A Christmas Milad

Milad literally means birthday in Arabic, and commonly refers to the birthday of Prophet Muhammad, or Maulud, as it is popularly known locally.

The word is also used in the Arab world for the Christmas greeting – “Eid Milad Saeed” – which marks the birth of Jesus.

Both are great historical figures whose historicity measures highly.

Historicity is the opposite of myth, and is important especially when it comes to narrating the life stories of religious figures, to give some semblance of credibility to their teachings.

But even with all the detailed and careful narrations of the stories of these great men by scholars who spent decades studying about them in voluminous works, we still find myths and legends woven around their lives, and conflicting claims even on their dates of birth.

While it is widely agreed that Jesus was born on December 25, there are segments of Christians who question this winter date, the debate of which we might as well avoid here.

So too among the Muslims. But the vast majority from both the quarrelling Sunnis and Shias agree that he was born in the Islamic calendar month of Rabi al-Awwal, in Mecca, in the year 570 CE.

That was the same year that Mecca, a city considered holy for playing host to the epic life drama of Abraham’s family centuries earlier, was attacked by an army led by an Ethiopian general named Abrahah.

Sunni Muslims generally believe that Muhammad was born on a Monday, and almost all have settled the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal as his birth date. Mainstream Shias, such as those in Iran, on the other hand, celebrate his birthday on the 17th of Rabi al-Awwal.

It is interesting that in the aftermath of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, its leader Ayatullah Khomeini carried out a creative gesture towards Sunni-Shia reconciliation, declaring the one-week gap between both dates as a week of Sunni-Shia unity.

Much had happened after that, the results of which are horrifyingly laid bare to us, thanks to the mischief of the same people who don’t recognise the Prophet as deserving any birthday celebrations.

The birthday of Muhammad is a source of much polemics, driving a wedge even within the Sunni schools, and some argue against its celebration, saying it borders on deifying the image of the Prophet.

At the other end of the spectrum are those who have made the love of the Prophet a core belief, and just as one can fall head over heels when in love, they consider all rules, religious ones included, suspended when expressing love for Muhammad.

The same is found within Christianity, with the more revisionist factions not happy with Christmas, even long before the celebration was de-Christianised by the modern West and became associated with year-end sales and mythical old men in white beards.

Milad on Christmas Eve

Polemics apart, it is welcome that this year, both Muslims and Christians observe the birthdays of the characters they most identify with at almost the same time.

This meeting of the two Milads takes place at a time when a great deal of misunderstanding exists, indeed is hatched, between both faiths in Malaysia.

There is much ignorance about the status of Jesus and Christians in Islam, both among Muslims and among Christians.

This is despite the fact that the book which Muslims believe will never change till the end of time, the Quran, eternalises the brotherhood with Christians.

Some argue that the Quran refers to Christians of the era of Muhammad 1,500 years ago, which according to them followed unadulterated teachings of Jesus, and not to Christians of today, which they say are “different”. Such an argument misses the point of why Muslims believe Muhammad was sent and appointed as prophet in the first place.

Islam does not recognise Christianity as the whole truth, even during the time of Muhammad, which is why Muslims believe he was sent by God to renew the prophetic tradition. So the argument that the Christians of Muhammad’s era were different does not hold.

The feelings, of course, are mutual. Christians believe Muhammad was not a prophet, but a false one. Some even went to the extent of branding his teachings a deviant offshoot of Christianity, with the agenda of establishing Arab supremacy at a time of Persian and Roman domination.

It is this refusal to recognise each other’s claims that made them Christians and Muslims.

Herein lies the beauty. Despite this refusal and fundamental disagreements about prophethood and history, the Quran calls for Muslim-Christian brotherhood.

In nationhood, in marriage down to life’s most important thing – food – the Quran tells the Muslim to regard the Christians as their brethren, even as its verses repeatedly criticise their priests for playing God, and the semblance of divinity accorded to Jesus, a subject which has been at the centre of Muslim-Christian theological discord.

One should ask why such a status is not laid down in the hadith, the sayings of the Prophet, whose validity are at times open to scrutiny, and many of which have been simply dismissed as fake or not relevant by Muslim scholars themselves.

With this Quranic recognition, even “fundamentalist” and “puritanist” Muslims will find it hard to dismiss this brotherhood with Christians, unless they grew up in an environment where salaried little Napoleons with Arabic paper certificates have the last say on dictating the how and what of the Islamic faith.

The sad truth is, the significance of the two “Milads” of Muhammad and Jesus being celebrated back to back is lost in an environment such as ours. It is one in which Islam is officially the property of Islamic priests who punch their cards every morning in the majestic halls of Putrajaya.

Were it not, our mosques and churches could jointly celebrate the Maulud and Christmas, taking turns singing the salawat and hymns as a tribute to two strong characters who have shaped the world invoking their humanity, though their followers have increasingly invoked divinity.

Will there be greetings to reflect this double celebration of Christmas-Milad? In your dreams. Just as you will not hear most of our democracy-hugging Islamists wishing “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Deepavali” or “Happy Wesak”, despite all their exhortations of justice and brotherhood.

A Christmas Milad to all. – December 24, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.