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Three Muslim countries — Somalia, Tajikistan, and Brunei — now banning Christmas celebrations

Dec 24, 2015 1:38 pm By Robert Spencer

“The ban is ridiculous. It projects this image that Islam does not respect the rights of other religions to celebrate their faith.” Uh, yeah.

ISSantaHostage

“Christmas celebrations banned in Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei,” Guardian, December 23, 2015:

The governments of three countries – Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei – have banned Christmas celebrations this year, with punishments ranging up to a five-year jail term.

Somalia issued a ban on Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in the Muslim country on Wednesday, saying the festivities “have nothing to do with Islam”.

“We warn against celebration of Christmas, which is only for Christians,” Sheikh Mohamed Kheyrow, director of Somalia’s ministry of religion, said on state radio. “This is a matter of faith. The Christmas holiday and its drum beatings have nothing to do with Islam.” He said the ministry has sent letters to the police, national security intelligence and officials in the capital Mogadishu instructing them to “prevent Christmas celebrations”.

The announcement had echoes of Islamist militants al-Shabaab, which controlled the capital Mogadishu until 2011. Among their edicts was to ban Christmas celebrations.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the government announcement. Somalia is almost entirely Muslim, but it hosts thousands of African Union (AU) peacekeepers, including from the majority-Christian countries Burundi, Uganda and Kenya. The country, which is struggling to emerge from two decades of fighting and chaos, has also seen a growing number of Somalis returning from Europe and North America, sometimes bringing foreign traditions and attitudes with them.

Officials also said that Christmas celebrations may attract attacks from the Islamist militants al-Shabaab.

“Christmas will not be celebrated in Somalia for two reasons; all Somalis are Muslims and there is no Christian community here. The other reason is for security,” Abdifatah Halane, spokesman for Mogadishu mayor, told Reuters. “Christmas is for Christians. Not for Muslims.”

“Security”: in other words, we have to ban Christmas celebrations, because Muslims might blow them up.

Last 25 December, al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for an attack on the main AU base in Mogadishu, which lasted several hours and left three peacekeepers and a civilian contractor dead.

The majority Muslim but nominally secular central Asian republic of Tajikistan has also issued its toughest-ever ban on seasonal celebrations, banning Christmas trees and gift-giving in schools.

The country has been cracking down on Christmas and New Year’s in recent years, and banned Father Frost – Russia’s equivalent of Santa Claus – from television screens in 2013. Halloween celebrations in the capital, Dushanbe, have also been targeted by police, with revellers dressed as zombies and vampires reportedly being detained in 2013 and 2014.

The oil-rich sultanate of Brunei, has also banned Christmas celebrations, under a shift towards hardline Islamic law. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one of the world’s richest men, announced last year he would push ahead with the introduction of sharia law, eventually including tough penalties such as death by stoning or severed limbs.

Religious leaders in the sultanate warned this month that a ban on Christmas would be strictly enforced, for fear that Muslims could be led astray. “Using religious symbols like crosses, lighting candles, putting up Christmas trees, singing religious songs, sending Christmas greetings … are against Islamic faith,” imams said in sermons published in the local press.

Punishment for violating the ban is a five-year jail sentence, and the government warned last year that Muslims would be committing an offence if they so much as wore “hats or clothes that resemble Santa Claus”.

Although Christians are free to celebrate, they have been told not to do so “excessively and openly”, in a directive that has had a chilling effect on the south-east Asian nation, which sits on a corner of Borneo island.

Businesses have been warned to take decorations down and authorities have stepped up spot checks across the capital. Hotels popular among western tourists that once boasted dazzling lights and giant Christmas trees are now barren of festive decor. “This will be the saddest Christmas ever for me,” a Malaysian expatriate resident told AFP, requesting not to be named for fear of reprisals from authorities. “The best part of Christmas Day is waking up and having that feeling that it is Christmas, but there’s just none of that here and you just feel deprived.

“All this is just because of what the sultan wants. In 2013, I saw many Muslims together with Christians having a good time at their house parties. Everything was normal and good,” he said.

Most people are too scared to speak up about the ban, and while some privately gripe about the rule they know there is little to be done. “I will be working on Christmas after church. We just have to cope,” a Filipino waitress – one of Brunei’s many guest workers – said.

Some people dared to post pictures on social media depicting Christmas cheer using the hashtag #MyTreedom, part of a global campaign to highlight oppression against Christians. At least one church in the capital sported decorations that were visible from the street, a rare glimpse of holiday cheer in the otherwise decoration-free city.

“The ban is ridiculous. It projects this image that Islam does not respect the rights of other religions to celebrate their faith,” said a Muslim mother in the capital, also too scared to provide her name. “Islam teaches us to respect one another and I believe it starts with respecting other religions even if what is being banned are ornamental displays.”

