and so it is our belief as Muslims and
many historians also take this concept
this belief that when you look at the
religions from the beginning of time we
have to recognize that there was a
constant struggle going on between those
who believed in one God and those who
believed in many gods this struggle has
always existed with human
life we find it more intense at
different points in time but what is
important for us to
understand is that in America today we
are sort of a hodge podge uh melted down
mixture of hundreds of cultures and we
call it American or we call it Canadian
but nobody is really sure what it
actually
means and now that we're going into the
21st century it is important for us to
be able to um uh separate the different
elements within that culture and to
recognize the roles that these elements
play in this struggle that went on from
the early days of human life there were
people who put their Worship in the
natural world and so those natural
objects that were around them that
appeared to be the strongest objects
they would worship through those objects
so in other words if if people living in
desert areas in many of these areas you
find a huge rock or a huge tree and so
many people would worship the tree or
the rock or or they felt they would
worship the cosmic forces through that
tree or through that rock in some
countries that had large rivers such as
those who lived around the Nile in the
Nile Valley or in the Niger River or the
Congo River or the Amazon those who
lived around these powerful forces of
water
we find that religion was developed
around the river and in many cases
people would worship manifestations of
the river even some of the animals from
the river itself hoping to
appease the power and the forces in the
river itself probably the most common
form of worship in the ancient world was
the worship of the Sun and that is for
obvious reasons the sun is obviously the
largest of of creation and that when the
sun comes out the power of the sun it
gives light after
Darkness it gives
heat in the cold weather it brings forth
the light uh the life from
plants and so the sun itself in a sense
is a lifegiving
form and so those who were trying to
figure out what is the source of our
life what is the source of the living
beings around us focused on the Sun as
the main object and developed within
their religions a concept based upon the
Sun and so we find this concept in all
parts of the world contrary to some of
the beliefs of people it was even very
strong in Europe I mean up until now we
still count we still have during our
week at the end of our week we have
Saturday and then we have Sunday
which is the day of the
Sun and this is a concept that they used
to have and what is important for us to
understand especially when we're dealing
with young people who who who who tend
to be caught up just in images coming at
them that the images within many of the
holidays that we have have got a number
of
streams and especially you could say two
main streams that are coming in there is
a stream of
monotheism and there is a stream of
polytheism of those who worship many
gods and those especially who focused on
the sun god in the winter
season around December 25th the people
celebrated uh the winter
solstice and those of you who have lived
in the north I'm coming from Toronto
Canada there's four seasons not two or
three like you have here there's four
seasons and these four seasons in Canada
are very distinct Seasons although ELO
and L are changing that also but they're
very distinct seasons and so Within
These Seasons there are certain high
points or low points and the solstice
time is the time when the essence of the
season comes about and so the winter
solstice would come about um somewhere
between um December in December from
December 21st and it goes all the way to
around on January 6th or so and so the
people of the north would celebrate uh
different uh holidays have different
occasions based upon the winter solstice
put yourself in the northern countries I
went to Norway and spent some time with
the Muslims in Oslo may Allah subh T
help them they're really far up north
and also I had the chance to go to
Alaska and there's Muslims in Alaska now
when we were there
um in the
summertime and it was time for
Salat and we looked
outside and the sun was still out
somebody looked at his watch and he said
well that's Sunset and it's time to make
M so we made Salat that is normally made
with the sunset according to the watch
and the sun was
out the time for Isha they looked at
their watch again it's supposed to be
darkness of night according to the f
they looked at their watch and they said
it's time for Isha we made Isha and the
sun was
out around 1:00 at night I looked at my
watch and realized it's time to go to
bed but the sun was
out and so in in those parts of the
world you are in a situation where for
the Muslims you make and the have told
