Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah [may Allaah have Mercy on
him] said:
And this was their practice! They destroyed the religions of
the Prophets…
The Jews and the Christians invented new ways of worship
which corrupted the respective Legislation's they were given.
For example, they have Good Friday. This day is venerated
with them and they have the false belief that this was the day where ‘Esaa bin
Maraym was crucified.
The day after, is Holy Saturday were they believe ‘Esaa was in his grave and
some of them call this the ‘Night of Light’. This day is also venerated; their
religious leaders innovated a belief that light descends from the heavens on
this day upon the Church of Litter in Palestine.
To the extent that the misguided ignorant among them believe that the light
that descends on this place spreads throughout the land, and they seek it in
order to gain blessings from it. All of this is nonsense and easily refuted by
the texts and sound intellect.
The Saturday after Good Friday is the day where they believe
that the Jews went looking for ‘Esaa in order to crucify him, but he had passed
away and located in his grave.
The next day is Easter Sunday, a day where the Christians
believe that ‘Esaa rose from his grave.
The following Sunday is another day venerated by them. It is
a day of celebration, where they wear clothes of adornment and partake in various other festive practices.
As the People of al-Islaam have the Day of Nahr (‘Eid
al-Adhaa) where we slaughter after standing on the plains of ‘Arafah, they too
use the time after striving in worship to celebrate. So on this Sunday they
break their fast by eating and drinking, specifically egg, cheese and meat. Some
of them choose to break their fasts with egg.
So this is a time of celebration for them, however the
practices introduced during this period of celebration differ from custom to
custom. The general folk usually follow what is dictated to them from their religious
leaders.
With this, we can get an idea of how their priests and monks
control and manipulate the religion and its rulings. They claim that they are
the upholders of the Legislation of the Messiah, and as a result, they have
every right to change the beliefs and rulings found in the religion. Although they
argue that they have the right to modify theology and abrogate jurisprudence, what
this results in is a huge contradiction in the religion between the different
generations.
…
Because of this, the Christians have no real Legislation (Sharee’ah)
for them to follow anymore. They have altered and added to their religion,
much that which has no precedence within it.
It is also reported that a fraction of other Christians have
innovated various other aspects in their rituals, which the rest may not follow. Some of
them visit the graveyard on the Saturday prior to Good Friday (some start on
Palm Sunday) and they venerate these graves; placing on it incense and seeking
blessings from it, sacrificing animals for the sake of their deceased (all of
which is equally partners to God in Islaam otherwise known as Shirk), ring bells within the
graveyard and also at this time, they place crosses on their houses seeking
from it blessings also.
This is what I have witnessed and even some of the Muslims partake
in these rituals as imitation of them. In fact, there are many other practices
which are far worse. Some of these Muslims, who claim to have knowledge (or
want to propagate Islaam by using the guise of 'inter-faith dialogue') take part in their activities yet not truly knowing
Islaam (or the origins of these Christian rituals).
Some of them even place
huge crosses on the entrance of their houses and of imitation and the seeking
of blessings.
Some of them even use the incense to ward off evil-eye,
diseases and spirit possession from Jinn.
…
Once their rituals are completed, they celebrate in exchanging
gifts and eating meat. They also dye eggs and adorn their children.
The beliefs and rituals practiced at this time are all ways
in which the heart becomes hardened and causes it to die. Those who realize
goodness for what it is, will realize this and those who want corruption will be
pleased with their corruption.
Many of them supplicate to Maryam bint Imraan and ask her to
bless them from the heavens. So with those who have the least bit of Emaan
(faith in Islaam) in their hearts, will they not realize that the religions of
the Jews and the Christians have been corrupted (and no longer monotheistic)?!
[Taken from Iqtidaa
as-Siraat al-Mustaqeem with the Explanation of Shaykh Muhammad bin Saaleh al-‘Uthaymeen
(Pg. 348-353)]