Others were more tempered, and urged the prohibition to be respected. “It is an Islamic country and so with respect to the law, churches need to keep decorations indoors,” said a Christian Bruneian, unfazed by the strict rules. “The meaning of Christmas for us isn’t all about Christmas decorations.”

However, the prohibition does not extend to the business interests of the sultan, whose estimated $20bn fortune includes the historic Beverly Hills Hotel – part of his Dorchester Collection with branches in London, Paris, Milan and Rome.

It is Christmas as usual this year in the upscale Le Richemond hotel in Geneva where guests are greeted by lavish displays in the hotel lobby, include bowls overflowing with pine branches, ornaments and candles aplenty. The Le Meurice hotel in Paris advertises a Christmas eve seven-course gourmet menu for €650 – before drinks – while the Beverly Hills Hotel is also decked out for the holidays.

Before unveiling the hardline law, the sultan had warned of pernicious foreign influences such as the internet and indicated he intended to place more emphasis on Islam in the conservative Muslim country.

Strict rules against homosexuality in sharia law, punishable with death by stoning, sparked a backlash among A-listers including John Legend, Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres and Richard Branson, who called for the hotels to be boycotted….

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Filed Under: Brunei, Featured, Islamic bigotry and intolerance, Islamic supremacism, Somalia, Tajikistan Tagged With: Abdifatah Halane, Mohamed Kheyrow


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Comments

  1. mortimer says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 2:08 pm

    Muslims despise the Incarnation of Christ and wish to destroy its celebrations with violence. Churches should hire security guards to cover the doors at all large charges. (I know they won’t and jihadists will know that as well.)

    There will be attacks on churches. God spare them. How else will Christians learn that Islam is not BENIGN.

    No cancer is benign.

    • Bamaguje says

      Dec 24, 2015 at 2:44 pm

      Is there any Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or other non-Muslim majority country that bans celebration of Muslim Eid?

    • Farmer says

      Feb 3, 2016 at 11:23 pm

      We’re covered – not only against meth heads coming to steal the collection plate, but anyone else who thinks the church is a soft target.

  2. miriamrove says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 2:41 pm

    Remember: the chief terrorist Khomeini said: There is no fun in Islam. m

  3. KnowThyEnemy says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 4:34 pm

    Merry Christmas to all!

    Watch the one minute video at the link below:

    https://www.facebook.com/cbcsask/videos/10153136666021782/

    • Bezelel says

      Dec 24, 2015 at 7:53 pm

      KnowThyEnemy A Merry Christmas to you too. Peace on earth good will towards men, is not in the koran, no matter how hussein obola ties to tell it.

  4. girigirihanasu says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 6:16 pm

    I’m completely staggered that The Guardian (the most lefty of the lefty British MSM) is not only printing this story, but it’s allowing comments, and doesn’t even seem to be deleting many.

    Despite this site’s constant mockery, the UK is wising up. Most of the population now realises what Islam is about, but unlike the USA, we don’t believe that buying more guns or pandering to idiots like Trump is the solution. Islam will lose in the UK (eventually… ) through sheer common sense. Trump, however, has strengthened Islam’s hand in the USA.

    • RonaldB says

      Dec 24, 2015 at 7:46 pm

      “Trump, however, has strengthened Islam’s hand in the USA.”

      I think you don’t know what you’re talking about.

      Can you show any evidence, or even any logical claim, that Trump has strengthened Islam? What he has done is brought the subject to the forefront. Prior to Trump, the question of open Muslim immigration was not even discussed in the mainstream.

      I’m sure you would be contemptuous if I began telling you what the future of anti-Islam is going to be in the UK, for the reason that I’m not there and don’t have access to many details. So, why do you think you can make grand pronouncements about the effect Trump has on Islam and Islamic immigration to the United States?

      • Mazo says

        Dec 25, 2015 at 9:10 pm

        Trump has just made Islam look a lot more attractive to tens of millions of Hispanic Latinos, both US citizens and Mexican citizens south of the border.

        Since Trump attacks Latinos and Muslims at the same time, he has opened the door to massive conversion of Mexicans to Islam. Latino Americans and Mexicans may feel alienated from racist white American Catholics who hate them and instead look elsewhere to fulfill their spiritual needs- what other religion than one their enemy Donald Trump attacked?

        Are you willing to deal with the prospect of tens of millions of Hispanic Muslims in both the USA and Mexico, including citizens of the USA?

        • Marc Pollack says

          Dec 30, 2015 at 5:39 pm

          If Mexicans or people in other central and south american countries convert to Islam, it will only be due to Iran’s influence in those areas. I am very leery of Trump, but he is right about a lot of things.Immigration to the U.S. should be legal- as it should be in Europe and anywhere else in the whole world.

          Even many American LATINO leaders are against illegal immigration to the U.S. Rubio and Cruz both object to illegal immigration to the U.S. from Cuba, Mexico or Central and South America. the governments there should be improving the standard of living and make their societies more stable instead of ignoring social and economic problems.

