| Video with English subtitles can be seen at the link. |
A video made by the Egyptian Fatwa Institute and uploaded to YouTube earlier this month encourages Moslems to extend holiday greetings to Christians and to maintain friendly relations with those around them, regardless of their religion.
"Congratulating non-Moslems during their holidays is encouraged by Islam, and is in keeping with the noble manners introduced by the Prophet Muhammad," the narrator says, in a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
"Islam has acknowledged the principle of peaceful coexistence with all people, regardless of their faith. Moreover, Islam has instructed [Moslems] to befriend them, maintain contact with them, to give them presents, to accept presents from them, and to treat them with decency, like they were treated by our Prophet Muhammad," she adds.
She warns viewers not to "fall prey to the
According to its website the Fatwa Institute is a "premier institute to represent Islam and the international flagship for Islamic legal research." Its mission statement is to keep "contemporary Moslem in touch with religious principles, clarifying the right way, removing doubts concerning religious and worldly life, and revealing religious laws for new issues of contemporary life."