dats bad..i mean U.A.E iz a muslim country..and yet it celebrates christmas..somethings wrong here :S i dont like dubai no more..i mean its filled wit europeans and americans (yuck!!) :P
i mean wut happened 2 all da arabs..theres only the rich millionaire ones living there :S damn

I'm sorry Waleg, but I have to disagree. Christmas is for Christian people. It is a time to celebrate the birth of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas everyone!

i like it, i think the royal family and rulers of Dubai got the right idea, why is it that we are the ones allways have to go to Europa and Nort America spending miilions of dollars, it use to be Lebanon that was visited by millions of westerners old days and now is Dubai and why not? let them spend some money with us to and now that Dubai has its own borsa it is good that there is western invesment coming to the middle east and we are benefiting from it, i dont think that anybody in Dubai sacrifising their arabic heritage, all they are doing is catering to its western visiters to lure them inn and that is being clever and smart.I allways liked the Al Makthum family unlike some other rulers in the near region at list their keeping Dubai"s revenues for muslim world and taking some more from westerners to invest further to development of arabic states which means my friends use the westerners money to develop arab world now what is wrong with thatm for once i think the table is turned for our own benefit so good on you Dubai keep up the good work and my hat off to the rulers.

Christmas is for christians only, it has no meaning when celebrated by non christians!

AS a person living in Dubai, I have to say : the amount of CHRISTMAS decorations is 100 times the EID/RAMADAN decorations. Its just a shame.

I lived in Canada and over there YOU CAN NOT PLAY CHRISTMAS SONGS IN THE MALLS as CANADA is a diversified country with civilians of many religons and ethnic backgrounds. However, in Dubai, "the pearl of the gulf", a muslim arabic country, Xmas carols and songs are played 24-7 every where you go. EVEN D SUPERMARKETS!!!

All that why??? To please the foreigners in d country?? What ever arabs do, it will never be enough to please the west. And Dubai can see that clearly, by simply opening the "7days" newspaper and reading what the expats have to say about us!!

ha...will we ever Learn!?!?

i neva knew dubai celebrated christmas
lol

oh, cmon friends,they sing carols on front of the stores and the shopping malls in Canada and you can listen to our imam at our camii olso and what does christmass means? its the time for piece and giving, it is nice to see christians act like human once a year for a change and not commit sins and be giving it is a litlle breather for us and i think by showing some respect to it we are sending a good message to them after all our Qur'an says that we should respect and belive in Mohammad(S.W.) our profit and all other messengers of God including Isa, its not easy with dealing with humanity as you can see Hz. Isa tryed but his fallowers did crusify him for it after all to thank him for it so let them remember that and his birth now what is really wrong with that.

I cant help to dream olso that now that its christmass and time for giving as we olso know that the Vatican is the owner of the biggist bank in the world that is called "God"s Bank" and it made its fortune thorough its devoted prists by scaring the dying rich and poor elderly senail people of God in order to leave their fortunes to the church instead of their children, i can not imagine better time then now for them to send the Pope to dying christian people of Africa to spend 1% of the churches wealth to end the famen and desise in africa instead of taking their last pennies and giving them blessings that is fake and will not feed them nor end the sickness, we arab world gove a lot to Africs, it reminds me of Jesus or Hz.Isa tearing down the jews and christians bazar out of the church ground and telling them that it is wrong to use the name and house of God to gain profit,i wonder they still remember that when they even collet for the church but not feed the poor cristians all over the world dying in millions from hunger, i cant help thinking about it now that it is christmass.

dubai is just trying to be like the u.s and the christian cuntries. oh good! what is christmas without a church!?!?!

HIYA PEEPS! i never knew dubai celebrated it either.. but as a muslim girl i want to WISH ALL CHRISTIANS a happy christmas and to all a LOVELY new year! We all have to respect and share all the three religions together!! I am glad all the countries are starting to enjoy and LEARN abouut others religions!! If u respect others ..others will easily respect you!! Love to all! xxxx

im sorry but that idea is totally stupid!!

i live in the uk, and since wen did the uk , a christian country put up decorations wen its EID???!!!

SO, y shud dubai, a city in muslim country do it for the christians??

im not being racist but the arab countries REALLY need 2 stop sucking up 2 the west! it never works, they never get anything out of it!

Well we did suck up to the west to free ourselfs to be independent from the only defenders of Islam in the old daysagainst the west, the Turks,and ended the Ottoman empire so why not suck up some more now. i mean we being sucking up to west since our independents so why not honor their christianity>

I think it is more of a tourism ploy than actual religious or "sucking up gesture". What is wrong with that absolutely NOTHING.
To CEMSULTON
Do not pretend concern for the christains, we all know that it is a veiled attack on the Vatican, I will not respond to it even though your arguments had many holes in it, like I said not a religious issue more of a tourist attraction.

In canada you can't say merry christmas, or you'll get in trouble. Its even worse in america, where its almost untolerated by most malls and stores. When i am wished a merry christmas however, i joyful say it right back to them. This is due to respect and the spreading of joy.

