Dana Mathewson

This is heart-warming, though keep reading, please. There's what I'd call a wrench in the works.

On Christmas Eve, the government of Iraq announced that Christmas Day — December 25 — would become a national holiday in the war-torn Middle Eastern country. Iraq is roughly 95 percent Muslim and only has an estimated 300,000 Christians.

"The [Iraqi Government]announces Christmas Day to be an official holiday across Iraq. Happy Christmas to our Christian citizens, all Iraqis and to all who are celebrating around the world," the official Iraqi government Twitter account announced.

The @IraqiGovt announces Christmas Day to be an official holiday across Iraq. Happy Christmas to our Christian citizens, all Iraqis and to all who are celebrating around the world.

— Government of Iraq - ??????? ???????? (@IraqiGovt) December 24, 2018

A post on Christmas Day provided a short summary of the Iraqi cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. "The Cabinet votes to amend the national holidays law in order to make 25th December of each year, Christmas Day, an official holiday across Iraq," the cabinet reported. The body also approved "the annual report of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Council."

[...]

Yet Muslims share more than solidarity with Christians when it comes to Yuletide. While believers in Islam do not accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Allah has no son, according to the Quran), they do believe the Nazarene carpenter was born of a virgin. Muslims consider Jesus a prophet of Allah (without any evidence from the time of Jesus to support this view), and His birth a reason to celebrate Christmas. (emphasis mine)

Many Muslims in the United States celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday.

"Jesus (peace be upon him) is one of the highest messengers and prophets, miraculously born to the Virgin Mary, and chosen by God to be the Messiah who will return to establish justice on Earth after it has been filled with injustice," Imam Omar Suleiman, the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, told The Huffington Post.

Suleiman reaffirmed the virgin birth and explained that Mary "occupies the highest position of any woman in Islam." The Quran describes her as "chosen above the woman of all worlds as an example of perfection, devotion and modesty for men or women." In fact, an entire chapter of the Muslim holy book is named after her.

Well, well! I've read in other places that the Muslims believe on the Last Day, Jesus will announce that He was wrong and Allah was right. I, for one, am NOT going to bet my immortal soul on that idea!

The entire article is at https://pjmedia.com/faith/95-percent-muslim-country-makes-christmas-a-national-holiday/

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