~ 25 December Reflection ~

After Fajr Prayer I sat down to read some Quran. I picked up my phone to turn on a small light - today’s date showed ~ 25th December ~

I then held the Quran and decided to just open it on a random page to start reading.

The first ayah I read was;

' And mention in the Book ˹O Prophet, the story of˺ Mary when she withdrew from her family to a place in the east..'~ Quran 19:16

It was the story of Isa ﷺ..

The real story of Isa ﷻ opened in front of me on the 25 of December. December is winter time in the northern hemisphere, and Palestine lays in the northern hemisphere. Isa ﷻ was born in a period when it was warm ~ Allah ﷻ says;

'Then the pains of labour drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She cried, 'Alas! I wish I had died before this, and was a thing long forgotten!' So a voice1 reassured her from below her, 'Do not grieve! Your Lord has provided a stream at your feet. And shake the trunk of this palm tree towards you, it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you.' ~ Quran 19: 23-25

And ayah 25 in specific speaks about the fresh ripe dates ~ Ayah 25 ~ To know the truth about 25 December - look at ayah 25.

Allah ﷻ mentions in the Quran that the dates that dropped nearby her were fresh and ripe. Date palm trees bear fruit in April or May and are ripe for picking around late August to September. These are warm months in Palestine.

December is a winter time period in Palestine - and it’s obviously not the season for ripe fresh dates. I once listened to a lecture of Ahmad Deedad Rahimahu Allah, where he mentioned an interesting verse from the Bible. It said that when Jesus was born, the shepherd’s were out in the field;

'And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night..'- Luke 2:8

What’s truly interesting is that even their own scriptures mention that ‘the shepherd’s were abiding in the field watching their flock by night'..

Whether they were sheep, goats, cows or any livestock ~ In December ~ which is midwinter in Palestine ~ shepherds would never ever keep their livestock outside in the field, and especially not at night - when temperatures would drop even more then by day.

So why do they then say 25 of December? The university of Sydney had an interesting article that said;

'The tradition of celebrating his birth later in the year started in the fourth century. The marking of the mid-winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, around 23 December, with its powerful connections to the emergence from winter and the celebration of light, warmth, fecundity and positive powers, meant that many religions and cultures had celebrations then. In the Roman world, the major festival was Saturnalia, held in honour of Saturn, the father of the major gods of the Greeks and Romans. The celebration of the birthday of Mithras, the sun god of the Persians whose mystery religion was popular among soldiers in the Roman army, was also celebrated on 25 December. Mithras was often perceived as a rival to Jesus Christ, and Christians took advantage of the popularity of the 25 December date to celebrate the birth of their own influential religious figure' - End Quote

أَسْتَغْفِرُ ٱللَّٰهَ

And when you read about the ancient times many pagans held the 25th of December as a day of celebration for their gods أَسْتَغْفِرُ ٱللَّٰهَ

لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ ~

There is no truth but Allah ﷻ. May Allah ﷻ guide all the people, may He ﷻ protect us from misguidance and may He ﷻ always keep us on the straight path Ameen.

And may peace be upon Isa ﷺ on the day he was born, on the day he ﷺ will die and on the day he ﷺ will be raised back to life ~ Ameen.

~ Leila