Question for muslim families?

Assalamu'Alaikum,

I know the rulings and all of that so I'm not really asking is it Haram or Halal? I know that as Muslims we should avoid it but I just wanted to get a personal opinion of why you would or would not participate.

My family is not muslim and up until this last year(there have been 20) since I've been married foreverAlhamdulillah. My family understood we only celebrate Eid and respected that.

Well last week we had family movie night at our house and invited my mom "Grandma" and "Uncle"(my brother)  over for it we watched "The Bee Movie" we rarely watch non-Islamic but I really liked the story so I rented it. Towards the end Grandma came up with a grand plan that the kids should all come over and dye Easter Eggs at her house this week. I was shocked  I never expected that sort of spring break idea to pop into her head.

So I quietly blew it off I know bad daughter but I'm not even supposed to say OOF and at that moment the best I could do is smile and quietly say "I wasn't sure about our weekend plans yet".

Tuesday, Grandma calls~while I was making copies for homeschooling and got my son Nuh on the phone and went on and on about how much fun it would be.....Arrrrgh and than when I got on the phone my kids who have never done this were bouncing all over the room talking about duckies and bunnies etc....

This OOOF thing has been a super big challenge for me lately

So I again mentioned that if the weather got back into the 40's I'd love to take the kids for a picnic to the Detroit Zoo if she would like to come. The boys love to polar bear glass tunnel and the monkeys etc.

She's just gunho on the whole eggs bit and they're so expensive now too. I told her I'd talk to my husband when he came home from work for lunch and let her know....I know...I know really bad daughter I should of just ripped the bandaid off and said "NO"

Well I approached the issue over lunch and my husband said he'd call her when he got back to the office and just invite her to come spend the weekend or anytime she has free with us and he'd explain that we didn't celebrate these holidays but the kids would love to spend time with her doing different activities.

She hasn't called in days....I know she's really upsetwith me I can almost picture my middle name being said everytime she mentions me in conversation

So what would you do stand firm...be polite....or just cave and do some pagan holiday ritual that has nothing to do with Isa(as) at all?

JazakAllahuKhair

I think you did the right thing, about not sending them.

Just call them and talk, if everything seems to be normal then there is no problem I guess, however if there is a problem then I think you need to explain why you do not want your kids celebrating such an event. Just try to do a comparison, for example ask if they would let there children celebrate something which has Islamic roots or any other (religious root).

However more importantly, I think you need to explain to your children in a nice way why we Muslims do not celebrate such a thing, and just to make them understand the importance of our celebrations and how much better it is.

Plus lets ""keep it real"", there your kids so you decide what they celebrate or dont.

Edited by imp87

It is not an accident that Christmas falls on the Winter solstice and Easter on the spring equinox. Cabin fever sets in and people need something to look forward to at these times of the year. Other cultures also have celebrations at about the same times. Persians, Kurds and others celebrate Nowrooz, Chinese celebrate new year, etc, etc.

 

Be that as it may, I have no problem celebrating the resurrection of a bunny that lays chocolate eggs or the birthday of a jolly old man who works for Toys-R-us and flies a sled.

 

Allah (swt) did not forbid �fun� especially for kids.

Peace to all,

To continue building on the previous strong scholarly foundations* of the helpful Truth_light24:
In the brotherly spirit of concern and sharing, Truth_light24 does not want your family to go to their currently predestined locale:  eternal hellfire where all your non-muslim family members will be punished in the most intense ways forever.  That's why our educating friend Truth light24 is kindly helping you in relation to your hellbound family by pointing out the slippery-slope of chocolate easter eggs, fake grass, and Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail to... regrettably...  perpetual punishment in a blistering hellish flame with the rest of your non-muslim family, including "Grandma" and "Uncle"

As the educated Truth_light24: says,   "Call her, explain to her nicely and pray that someday Allah will guide her too and be a muslim like us, ameen."
Letting her know that it aches to know that no matter how much light, consideration and kindness they perform in this life, they will be uninterruptedly suffering in the afterlife unless they accept Islam.*

* the foundations one can learn from the enlightened and helpful "What is a Kuffar?" thread to which the short answer is: everyone who isn't Muslim.
 





Edited by Jamal Morelli