Islamic flock to occupy themselves during the Christmas period with preaching Islam to anyone who will listen, and spending time with other Muslim families.
Bakir says that in addition, the giving of gifts and the purchase of Christmas trees is absolutely forbidden.
Bakri warns his listeners not to watch television, or listen to the Christmas song Jingle Bells (www.carols.org.uk/jingle_bells.htm), or even anything with bells.
Bakri says he lived in England for a number of years and doesn’t know the words to Jingle Bells even though it is played every Christmas, because, he says, he never allowed himself to listen to it.
However, Bakri sarcastically adds, there is no problem with Christmas cards, because if people send the man's family cards, there (are) enough (trash cans) to throw them away.
Gifts from Santa
Someone else from Bakri’s cyber question and answer session asks Bakri whether he should throw away gifts given by Santa Claus to his son.
Bakri says a father should take any gift given by Santa Claus to his child, hide it and bring the child another gift. He says the father should tell his child, “This (gift) is from me to you.”
However, Bakri adds, the father wait a little while and give, or even sell, the child’s Santa Claus gift to whomever he likes. That’s because, Bakri says, the issue isn’t with the gift. It’s that the child would always associate the gift as being from Santa Claus.
Muslim Children Going to Non Muslim Schools
Returning to the subject of Muslim parents sending their children to non-Muslim schools, Bakri says, that a “compromise” is allowed only during the time the child is at “nursery” or pre-school.
He says that when he was living in England, he did his best not to send his children to public schools. However, he says, if the child does go to a non-Muslim (kuffar) school, it is the parent’s duty to make sure they are never exposed to anything that will affect their “honor.”
Bakri emphasizes again it is forbidden for children to hear about Santa Claus and Jingle Bells, and parents risk “hell fire” if they allow their children to experience such things.
Jeremy Reynalds, Ph.D.
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