uleiman Az ZubayrApril 3, 2010 at 11:36pm
Subject: Easter: A Religious Innovation
Assalamu Alaykum WaRahmatullah WaBarakatuh.
"Peace, Blessings and Mercy of Allah (swt) be upon you"

While holidays like Christmas, New Years Day, and Valentines Day have names which indicate either the holiday’s origin or its significance, Easter stands out.

Most people have no idea what Easter actually means, or the actual events of this occasion. They have the belief this event marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ (with also the belief that prior to Easter i.e. Good Friday, is the day Jesus Christ was crucified to reconcile mankinds relationship with God, atonement).

Easter is in fact a corruption of Austre, the name of the ancient pagan Scandinavian goddess of life and fertility.

As noted above, many holidays celebrated today represent a synthesis between Christian doctrine and pagan ritual. The basis for most of these “holy” days revolves around natural phenomena such as the autumnal equinox, vernal equinox, summer solstice, and winter solstice. With regards to the spring season and the vernal equinox, pagans, especially the pagans of cold, northern Europe, celebrated the renewal of life, as was demonstrated by the budding of the leaves, blooming of the flowers, return of the birds, and the re-emergence of many mammals previously in hibernation. These celebrations often utilized symbols of fertility and life such as the egg, the baby chick, and the rabbit.

The use of these same symbols in present day celebrations of Easter is quite obvious. Decorating eggs, Easter egg hunts, and the Easter bunny are all familiar icons. These things have carried over from pagan traditions via a synthesis with Christian doctrine. In particular, the worship of the sun god has been incorporated into the once monotheistic Christian teachings. The vernal equinox represents a time in which the hours of daylight equal the hours of night. The days following the vernal equinox mark an increase in the number of hours of daylight over the night. This time, then became viewed as the time of sol invictus or the unconquerable sun, demonstrating its supremacy by conquering the night.

The synthesis with Christian ideas was simple. Just as the sun conquered the night, the son conquered death. Thus, the pagan holidays of fertility and life were replaced with the Christian concept of the resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him).

The Church adopted spring equinox celebrations as Easter. As this time had already been one of celebrating the suns resurrection and return to prominence, celebrating the resurrection of the son of God required no great change in understanding. In fact, the Easter celebrations were so similar to earlier celebrations - particularly those which recognized the resurrection of the Babylonian Adonis, the Greek Apollo, and the Roman Attis - that a bitter controversy arose with pagans claiming that the Christian Easter celebration was a spurious imitation of the ancient traditions. Vernal equinox bonfires, originally prohibited by the Church, found their way as Easter fires into the official liturgy of Rome by the ninth century. Fertility symbols associated with spring, such as the egg and the incredibly prolific rabbit, survived as well.

Islam Perspective of Easter & Jesus (as)

Muslims do not celebrate Easter and other events related to this due to the simple fact that they disregard Jesus (as) being resurrected or dying on the cross for our sins!

Jesus (as), according to the Holy Quran, is a wonderful, humble, generous messenger of God who came down and revealed God's words to his people, the people of Israel. Muslims do not believe that Jesus is God, Jesus is son of God, nor they believe that God ever chose to come down to earth in a form of a man to die for our sins to purify us and forgive us.

According to Islam, Jesus (as) never died on the cross, nor ever wanted to die on the cross, nor ever was born to die on the cross. The Holy Quran rejects this idea, and claims that it is a false one.

‘That they rejected Faith; that they uttered against Mary a grave false charge; That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:- Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;- And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them.’ – Holy Quran, Surah an Nisa (4):156-159

The end of the life of Jesus (as) on earth is as much involved in mystery as his birth, and indeed the greater part of his private life, except the three main years of his ministry. It is not profitable to discuss the many doubts and conjectures among the early Christians sects and among Muslims theologians. The Orthodox-Christian Churches make it a cardinal point of their doctrine that:

1) His (AS) life was taken on the cross;
2) That He (AS) died and was buried;
3) That on the third day He (AS) raised in the body with his wounds intact, and walked about and conversed, and ate with his disciples;
4) And was afterwards taken up bodily to heaven.

This is necessary for the theological doctrine of blood sacrifice and vicarious atonement for sins, which is rejected by Islam. The Quranic teaching is that Jesus (as) was not crucified nor killed by the Jews, not with standing certain apparent circumstances which produced that illusion in the minds of some of his enemies; that disputations, doubts, and conjectures on such matters are vain; and that he was taken up to Allah Almighty.

‘Behold! Allah said: "O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.’ – Holy Quran, Surah al Imran (3):55

Here we see that Allah Almighty promised Jesus (as) to raise him to heaven. Jesus (as) was charged by the Jews with blasphemy as claiming to be God or the son of God. The Christians (except a few early sects which were annihilated by persecution, and the modern sect of Unitarians), adopted the substance of the claim, and made it the cornerstone of their faith. Allah Almighty clears Jesus (as) of such a charge or claim.

Conclusion

The pagan roots of holidays celebrated in the name of Christianity testify to its having been altered. Christianity, as it exists today, does not represent the message of Jesus, the son of Mary (peace and blessings be upon both of them). And this is not merely a Christian issue. This is an issue for all God-fearing people. We, as Muslims, must be aware of the pieces that make up the puzzle that is Christianity, first to protect ourselves and our families, then to warn others and to call them to the right way.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding following such issues:

‘You (Muslims) will follow the ways of those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit (i.e., inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a hole of a lizard, you would follow them." We said, "O Allah's Apostle! (Do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?" He said, "Who else?"’- Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith, Narrated by Abu Said Al Khudri

‘Whoever imitates a people is one of them.’
(Related by Ahmad)

‘Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) once saw the Ansaar celebrating a certain day. He inquired about that and was informed: This is one of two days that we used to celebrate in Jaahiliyyah (pre-Islaamic ignorance) and we continue to do so. He replied: Nay! Allaah has substituted for you two better days: the day of al-Fitr and the day of al-Adhhaa.’ - related by Ahmad, an-Nasaaee, and others.

All of the controversies about dogma and faith will disappear when we appear before Allah. Allah will judge not by what we profess but what we are.

Allah (SWT) knows best.