{"id":1033,"date":"2010-12-21T19:25:20","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T13:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mohamediqbalp.wordpress.com\/2010\/12\/21\/a-christmas-card-from-a-muslim-daughter\/"},"modified":"2010-12-21T19:25:20","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T13:55:20","slug":"a-christmas-card-from-a-muslim-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/a-christmas-card-from-a-muslim-daughter\/","title":{"rendered":"A Christmas Card From a Muslim Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"blog_title\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/kari-ansari\/a-christmas-card-from-a-m_b_795934.html\" title=\"Permalink\" id=\"title_permalink\">A Christmas Card From a Muslim Daughter<\/a><br \/>What&#8217;s Your Reaction:<\/p>\n<div class=\"chicklets_bar\">\n<div class=\"chicklets_box_outter\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"chicklets_box_inner\">\t<\/p>\n<div id=\"chicklets\" class=\"chicklets\"><span class=\"hidden\"><\/span><a title=\"Share on Facebook\" 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\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/tag\/muslim-view-of-jesus\">Muslim View Of Jesus<\/a><br \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/tag\/muslims\">Muslims<\/a><br \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/tag\/quran\">Quran<\/a><br \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/tag\/surat-maryam\">Surat Maryam<\/a><br \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/tag\/virgin-birth\">Virgin Birth<\/a><br \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t,<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/religion\"> Religion News<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidebarHeader sidebar_blog_first_design\">\n<p>\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb_like_cont\">                 <\/p>\n<div class=\"align_left\"><span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"badges_v2 standard fb_like_contain\" id=\"badges_v2_1\">\n<div class=\"slice slice_1\" id=\"badges_v2_1_slice_1\">\n<div class=\"badge_v2_facebook\">110<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slice slice_2\" id=\"badges_v2_1_slice_2\">\n<div class=\"badge_v2_retweet\" id=\"badge_v2_retweet_215489692_1\">99<span>views<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"share_boxes_box_block_b_wraper\">\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"share_boxes_email_alerts_head\">\n<div class=\"share_boxes_email_alerts_head_text vertical_color\">&nbsp; \t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"share_boxes_email_alerts_subsForm\"><\/p>\n<form><\/form>\n<p><\/div>\n<p><span>Email<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"share_boxes_share_module\" id=\"content_share_module\">\n<ul>\n<li id=\"lastEl\" class=\"share_boxes_lastEl last\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/send\/?id=795934\" class=\"share_boxes_firstEl_a vertical_color\">\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>Comments<span id=\"entry_comments_amount\" class=\"share_boxes_entry_comments_amount\">11<\/span><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/kari-ansari\/a-christmas-card-from-a-m_b_795934.html#comments\"><br \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When I became a Muslim thirteen years ago this month, I left <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry_body_text\">\n<p>behind the Christmas traditions my family celebrated every year of my <br \/>childhood. My mother was able to transform our Southern California home <br \/>into a Winter Wonderland as soon as we walked in the door; it may have <br \/>been 75 degrees and sunny outside, but inside we felt we were in a <br \/>Currier and Ives world of red velvet beribboned pine boughs, twinkling <br \/>lights and beautiful music. I loved it. The Christmas season and our <br \/>small traditions remained the same no matter how many years passed. My <br \/>mother worked extremely hard to build warm, and loving holiday memories,<br \/> and I sincerely cherish them.<\/p>\n<p>Like many American homes, there wasn&#8217;t much Christ in my family&#8217;s <\/p>\n<p>Christmas. There would always be some discussion surrounding the reason <br \/>for our celebration, but we didn&#8217;t attend church services or talk too <br \/>much about what my parents believed. The beautiful nativity on the <br \/>mantle, hand-painted by my grandmother, was flanked by tasteful, secular<br \/> decorations. This led to a kind of vague confusion between the <br \/>miraculous birth of Jesus, and the magical feat of Santa Claus zipping <br \/>around the world in one night. <\/p>\n<p>Nostalgia not withstanding, thinking about Christmas is now far more <\/p>\n<p>meaningful to me on a spiritual level than it was when I was young. The <br \/>fact that Muslims accept and believe in the virgin birth of Jesus has <br \/>been a golden thread that links my childhood Christmas memories to my <br \/>very fulfilling adult life as a Muslim. <\/p>\n<p>The world&#8217;s more than 1.5 billion Muslims would like their Christian <\/p>\n<p>neighbors to know that we believe in the Annunciation; in the Quran we <br \/>read that God sent the angels to Mary: <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the angels said: O Mary, surely God gives you good news <\/p>\n<p><em>with a Word from Him of one whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of <br \/>Mary, worthy of regard in th<br \/>\nis world and the hereafter and of those who <br \/>are made near to God. And he shall speak to the people when in the <br \/>cradle and when of old age, and he shall be one of the good ones.&#8221;<\/em> Quran 3:45-46<\/p>\n<p>The Quran has only one chapter named after a woman; Chapter 19 is titled &#8220;Mary&#8221;, or as it is translated in Arabic &#8212; <em>Maryam<\/em>. The Quran tells us that the infant Jesus, (or <em>Isa<\/em> as it is translated in Arabic), spoke from Mary&#8217;s arms: &#8220;&#8230;He said: Surely I am a servant of God; He has given me the <\/p>\n<p><em>Book and made me a prophet; And He has made me blessed wherever I may <br \/>be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and charity so long as I live; And <br \/>dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; And <br \/>peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I<br \/> am raised to life.'&#8221; <\/em>Quran 19:30-33*<\/p>\n<p>While Muslims don&#8217;t celebrate Christmas, we believe in the awesome <\/p>\n<p>and miraculous birth of Jesus, in the miracles he performed by God&#8217;s <br \/>Grace, and in the message of love and peace Jesus brought to the world. <\/p>\n<p>I hope my family knows that I am more attached to the account of <\/p>\n<p>Jesus and Mary than I ever was as a child, now that I am a practicing <br \/>Muslim. It is a vital part of my faith; a faith that I share with over a<br \/> billion and a half people around the world. <\/p>\n<p>This is my Christmas card to my family, and all my Christian friends and neighbors: <strong>Peace on earth and goodwill toward men.<\/strong>*Muslims understand this verse in reference to the to death of <\/p>\n<p><em>Jesus after the second coming and resurrection on the Day of Judgment. <br \/>See Quran, 4:157<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Follow Kari Ansari on Twitter:<\/p>\n<p><b>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/KariAnsari\"><br \/>\t\t\t\t\t\twww.twitter.com\/KariAnsari<\/a><\/b>\t<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Christmas Card From a Muslim DaughterWhat&#8217;s Your Reaction: facebook Twitter stumble reddit del.ico.us Amazing InspiringFunnyScaryHotCrazyImportantWeird Read More: Annunciation , Christianity , Christians , Christmas , Islam , Jesus Christ , Mary , Muslim View Of Jesus , Muslims , Quran , Surat Maryam , Virgin Birth , Religion News 110 99views &nbsp; Email Comments11 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iqsoft.in\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}