        • Angemon says

          Jan 4, 2016 at 8:10 pm

          Mazo, you never miss an opportunity to show you’re a fully-fledged muslim racist, do you? Facts be damned. Trump is not a Catholic, and it takes a KKK-like type of racism to think that Mexicans – who, BTW, are mostly Catholics – are going to convert in drove to islam to spite on American.

          Have you considered a career in stand-up comedy? Or is that haram?

    • Bezelel says

      Dec 24, 2015 at 9:18 pm

      girigirihanasu, The UK and common sense don’t belong in the same sentence. Anti jihadists excepted and I’m not so sure that includes you. islam is only strengthened by submission to it. Trump is not making any moves in that direction. On the other hand the UK from what I hear is in step with hussein obola and hillary will stay the course.

    • Joe says

      Dec 25, 2015 at 10:28 am

      “Despite this site’s constant mockery, the UK is wising up. Most of the population now realises what Islam is about…”

      @girigirihanasu

      The UK is perhaps the greatest useful idiot conglomerate in Europe (and arguably the world). The idea that they would somehow “wise up” and stand against the Islamization of their country is, quite frankly, laughable and completely delusional.

      I predict that in the near future, the UK will be the first country in Europe to fall to Islam, followed by Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, etc…

  5. Guy Jones says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    That much-vaunted Islamic “tolerance” on display, once again! Islam’s fascistic tenor cannot be long concealed by its followers, no matter how much public relations window dressing, historical revisionism and theological smoke-and-mirrors the multiculturalist Islamic appeasers/apologists attempt to engage in on its behalf.

    Those who continue to deny that the ideology of “Submission” is inherently supremacist, violent and totalitarian — by the explicit words of its vile scripture — are standing on a thinner and thinner reed.

  6. RonaldB says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 8:02 pm

    The Sultan of Brunei and his family are not only some of the richest people in the world: they are the stupidest. These guys spend millions of dollars to import British whores for a party, and have absolutely no idea how to deal with them, other than to have unprotected fornication, and then walk away. These guys were raised in unbelievable wealth and luxury from earliest childhood, and wouldn’t be able to tie their own shoelaces if left to their own devices.

    Fortunately for the Sultan, there is no such thing as being too stupid or too ignorant for sharia law. Islam tells Muslims they are superior beings, regardless of how stupid they are. The Sultan is now engaged in asserting his authority over Filipino housemaids, to make sure their Christmas celebrations don’t pollute Islam.

  7. Joseph says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 8:05 pm

    They don’t have the real Santa, I do!! I had him in my basement for safekeeping. I let him out a few hours ago so he could deliver the presents.

    I knew the Muslims would try some bullshit like this.

  8. Matthieu Baudin says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 8:13 pm

    “…This will be the saddest Christmas ever for me,” a Malaysian expatriate resident told AFP, requesting not to be named for fear of reprisals from authorities. “The best part of Christmas Day is waking up and having that feeling that it is Christmas, but there’s just none of that here and you just feel deprived…”

    Happiness doesn’t sit high in priorities in the Lands of Islam. Ever get the feeling that they take themselves far too seriously?

  9. Angemon says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    Officials also said that Christmas celebrations may attract attacks from the Islamist militants al-Shabaab.

    “Christmas will not be celebrated in Somalia for two reasons; all Somalis are Muslims and there is no Christian community here. The other reason is for security,” Abdifatah Halane, spokesman for Mogadishu mayor, told Reuters.

    You’ve heard it, folks: Christians are not allowed to celebrate Christmas because a) they’re in a muslim-majority country and muslims don’t want them to celebrate Christmas, and b), celebrating Christmas may make some of those muslims in a muslim-majority country, where muslims don’t want Christians to celebrate Christmas, to attack Christians because they’re muslims in a muslim-majority country and don’t want Christians to celebrate Christmas.

  10. Elton says

    Dec 24, 2015 at 10:31 pm

    They shut down Christmas cause they all know that they’re all on the naughty list anyway so what’s the point.

  11. nic says

    Dec 25, 2015 at 3:38 am

    Well, not ALL Muslim countries are this extreme.

    I mean…..

    At least Turkey voted for Christmas !!

