Teacher in non-Islamic school helped children write Easter story

7-1-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

Asallam u alaikum, Please could you answer my question. I sent this question before but didn't give the correct details so I am sending it again. I work in a state school as a teaching assistant. I have not been able to get a job in a muslim school as yet. My question is that the class were looking at a fictional story about a girl who got a chocolate easter egg and then ate her brother's egg and got in trouble. The children had to write in first person account of events saying 'I got an egg' 'Then I ate mine' writing what the girl did etc. I know easter is totally contrary to islam. Is it kufr (Nauzubillah) if I assisted them in writing the events of such a story about a haram festival. I hated doing this.

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His Slave and Messenger.

Easter is one of the celebrations of the people of falsehood as clarified in Fatwa 26883.

A Muslim is not ruled to be a Kaafir (disbeliever) just because he or she helped students write a fictional story related to this feast, but helping in this is not permissible because it is an acknowledgement of falsehood and entrenches it in the minds of the students, as is the case in the writing of this fictional story. Helping the students write such a thing is a form of cooperation in sin, and Allaah says (what means): {And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allaah; indeed, Allaah is severe in penalty.}[Quran 5:2]

Now, we should clarify the ruling on working in this school. In principle, there is nothing wrong with working in this school in what is in conformity with the Sharee’ah, as it is permissible for a Muslim to work for a non-Muslim in what is Islamically permissible. The evidence for this is that ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him said in a long Hadeeth reported by At-Tirmithi: “... I passed by a Jew on his property drawing water (from a well) with a pulley. I watched him from a hole in the fence. He said: "What is with you, O Bedouin? Would you like to get a date for each bucket?" I said: "Yes. Open the door so I can come in." He opened the door, I entered and he gave me his bucket. Then for every bucket I pulled out, he would give me a date. When I had a handful, I put his bucket down and said: "That is enough for me." I ate the dates and sipped some water, then I came to the mosque and found the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) there.

For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 186195.

Allaah Knows best.

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