A Canadian imam has warned that saying “merry Christmas” is a crime worse than adultery, rape and even murder.
During a sermon at the Muslim Youth of Victoria, Sheikh Younus Kathrada warned fellow Muslims against congratulating Christians for the Christmas holiday.
Timesofisrael.com reports: And he asserted that Muslims “must be offended” by Christians’ beliefs, in a video of his sermon provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
“There are those who will say to them “Merry Christmas.” What are you congratulating them on?” he asked. “Congratulations on the birth of your Lord? Is that acceptable to a Muslim? Are you now approving of their beliefs? By saying that you are approving of it.”
He then claimed that “If a person were to commit every major sin — committing adultery, dealing with interest, lying, murder… If a person were to do all of those major sins, they are nothing compared to the sin of congratulating and greeting the non-Muslims on their false festivals.”
Canadian Cleric Younus Kathrada: Congratulating Christians for Christmas is Worse than Murder pic.twitter.com/1S73XPjfRk
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 24, 2018
Kathrada was quick to note that he did not mean Muslims should “treat the non-Muslims in a bad way or that we deal with them unjustly.
“I’m not saying, and I’ve never said, go out and just kill them, and do this to them… No! Because Allah tells us not to allow the enmity that may exist between you and a people to cause you to be unjust towards them. Rather, be just.”
Well, as long as he’s being reasonable about it.