I find it ludicrous that Dubai is sucking up so badly to the all these westerners. I for one don't care if its celebrated in american or so one, because i am open minded and understand that the christains are the majority, and i don't mind them being happy. However, dubai is a muslim country, and celebrating a christain holiday is untolerable.

Lets break up the words christmas to see what it truly means.

Christ is a words that you get if you take is away from mas. Christ is what most christains call prophet essa(jesus). They believe that he is the son of God, or God himself(it depends on what type of christain you are). So saying that this is not a religious holiday is just bull
SH!T.

Some might wonder how I know this. I know this because i have done research on the bible(s). Like any intelligent man, i read threw it started comparing it to the holy quran. My opinions on what lies in it are exactly what it is, my opinions.

I have said it before,and i will say it again. I don't mind christmas. What i mind is how much effort they are putting into christmas, and yet, like told before, are not even trying to make eids like eid el fatir more joyful. I think they should make there own people happy, instead of all these foriegners. That is one of the things a government is supposed to do.

I also don't like how much all these foriegners are getting into all of our business, but i don't think that should be throughly discussed here.

I THINK ITS A GD IDEA AS IT SHOW DAT ARAB COUNTRIES AND MUSLIMS ARE MULTI CULTARAL AND IT ALSO MAKES ARAB CHRISTIAN LIKE ME FEAL MORE AT HOME

well, i dont see western countries going to such efforts to make us feel "at home" when it comes time for Ramadan/Eid... i think Dubai is being stupid by doing this... I live in Canada, and they dont do ANYTHING for muslims... i dont think the non muslims will die w/o christmas trees at the mall.. besides, they CHOSE to live in Dubai, so they have to accept the different cultural atmosphere...

IM MUSLIM AND I LOOOOVVEEE CHRISTMAS

its about the good spirit that is everywhere, ppl being polite, ppl smiling and greeting strangers.. i mean if a christmas tree and santa clause will help spread some humanity .. im allll for it...

and for those of u who said canada doesnt celebrate eid and ramadhan...maybe not officiall, but i was born and raised in canada, and everyone surrounding me is very sweet and the all wish us a happy ramadhan and a happy eid .. y not return the favour at their time of year???

For all off you muslims who belive that this is a good idea of peace and globalization, well don't u think the least Dubai can do is DO THE SAME for Ramadan/ EID!!!????

Or is peace, care and globalization on to do with Christmas?!??!

Think for your selves!!

Funny, i wrote 3 different comments today to see what kinds of comments and wiev"s i will get from both christians and muslims and i am glad we did not get into argument of who beliefs better then whom,its tru christmass is good and brings the good out of people and there is nothing wrong with that and we like it, how ever my muslim brothers has a valid point that whether it is for commercial reasons or turism,or sucking up? whatever it may be we have the right to point out to our rulers that it is our land and there must be if not more attention given to our holly days then other religions and that is something that is not for sale for any price however wonderfull or beneficial to us it may be.As all of americans were arguing about the president of united states chrismass card that did not say word "chrismass" and said "happy holiday" to show respect to other religions, every christian american was angry at him for it as we are angry at "christmass in Dubai" and there is nothing wrong with that, it is our right.Thank you everybody for todays comments and all christians merry chrismass to you all.

It's really nice to hear that Dubai actively celebrates Christmas. Sure, Christmas is a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Still it is also about spending time with loved ones, giving thanks for what we have, sharing with others. In this way, it is NOT just a holiday for Christians. Any human being can appreciate the love of family and the pleasant spirit of Christmas time.
And for all of you saying "its illegal" to wish each other a merry christmas here in the United States, you are exaggerating SO MUCH and giving such a bad image to others. I'm in California, the most liberal state in the U.S. and we have an entire radio station (Coast 103.5) that plays Christmas songs from the end of november until the end of december. Every mall you go into has decorations associated with Christmas up (like wreaths and ornaments and trees) and NO ONE is stopping themselves from having Christmas parties and celebrating the holiday. Only the media in commercials and stuff have limited saying Merry Christmas and instead say "Happy Holidays" more. I find this ridiculous because there are only 2 holidays during this time--Hanukkah and Christmas. Its not like there are 15 holidays during this time. It makes me SO mad. Companies should make some commercials that say Merry Christmas and others that say Happy Hanukah or both. Anyways, that's off the subject.