us that you can use the closest
reasonable uh uh City for your base or
you can use Mecca to
some
different have used different positions
where I was they use Seattle Washington
uh as the base of their um uh time where
they were in Alaska what is important
though is that in the winter time there
is a period where there is no light you
are literally in darkness 24 hours of
the day and this stretches for a period
of time now could you imagine if you're
living in Alaska or living in Canada
or living in Norway and you don't have
Central Heating and the cold is outside
it's Darkness around you people are
dying from disease it's a terrible time
and and every family would probably lose
somebody or they would know of somebody
dying from the cold and disease during
that season this is the winter solstice
and so when the Sun starts to come
out the people now are looking at the
Sun as a lifegiving force and so during
that time a number of Ceremonies were
held in Northern
countries in um the far north was the
Feast of the 12 nights which stretched
from December 25th to January
6th also in ancient Greece there was the
Balia which was held for their God bakus
the god of wine and Sport and play the
Romans had the
saturnalia for their God Saturn their
main Sun God Saturn and so you find
during these times that the people held
ceremonies in the north they would burn
uh bon fires the light was important the
fire because the fire represents the
light the lifegiving force for those who
worship nature also in the north they
recognize that there was one tree that
even that despite the cold would still
remain alive the Evergreen the evergreen
tree the fur tree and so in some cases
they would take this fur tree believing
that there was powers of life within the
tree and they would put it in their
homes set it there and put a light on
the top of it or burn them in the front
or they would make h a mistle toes and
put them over their doorways a type of
what we would call taiz or tamima it is
an amulet and they would hang the amulet
over their doors hang the amulets in
their home hoping that this fur tree
that this so-called lifegiving force
would protect them from the danger of
the
winter and so their ceremonies developed
around this and this went on for
hundreds of
years we also find in the ancient uh
Northern countries we
find The
Druids and The Druids of the north and
They carried out special ceremonies
surrounding the mistletoe and
surrounding the fur tree and the beliefs
and and they would meet within circular
areas and they had a secretive cult that
spread throughout the far Northern
countries one of the interesting
individuals and you can look this up if
you can find it in the dictionaries or
encyclopedias is a man called Mithra or
mithas this is a very mysterious
character and when you look at history
you find that this uh individual called
Mithra was born on December
25th his day of the week was the seventh
day of the week that we still call
Sunday he was supposed to be the son of
the of the son God himself and they had
a special Sacrament made up of bread and
wine and they would make this drink
during this time and supposedly he died
for the sins of the people sounds
familiar doesn't it but when you try to
find Mitra or mitus in the encyclopedias
they through through State intervention
erased the name why is this that is
because after the time of Jesus
Isa when his followers uh when the
message began to spread and they went
North and you'll see within historical
writings that Barnabas one of his
disciples met a man named Saul or Paul
who later call himself Paul Paul said he
saw Jesus on the Damascus Road and he
went to the disciples but the disciples
turned against Paul only Barnabas stayed
with him but when Paul and Barnabas went
into Greece Barnabas left him now what
is the reason why they all left him what
are the concept coming through Paul many
people say well they left him because he
was Saul before and he used to torture
the early followers of of
isaam but also you can see and if you
look at present day
Christianity that most of the concepts
of the
Trinity of the blood sacrifice the
original sin and most of the concepts uh
uh which relate to more than one God are
coming through Paul the preachers are
are quoting Paul sometime more than
Jesus during their sermons and so
Barnabas left Paul and somewhere in the
early
days in Rome or Greece somewhere in that
area those missionaries who were
teaching the the teachings of Jesus
isaam met with this Force coming from
the north and so you will see in ancient
Roman history that in in some cases the
Roman Emperor would go out to the
Coliseum and the Gladiators would be
fighting each other and everybody's
cheering for the Gladiators sounds like
one of our football games they would go
to the Coliseum right and the Gladiators
would fight and then if one of the
Gladiators was down and they would look