    Merry Christmas all 😀

    • Marc Pollack says

      Dec 30, 2015 at 5:53 pm

      Nic,
      You don’t know what you’re talking about. Turkey supports Islamic State and persecutes the Kurdish People. They murdered over 1.5 million Armenians before and during WW I, ( not that the Armenians didn’t persecute others, like Jews and some Muslims in turn…).
      Under President Arjuan, Turkey is anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. They actively support Islamic State and allow volunteers to Islamic State entrance into Syria through their territory.Turkey is certainly not pro-Christian and everyone knows that too.
      Turkey is being a radical Islamic State . Ataturk is turning over in his grave now…

  12. Peter Rissing says

    Dec 25, 2015 at 4:16 am

    And the Maldives can be included as well.
    http://maldivesindependent.com/business/maldives-bans-christmas-celebrations-at-guesthouses-120958

  13. Peter Rissing says

    Dec 25, 2015 at 4:22 am

    And in contrast.
    https://youtu.be/zYvX5dTP2jQ

  14. f c king says

    Dec 25, 2015 at 11:29 am

    Islam is a supremacist political movement, with very violent religious rules, from the dark-ages.

    Does the civilized world expect anything different ?

  15. xxxChurch100 says

    Dec 25, 2015 at 1:45 pm

    25th December 2015
    NEWS HEAD LINE :

    No more yo ho ho ing !!
    Unemployed Santa receives food stamps !!
    Thank you fun sucking Muslims !

  16. Mazo says

    Dec 25, 2015 at 9:17 pm

    Tajikistan, like other former Soviet republics, is run by an ex-Soviet Communist Party member. Tajikistan is harsh on religion, it cracks on down political Islam and even on ordinary Islam. They ban all Islamist organizations both domestic and foreign. The Tajik government has imposed bans against Hijabs, Burqas, beards, forbids children under 18 years old from going to Mosques, religious schools, or participating in religious activities and strictly controls ALL religion through the government. The Tajik government forbids any kind of religious activity outside of government control. They have destroyed thousands of unregistered Mosques and forced all Mosques to be under government surveillance and the government tells Imams want to preach in their sermons.

    The Tajik secular government is also harsh on foreign evangelical Protestant Christian missionaries and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Tajikistan. They effectively forbid proselytizing and crack down against them hard and ban them from building Churches or converting people. They don’t want Christians or Jehovah’s Witnesses in their country either. And then dumb islamophobes start whining about how the “Islamic” Tajik government is “persecuting Christians” when in reality they are secular and harsh against all religions.

    The same is true in other ex-Soviet Muslim majority republics. They are secular and crack down hard against all religious activities, Islamism, burqas, beards, and Islamist organizations, and also are harsh against foreign Christian missionaries. Its not Muslims persecuting Christians there.

    • KnowThyEnemy says

      Dec 26, 2015 at 12:00 am

      If what you say regarding Tajikistan is true then “secular” is an incorrect term to use to describe them. The correct term is “anti-religious”, because apparently they are against all religious activity, no matter which religion.

      Secular otoh means permitting (or tolerant of) all religions without bias to any particular one. The US for example is a secular country. Pakistan is not, and neither is Tajikistan!

  17. maa says

    Dec 26, 2015 at 8:41 am

    There is a 2nd Somalia-they have no terrorists and no war-but the whole stupid world dont accept them.It looks like they are people with a little bit more brain..They split years ago and have an own gov.,police etc.

  18. Walter Sieruk says

    Dec 26, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    Actually , it needs to be stated that If Muslims would only hate the fictional character of Santa Clause and not have and show hate for real people then that would be a good thing. Likewise, some Christmastimes past Muslims have cut the heads of statues of the figures of the third -level mythical character of Santa clause. That was just fine with me. For the Santa Clause myth that is worthless and useless. with not real value at all. In great contrast many jihad -minded Muslim don’t spot at beheading figures of this worthless myth. Many jihad-minded Muslims behead as in cruel’y and brutally real people who in contrast to that Santa Clause myth/character do have actual worth and value. Its a sorry shame and tragic reality that some Muslims don’t stop of destroying those valueless Santa Clause statues and go on to murder real people.

    • Marc Pollack says

      Dec 30, 2015 at 5:47 pm

      Walter,
      The Muslims who carry out such acts are many. Islam is a violent religion and most Muslims still live in the Dark Ages in respect to their religious intolerance and violent tendencies toward non-Muslims and Muslims of other sects. For example, Shia Muslims kill Sunni Moslems and vice-a-versa. The Koran is a very intolerant and vicious book as all who read it in English know.
      The real tragedy is that most people in The West don’t have a clue as to what Islam is, Namely a religion of the sword which advocates taking over the world and converting or killing all non-Muslims. They want to establish Sharia Law, which simply demands that all people become Muslim.

  19. Peter A.G.E. Okorugbo says

    Feb 19, 2016 at 4:56 pm

    The world seem so ignorant of the religious error that underlies Islam predicted in principle centuries before its emergence by the divine replication and incarnation Jesus Christ with the possibility of its transformation by the wisdom of the just.
    What the world should be concerned with now is who and how this transformation can come about.
    Wherefore, if the enabling platform is provided, the solution also will come through.
    Author – “CROSSROADS: the Paradox of the War against Terrorism” with amazon.com by Peter A.G.E. Okorugbi

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