Let us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, published by that Church. Under the caption "Christmas" we will find: "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. … The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas."

Encyclopedia Britannica has this: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ). Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church. It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority -it was picked up afterward from paganism."

The Encyclopedia Americana says: "CHRISTMAS. It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church … a feast was established in memory of this event [Christ's birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church [Catholic] ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol [the sun-god] , as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed"

The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia explains clearly, in its article on "CHRISTMAS:" "How much the date of the festival depended upon the Pagan Brumalia (Dec. 25) following the Saturnalia (Dec. 17-24), and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the "new sun" . . . cannot be accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence . . . The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. Christian preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ's birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun-worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival." Therefore, celebrating the birth of the Prophet Jesus (PBUH) on December 25^th was an innovation into Christianity which was imitated from pagans; i.e. Christmas as it has been celebrated, has nothing to do with the Prophet Jesus (PBUH)!

Now let us examine "Mithra" and "Mithraism". This is what the Webster dictionary says about Mithra: "The god of light and truth, later of the sun." and about the pagan religion of Mithraism: "An ancient Persian religion in which Mithras (Mithra) was worshiped … a major competitor of Christianity in the Roman empire during the 2nd and 3rd centuries a.D." And here is what the Catholic Encyclopedia says in regard to Mithraism: " A pagan religion consisting mainly of the cult of the ancient Indo-Iranian Sun-god Mithra. It entered Europe from Asia Minor after Alexander's conquest, spread rapidly over the whole Roman Empire at the beginning of the Christian era"

Therefore a religion of the Roman Empire prior to Christianity was the Pagan religion of Mithraism which was imported from the ancient Persian Empire. Although the slaves captured in many wars between the Empires of that time and the tradesmen propagated the Pagan beliefs, but the key point to notice is that the leader and teacher of all polytheists all over the world at all times, has always been and still is Shaitaan; thus, there is no surprise that the beliefs and symbols are so similar.

Yalda (winter solstice) is an ancient Iranian feast which probably originated over four thousand years ago, and the word itself means birth. In the ancient Persia, it was believed that Mithra the sun-god was born on December 21st, the longest night of the year, specifically to begin the struggle and triumph of "Light" over "Dark" by having longer and longer days following the longest night of the year. I.e. after the winter solstice which the days get longer and longer, it was believed that the sun-god was born. Mithra's birthday was celebrated for a total of 10 days up to and including the First of January. Ancient Iranians celebrated Mithra's birth by decorating an evergreen tree, being straight, upright, resilient and resistant to the cold weather was thought appropriate to represent Mithra, the sun-deity. The younger ones had their wishes symbolically wrapped in colorful silk cloth and hung them on the tree as offerings to Mithra, so that Mithra may answer their wishes; this is one origin of Christmas tree with decorations and gifts, i.e. it has nothing to do with the Prophet Jesus (PBUH)! "The festivities in the week following the winter solstice (after which the days grow longer), today called Shab-e Yalda in Iran, are a remnant of the culture which celebrated the birth of the divinity of light on that day. Yalda literally means 'The birth of sun'." (Wikipedia Encyclopedia)

Also the story of Nimrod is interesting. Nimrod the Babylonian ruler, was so evil, it is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's untimely death (who was killed miraculously in confrontation with the Prophet Ibrahim -PBUH-), his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the survival of Nimrod. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang over-night from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th, was the birthday of Nimrod. This is another origin of the so-called Christmas and the Christmas tree with gifts, i.e. it has nothing to do with the Prophet Jesus (PBUH)! Thru her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under various names, became the "divine son of heaven." Thru the generations, in this idolatrous worship, Nimrod also became the son of Baal the Sun-god. In this false Babylonish system, the "Mother and Child", (Semiramis and Nimrod reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of "Mother and Child" spread over the world. And also in to Christianity, as the worship of Mary (mother of god!) and Jesus (son of god!)! Yet another belief definitely not originated by the Prophet Jesus (PBUH)!

