Fairy lights twinkling, evergreen trees with baubles, Mariah Carey in the background singing about what she still wants for Christmas … but wait, what are those other voices wailing that Christmas is apparently “cancelled”?
Year after year, the myth persists that Muslims in the UK are somehow conspiring to erase Christmas. Spoiler alert: that’s just not true.
This annual festive farce began with a long-debunked claim that Birmingham City Council had replaced Christmas with “Winterval”. The much duller truth is that the council bundled events such as Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas under one cost-effective campaign. “Winterval” harks back to older pagan traditions in the country.
The myth has become a weapon to fuel anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant sentiment, trying to stoke a broader narrative that British culture is under attack. The fact that the stories told are false matters little. What matters is what matters to all propaganda: disinformation to be presented as truth to create fear, resentment and division.
This year’s festive fake news has amped up the proliferation of such myths. One social media user, who goes by the name Emma on X, claimed that a school had banned Christmas trees because two Syrian Muslim schoolchildren might find them offensive. When challenged for evidence she provided none, and then the account was deleted.
Another post by the British right-wing commentator Andrew Pierce claimed that the Church of England had suggested carols should be edited to avoid offence. The truth is that it was one regional group suggesting that context be provided to give clarity to the nativity story.
With church attendance and those professing Christian faith at a historic low in the UK and the wider western world, except for a rise in attendance numbers during Christmas, this makes sense. But it was written to suggest that this was done to kowtow to Muslims who were offended.
A man named Dean Wedgner posted on X a fake picture of a house drenched in Christmas lights to say that his Muslim neighbours were offended, but it turns out the picture was old and from a different house. His post has since been deleted.
These are not just harmless delusions and nostalgic dodderings. They have real-world, harmful consequences.
An attack on a Christmas market in Germany this week was quick to be categorised as Islamist-linked terrorism by some far-right elements across Europe. It was eventually revealed that the attacker held extreme Islamophobic views and was a former Muslim, attacking the market to punish those who he saw were seemingly allowing Europe to be Islamised. Yet the explanation offered by these elements was that he simply hated the market because he was Muslim.
The myth somehow becomes truth, and in doing so diverts attention from real issues hindering Europeans’ ability to identify and address what might really be happening in that incident.
Muslims are diverse in their marking (or otherwise) of Christmas. There is no homogeneous response, just as Muslims themselves are not homogeneous.
The Muslim discourse is often not about Sharia-compliant carols or replacing mince pies with samosas. As someone who has observed trends for nearly two decades in Muslim audiences, what strikes me is that if anything, marking the birth of Jesus has seen a growth in Muslim conversations, as evidenced in the likes of “Muslim nativity” tellings, an account of Jesus’s birth in the Quran.
Some insist on absolute abstinence to avoid “imitation”; some, like in my family, enjoy the sparkles, celebrations and the generally joyful vibe; others do the full trimmings and yet others offer interfaith support as well as charitable engagement with the likes of Christmas soup kitchens for the homeless. Many I know offer to work on the day, such as doctors in hospitals, so that others can enjoy the day off.
In other words, reality seems far from the myth of Muslims attempting to erase Christmas.
At its heart, this myth taps into nostalgia of an idealised better past, and today’s problems sometimes tend to be blamed on Muslims and immigrants. Christmas is by extension “peak nostalgia” – a hyper-longing for that simpler, imagined past. Muslims and immigrants sometimes become a convenient target for those struggling with change.
The paradox, of course, is that Muslims in the West cannot win. Participate in Christmas, and you’re accused of diluting its meaning – see the fury over Tesco’s Christmas advertisement featuring a Muslim family. Avoid the festivities, and you’re failing to integrate. Point out that cultures evolve, and you’re accused of undermining tradition.
The fact is Muslim-majority countries have plenty of Christmas celebrations, from the historic Christian communities everywhere from Egypt and Indonesia to Lebanon, Palestine and more sensitively this week in Syria.
In central Syria this week, a Christmas tree was burnt down by some hooded fighters, including foreign ones. Was it political? Religious? Cultural? Or was it simply misbehaviour on the part of those trying to foment division? Little is known at this stage. But the new “Islamist” administration has rightly said that it will come down hard on such divisive behaviour.
The fact that many jumping on this Christmas erasure myth have little idea that Christians are part of Syrian society as well as Lebanon and Palestine, the original home of Christians, shows that the rage of some of these people is not genuine. It is, instead, confirmation bias. Meanwhile, it is distressing to see how Bethlehem and Nazareth, more literally being erased, aren’t higher up on the reasons for rage.
As a Muslim, I can feel a deep connection to the spirit of Christmas – not because I’m trying to prove anything, but because its values resonate universally. I suspect most people would want more of these in the world, not less.
Welcoming strangers, opening homes and hearts, spreading peace and goodwill – we don’t want to erase any of them. We want more of them.
