Muslims + Christmas

[AnonyMouse_5013]

I work in a predominately white christian school so forgive my ignorance. I have a little boy in class who is Jehovahs Witness and I know exactly what he can do and can't when it comes to Christmas and other celebrations. His parents have been very clear with me. However I have little girl who is a Muslim and I am not sure whether she can take part in Christmas celebrations or not. All her parents have told me is she can't eat pork, they haven't said anything about religion. She is celebrating Eid this week. However I don't know whether she can go to our Christingle service, be in Christmas performances, make anything Christmassy etc.

 

What is everyone elses Christmas experiences of children who are muslim?

[Guest]

Things have moved on since when I first started out and I find muslim parents are much more open to their children joining in with Christmas. Many celebrate in a quiet family way and all the children we know will get a small gift. I seem to remember someone on the forum posting about muslims and jesus so try a search. Jesus is in the koran and there is the nativity story with a few differences. We used to ask parents individually what their wishes were but don't now. We usually pop a note on the weekly newletter-we are preparing...anyone who would prefer... We have had parents comfortable with in house performances but who prefer their children not to take part in a church building and its not always muslims!

 

I found the thread and its very interesting which is why I remember it! scroll down to the bit about Christmas

Muslims and Noah

Edited November 15, 2010 by Guest

[AnonyMouse_14766]

Hi,

 

You really need to speak to the parents. We had a Muslim family and the mum explained lots of things to me from her family's point of view. She said there are various branches of the Muslim faith and compared it to the difference between the Catholic church and the C of E in the Christian faith, i.e. there are lots of ways of looking at things. A strict Sunni wouldn't go to a Shi'ite Mosque and vice versa.

 

She was happy for her son to be in the Christmas play and sing Away in a manger, etc. Although they don't recognise Jesus as the Son of God, he is recognised as a Prophet. They also had Christmas dinner and presents. However, this year Christmas clashes with the death of another prophet so they won't be celebrating Christmas this year as a mark of respect. This lady was very religious and keen to explain things to me but also had an open mind and her son went on to a C of E primary school. It really was quite interesting learning from this family.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Sharky.

[Guest]

We also have a Muslim family who celebrate Christmas and in this case it is because they have other relatives who are Christian. It is certainly best I think to just ask the individual families and work from there. I would never have guessed for example that our family had Christian relatives had I not asked. They also celebrate Easter, at least in the sense of egg giving.

[AnonyMouse_1195]

I think that it very much depends on the family so it is best to ask first. Some families are perfectly happy for the children to take part, and some are as long as it doesn't take place in church. I have usually found that parents are very respectful of school and our traditions.

[AnonyMouse_5013]

Thank you for all your replies