Thus, during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were accepting the new "Christianity", carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely cloaking them with Christian-sounding NAMES, the Madonna and "Mother and Child" idea also became popularized, especially at Christmas time. Every Christmas season, it is heard sung and chanted dozens of times the hymn "Silent Night, Holy Night," with its familiar "Mother and Child" theme. Christians have been taught to revere these things as holy, and sacred, while they have come from PAGAN IDOLATRY!

According to Qur'an, the Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH), a Babylonian himself, in order to attract the attention of sun worshippers, said:

Qur'an 6: 78 Then when he (Ibrahim) saw the sun rising, he said: this is my Lord! This is the greater! So when it set, he said: O my people! Surely I strongly dislike what you associate as partners (with Allah).

Then the Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) continued:

Qur'an 6:79 Surely I, being upright, have turned myself wholly to Him Who has originated and created the heavens and the earth, and I am not of the polytheists.

In Egypt, it was always believed that the son of Iris (Egyptian name for "Queen of Heaven") was born December 25th. Paganism celebrated this famous birthday over most of the known world for centuries before the birth of Jesus (PBUH).

NationMaster Encyclopedia has this to say about Christmas in some other parts of the world where Christmas is not celebrated on December the 25th: "The Armenian Apostolic Church observes Christmas on January 6. Eastern Orthodox Churches that still use the Julian calendar celebrate Christmas on the Julian version of 25 December, which is January 7 on the more widely used Gregorian calendar, because the two calendars are now 13 days apart." But that which is interesting is that the Pagan religion of Armenia before Christianity was also Mithraism, i.e. just like the Roman Empire: "The Parthian princes of Armenia were hereditary priests of Mithra, and an entire district of this land was dedicated to Anahita. Many temples were erected to Mithra in Armenia, which remained one of the last strongholds of the Mazdaist cult of Mithra until it became the first officially Christian kingdom. Mithra worship spread first with the empire of the Persians throughout Asia Minor, then throughout the empire of Alexander and his successors." "The Armenian calendar is the traditional calendar of Armenia. It is a solar calendar based on the ancient Egyptian model, having an invariant 365-day year with no leap year rule. As a result the correspondence between it and the Gregorian calendar slowly changes over time. … Prior to borrowing the Egyptian calendar, the ancient Armenians had a lunar calendar based on a lunation of 28 days." (Wikipedia Encyclopedia) I.e. the different days which Christmas are celebrated are only because of the different calendars used; unfortunately whether Dec. 25 or Jan. 6 or 7, still the roots are the same Pagan rituals and has nothing to do with the Prophet Jesus (PBUH)! Ah! This is only one of the ways through which Shaitaan has been fooling his followers -those who have freely and knowingly stayed away from the Truth as taught by the Prophets of Allah and their Chosen Successors-; i.e. none of these would have happened if the Chosen Ones were obeyed!

What we have presented here is only one small sample of thousands of man-made distortions which unfortunately have entered the pure teachings of the previous Divine Prophets (PBUT), When the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), the Last Ever-Anticipated Chosen Prophet of Allah, came, he re-invited the entire humankind back to the only "Right Path" of the One and Only Allah, so that humankind may not wander in Satanic darkness, Allah through Mohammad (PBUH&HP) has actually revealed the source of their distortions:

Qur'an 9:30 … These are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

We thank Allah from the bottom of our broken and anticipating hearts for Muhammad and his Infallible AhlulBayt (PBUT) who have been guiding us to the only everlasting "Right Path" of Allah; and today, moment by moment, we continue to seek guidance from the Last beloved reminder of that AhlulBayt, Mahdi (PBUT),he who is the Baqiyat-O-LLah (Remained by Allah); and we implore Allah to hasten his Appearance and therefore Jesus' (PBUT) Second Coming too, so that the whole Truth shall encompass the entire existence … .

For more information regarding the birth of the Prophet Jesus (PBUH), we cordially invite you to read: "Merry Christmas!"