IS IT PERMISSIBLE TO SELL CHIRSTMANS THEMED ITEMS?

Question:

As Salamu Alaikum Mufti,

what is the ruling on selling items that are Christmas themed? Or have patterns like snowflakes or red and green etc.? And if one has a variety business that sells all types of items all year round would it mean they must always stay away from colour schemes and patterns or Santa prints etc?

Answer:

Bismillahi Wa Billahi At Tawfeeq

Walaikum As Salaam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh

We, as Muslims believe in Tawhid i.e. the Oneness of Almighty Allah. And Tawhid requires us to completely disassociate ourselves from the beliefs, events and practices of other religions.

Christmas is a very integral part of the Christian faith, and it is based upon shirk. As such, it has no basis in Islam. Therefore, if an item is exclusive to Christmas, such as Christmas cards, crosses, etc then, it would be categorically impermissible to buy or sell such items.

Jami’ Al Fatawa 4/11

Fiqh Al Buyoo 1/316

On the other hand if the item is not exclusive to Christmas, but is Christmas themed or has patterns on it like snowflakes, etc then if the item itself is permissible the sale of such an item with the added on symbol or theme would also be permissible. This is because the objective here is to sell the item itself and not the symbol/theme. However, it would be better to stay away from buying and selling such items.

On the other hand, if the item is being bought or sold for the purpose of advertising or supporting or promoting Christmas/ Christianity then such a sale would be impermissible.

Fiqh Al Buyoo 1/325

Similarly, it would be impermissible to put the symbols of other religions on the items yourself or request that such symbols be put upon them for marketing reasons.

The following fatwa has been mentioned in Kitab An Nawazil, written by the great scholar, Mufti Muhammad Salman Mansoorpuri Hafizahullah:

“Question: Zaid sells gunny sacks. These sacks have the symbol of an idol on them. Zaid isn’t the one who prints the symbol on them rather he gets them printed elsewhere and then sells these sacks. Is this permissible in the Sharia or not?

Answer:

Al Jawab Wa Billahi At Tawfeeq

If Zaid is responsible for printing the symbol onto the sacks or he gets them printed on, then he would be sinful. However, if he simply buys and sells gunny sacks that have such a symbol on them, then he would not be sinful.

This is because the image/symbol is not the objective here. The gunny sack is the objective.”

 

He further quotes Jawahir Al Fiqh as stating:

“This is on account of the Legal maxim of Hanafi Jurisprudence, which states that there are many actions that are impermissible, when they are carried out as an objective, but are permissible if they are not carried out as an objective rather they follow that which is the objective.”

Kitab An Nawazil 10/ 421

In conclusion, it would be permissible to sell items such as what you have described provided:

  1. The item itself is permissible.
  2. The symbols or themes are not the objective in the sale.
  3. The sale is not being conducted to promote, advertise or propagate other religions.

Having said all of this, we still advise you to refrain from buying and selling Christmas themed items. If it is possible to remove the symbol, etc from the item without difficulty then it would be better to do so before selling it.

And Allah knows best

Mufti Waheeb Saiyed

02/11/2021