Egyptian cartoon urges Muslims to extend Christmas greetings

A video made by the Egyptian Fatwa Institute and uploaded to YouTube earlier this month encourages Muslims to extend holiday greetings to Christians and to maintain friendly relations with those around them, regardless of their religion.

“Congratulating non-Muslims during their holidays is encouraged by Islam, and is in keeping with the noble manners introduced by the Prophet Muhammad,” the narrator says, in a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

“Islam has acknowledged the principle of peaceful coexistence with all people, regardless of their faith. Moreover, Islam has instructed [Muslims] to befriend them, maintain contact with them, to give them presents, to accept presents from them, and to treat them with decency, like they were treated by our Prophet Muhammad,” she adds.

She warns viewers not to “fall prey to the extremists and the fanatics, who take from the religion only that which suits their whims. Whenever someone disputes with their narrow ways, they take the easiest path and accuse him of heresy.”

Egyptian Animated Video Encourages Muslims to Extend Christmas Greetings pic.twitter.com/lm1g4qv3O3

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According to its website the Fatwa Institute is a “premier institute to represent Islam and the international flagship for Islamic legal research.” Its mission statement is to keep “contemporary Muslim in touch with religious principles, clarifying the right way, removing doubts concerning religious and worldly life, and revealing religious laws for new issues of contemporary life.”