at the at the emperor should I kill him
or not and if he wanted to kill him he
would say he would go like that right
you know that signed down if he said
keep him alive he goes like this you
know how we use it today yes okay he
gives that sign
okay one of the terrible things
happening during these uh rituals at the
Coliseum is that they would bring the
Christians out literally men women and
children and feed them to Hungry animals
they would take a hyena or a wolf or a
lion and get it hungry and crazy and
beat it and throw raw meat at it and
then send it out on the people and they
would literally cheer and watch as the
animal rip the bodies apart this is a
terrible culture tear the bodies apart
and so somewhere along the line somebody
who couldn't take the torture who felt
that maybe we can win these people over
made a
compromise and you start to see changes
going on from the early part of the
Christian
era in southern Europe where the the
major ceremonies held by the nature
worshipping people are combined with
Christian names and Christian ceremonies
and therefore What comes forth to us is
a mixture with the two streams coming
together where you get a monotheistic
name or a monotheistic character with a
pagan
ceremony and so the mixture of this
together is what is giving us the
present day holidays um that we see
number one we understand that
Isa according to um the different
reports of the different scholars in in
many religions he was not born in the
cold weather history shows us that he
was born during the warm
weather even in even in the Christian uh
Traditions they have the belief that the
Shepherds were tending their flocks
outside and in Palestine you cannot keep
your flocks
outside in the winter time in the
evening you bring them in because it's
cool at night and so it was the warm
weather it was also the time of the
taxes in the
North in the story coming in the Quran
when we see the mention uh in chapter 19
in verses 24 to
25 and we see the mention of the story
of Mary because it is the belief of the
Muslims that Miriam may Allah be pleased
with
her was a virgin and she had dedicated
her life to the worship of one God
prayer and fasting and by the power of
Allah that the Creator breathed his
Spirit into her and she she conceived
Jesus he said be and it is she conceived
Jesus Isa Alam without a father without
a man that is a belief of Islam it is
also a belief
that when she felt the pain of the
pregnancy that that that the angel came
to her and told her to go outside of the
city she went outside of the city to a
remote area and there she found a a palm
tree and she found
water and it was speaking about it was
speaking about a type of or a type of
dates and those who know who have live
in the desert area know that when the
dates um become ripe when you start to
see the color of the dates change
because dates are not brown you know
dates are originally red and they're
yellow they're other colors but they
turn the brown it's it's at the height
of the heat that the dates become ripe
and so it's at that time that she gave
birth to isaam so from different points
of view different historical points of
view in different religions we
understand that isaam was not born
during the the winter season he was born
in the warm weather so who was it that
was born in the winter season what is
that who is that character now let us
become detectives and try to find out
the answer to this problem number one
you have to understand this concept of
Saturn the concept of
bakus when they are
portrayed by the different artists who
drew pictures of them or the sculptures
they're usually portrayed as a heavy set
man with a white
beard and when in the sine chap Chapel
Michelangelo drew his picture you could
see the long flowing beard and there are
actually pictures of this man on a sled
being drawn by snakes with
wings snakes with wings snakes do not
normally
fly but in this case the snakes have
wing and the heavy set man is on his
sled being drawn by these flying animals
sound familiar to you now doesn't it
he's being drawn by the flying animals
he's per Performing
Miracles he's he's coming out on
December
25th which is not the birthday of Isa
alisam has nothing to do with
Christianity it is the time of the of
the Balia and and the
saturnalia and he is representing
riotous f
drunken revery and so what happens on
Christmas the Christmas season
especially in
America people today are not even
thinking about isaam they're not even
thinking about Jesus they're looking how
they can get drunk on Christmas what is
going on in the Caribbean and many parts
if they offer you a Christmas pudding or
Christmas pie or Christmas drink watch
out cuz it's probably laced with rum or
wine that's the spirit of the
season now this riotous occasion that
was going on went so
far that the Christian Church banned it
and the church of England according to
historical sources actually banned it
