LONDON: Somalia has banned Christmas and New Year celebrations because they are ‘contrary to Islamic culture’ days after a similar move by the Sultan of Brunei.
Director General of Somalia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Khayrow, warned that security forces would break-up any gatherings held in the capital Mogadishu.
He said: ‘All events related to Christmas and New Year celebrations are contrary to Islamic culture, which could damage aqidah (faith) of the Muslim community.
‘There should be no activity at all.’
Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan, deputy chairman of the Supreme Religious Council of Somalia, said Christian events might provoke further attacks by the Muslim terror group Al Shabaab, it was reported by Ugandan daily New Vision.
He said: ‘We Islamic Scholars are warning against the celebration of such events which are not relevant to the principles of our religion. Such events give also Al Shabaab to carry out attacks.’
In the latest attack, on Monday, passengers on board a bus bravely defied Al-Shabaab militants who ordered them to sacrifice the Christians on board during a deadly standoff in Kenya.
When the 10 Al-Shabaab militants stormed the bus in the country’s north, they demanded Muslim passengers separate themselves from the Christians on board.
But the passengers refused – even giving some of their fellow travellers Islamic articles of clothing to wear so they could not be distinguished.
A year ago, Al-Shabaab gunmen – who operate as Al Qaeda’s affiliates in east Africa – stormed a Nairobi-bound bus in the same area and killed 28 non-Muslim passengers execution-style.
The move comes days after the Sultan of Brunei’s decision to jail Muslims who celebrate the festivities.
The super-rich ruler, Hassanal Bolkiah, told residents of his country that if they plan on celebrating December 25, they could face up to five years in jail.
While non-Muslims are allowed to celebrate the holiday within their own communities, they must not disclose their plans to the nation’s Muslims which make up 65 per cent of the 420,000-strong population.
Around 20 per cent of Brunei’s residents are non-Muslim, including substantial Buddhist and Christian communities.
‘These enforcement measures are intended to control the act of celebrating Christmas excessively and openly, which could damage the aqidah (beliefs) of the Muslim community,’ said the Ministry of Religious Affairs in a statement.
The small Borneo nation prohibits propagating religion other than Islam to a Muslim, and breaking this is a violation of the penal code.
Other banned activities include putting up Christmas trees, singing religious songs and sending Christmas greetings, reported the Borneo Bulletin.
‘Some may think that it is a frivolous matter and should not be brought up as an issue,’ the imams are quoted as saying in the Bulletin.
‘But as Muslims we must keep it [following other religions’ celebrations] away as it could affect our Islamic faith.’
Meanwhile, a Jewish extremist also called for Israel to ban Christmas.
Israeli anti-racism activists have called for an investigation after Benzi Gopstein urged a ban on Christmas celebrations in the country and called Christians ‘vampires’.
Gopstein, who heads the far-right Lehava organisation and has been arrested a number of times, made the comments in an article on the ultra-Orthodox Jewish website Kooker.
‘Christmas has no place in the Holy Land,’ wrote Gopstein, who lives in a Jewish settlement in Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
He spoke of the ‘fall of the line of defence of the Jewish people for hundreds of years against our enemies, the Catholic Church.’
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