all the way to
1647 it was prohibited in England to
celebrate
Christmas because they saw Christmas as
being a pagan holiday
this is an official position taken by
the Christian church the church of
England who were known at that time as
Puritans what happened was an individual
was
superimposed a name was superimposed we
hear about the name of uh St
Nicholas St Nicholas now according to
some historical reports St Nicholas was
a Christian Bishop who lived in the 4th
Century in Asia minor which is now known
as turkey he was a very thin man very
auster he used to spend his time in
prayer and fasting and he loved children
and he spent his time dealing with
children and because of this now his
name some believe was imposed upon that
day and St Nicholas or St Nick comes
into that position as being the main man
of the day there's another concept which
is even deeper than that and that is
that St Nicholas himself is actually
coming from the ancient writings of
beerwolf and in these writings which are
done in the Scandinavian region we find
the name Nick or nickel or nicker he was
known as a
demon the demon of the
north he was known as the evil spirit of
the north the name of Odin the evil
principal
and so in Germany and in many of the
northern countries the people actually
looked upon this so-called St Nick as
being an evil force and they would tell
their children in the winter time don't
go outside because if you do Nicholas
will come along nickel will come along
he'll capture you put you in his bag and
take you
away and so they used it as a negative
Concept in Isaiah in what is left of the
Bible in chapter for in in
1413 the devil is is known as the Prince
of Darkness and it is an understanding
that his throne the seat of his power is
in the north somewhere in the north is
the seat of power of this evil and so
the Germans also when they
depicted this Nicholas or this uh pels
nickel as they would say pel nickl in
German it means a furry
devil when they when they depicted him
they depicted him as a man with red
fur he had red fur
coat and he was his base was in the
north and he was the essence of
evil and the the Church of England till
1647 took the position that this
celebration could not go on so what we
are actually seeing is that the the the
Christmas occasion was actually the time
of of
evil it was the time of the belief in
the saturnalia and the
Balia and because of this they
shifted the occasion to New Year's Eve
they shifted all of their feelings and
their mert and their evil to New Year's
Eve now before we go to that looking
back back at Christmas what is happening
now in Christmas season I don't know
what goes on in Miami but in the
northern cities on Christmas occas
they put lights around and Santa Claus
parades do you have a Santa Claus Parade
here they have Santa Claus parades and
St Nicholas is outside and he's in the
streets and everybody's talking about St
Nicholas and the poor children are
taught that St Nicholas is going to come
down your chimney most people don't have
Chimneys in Miami anyway but a 350 lb
man is going to come down your chimney
and bring you presents and keep his
clothes white and red
and go to all of the homes in the area
and and put uh um uh presents in your
stockings and and and put uh uh presents
under your tree and then fly back out
into space and and the Father the poor
father who sweat and toiled all year to
get you the presentence gets no credit
for the present given to the child St
Nicholas comes down the chimney gives
you this present flies off into the
night and many of us were raised
thinking believing in this some of us
would sneak into the night and look and
see our father putting the present under
the tree we knew what he was doing
anyway but you went along with it and
the people say well you know it's
Christmas don't you like to have fun you
want to stop the children from having
fun what kind of people are you but what
is the what are you teaching the
children you are using the name of Jesus
using the name of Isa Alam and you are
using a figure who historically is the
devil the Devil
Himself they are using his figure and he
has now taken over the Christmas season
Christmas now to most people means
materialism you have to buy presents for
your cousins and your friends and you
got to buy about 34 uh presents and you
find that most American people are in
debt for 6 months after
Christmas now where is Jesus you get
drunk you fight you lose all your money
the stores raised their
prices isaam is described as a very
humble
person most of the time he didn't wear
shoes only one or two changes of
clothing a very simple person eating
very simple food fasting most of the
time you see what is going on there are
two streams now a stream of polytheism a
stream of monotheism and now the
polytheism the materialism is overtaking
taking the
monotheism and standing in the way and
taking over our
society