TO CEMSULTAN AND ADAM......
First of all do not ever talk or argue about things u Don't know or to be more specific don't UNDERSTAND
The one who said that JESUS CHRIST is the son of God OR the God himself i'd like to tell u that that OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IS BOTH
IF SOMEDAY U'LL BE AT HEAVEN IT'S BECAUSE OF JESUS CHRIST
Second, u said that arab countries want to be like west
Is being Christian is on;y for western countries??
I'm lebanese and i'm proud that my country which is an arab one is teh only arab country which is CHRISTIAN
As for Dubai u can find lots of Christians in there
U said that Christians are lucky to have a Eid that can make them do good things so i wanna ask a question :what do u do in Ramadan other than eating and preparing to eat??
No offense to anyone but Christmas is not a tree and gifts and santa it's the Birthday of JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR AND LORD and this Eid is for HIM
I'm not blaming anyone but plz don't talk in a bad way about something u don't know anything about and u don't understand
I know that there are lots of Christians who are not good and in the other hand u can find lots of people with other religions that are bad too and this is because they don't have a religion
We all worship the same GOD and i don't think taught u to offense others and be impolite

TO NENE Dear nene, i do not wanted to enter the arena that you just entered but i soppose you leave me no choice in this case,i have read the book of Khalil Gibran and the bible both old and new testements and i am a quite devoted muslim and in this case even the jews will agree with me that the christ was not son of god but as others before him and after he was a messenger of God who bring the word of God to people of that era that needed guidence but as you well know that since then the original menuscripts of bible has being changed numerus times and its intepretation along with it, that is why you have the Catolic church, church of england,protestant,church of later day saint,ortodox church,evangelist, so on and so on and they all have different intepretation of bible now why do you think that is??and as you read in Johns gospel where he says "my father and me are one in one" it sounds like someone talking about themselfs and their father but do you know how many different way those words can be intepreted and the other issue i have that everybody talks about the son like the father never existed and the real God has being forgatten the one and only who created the son and everything else in existance and on top of that the crime and the punishment that was given to christ and the suffering he experienced in the hands of jews and romans by the way who use to feed the christians as a meal to lions for entertainment porpeses and now represents as the popes and head of catholic church for christians,i mean does all this makes sence to you and how?? i dont see the crusifiction of christ as a wonderfull story, isee it as one big tragedy, you claim he died for our sins and drinking his blood and eating his body as a daly bread will clense us and its a blessing since when such exercise become so holly or is there so much guilt there that that is the only way to twist a big tragedy to sound like a wonderfull story to not admit to so unbelivable wrong doing to a such holly man like Jesus.Maybe we should talk about Hz.Yahya who was tricked into hiding inside a tree and devils helpers cut the tree and he bleeded to death and i soppose he died for our sins to and that story should be glorified as much to helppls the soul of the guilty ones who cut the tree and realised how big of a wrong they done afterwoods, i dont think so,lets face the truth if God wanted to show us a way to forgive our sins i am sure he would have shown us lot better way then a cold bloded murder of a holly man like Jesus,why dont we just say as jesus said "please God forgive them as they dont know what they do"in his last breaths.I just hope that the God has forgiven you all, its not as easy as saying few hail marys to be forgiven as we know there is a such thing called judegement day and we will all know then whether we will be forgiven or not not becouse some priest you dont see on the other side of a box says so in a church and dont think for a moment that its ok becouse the priest dont see you but God sees all including you and the priest,So mery christmass again nene

nene, if we ever someday will be in the garden of paradise or heaven as u call it, it will be becuase of GOD put us there and not the prophet 3isa (jesus). Jesus was a human and we all respect him and love him but he has no power to put people in hell or paradise, thats GOD´s job.

There is no need for u to offend ramadan and eid, we do more then eat, ramadan and eid is about helping others and giving of what u have to people who dont have much. It´s kind of like christmas so dont be rude.

And lebanon is not a christian country, it has about 40-45 percent christians in it, surely it has a high amount of christians yet it´s not a christian country.

And many arabs celebrate christmas because many arabs are christian. Ain´t nothing wrong with that so dubai is doing right by having these christmas trees and carols and everything but they should do the same when it comes to ramadan and 3eid, ok christmas trees are not a muslim symbol but they should cheer things up in a other way.

i dont mind seeing christmas symbols outside, i think it´s cozy and i think christmas is a nice time but im not christian so i dont find it nice for the same reasons that you christians do because we have diffirent beliefs but we should respect each other for that and not argue about whos right.

How can he be God and the son of God at the same time nene? Thats impossible. I said that because i have actually read stuff in the bible, so i know what i am talking about. Christains are divided, just like muslims. Some think he is the son of God, some think he is God, and some think hes both, like you.

If i go to heaven, he might of helped it somehow by giving the message of a prophet after him, but thats it. I work my way into heaven. I give charity, i pray, i fast, etc.

Ramadan teaches patience, and good will. It shows you how bad others might have it, and you also fast to pay for your sins. The eid is a joyful day full of laughter most of the day, most people visit cemeteries in the morning to give prayers to the dead. People give money and clothes on eid. So don't say that OUR holiday is nothing.

I have said it before, and i will say it again. I don't have a problem with anyone celebrating christmas. Our beliefs are different, i think hes a prophet, and you don't. Thats that. Your post really shows how ignorant you are.

i think cemsultan pretty much wrapped up everything i was about to say to you.

christain girl: it seems to me like you are. Every time i say i am a muslim, some christain goes crazy. ALWAYS! They go even worse when i say I am a shi'ate(i think thats how you spell it). I live with christains everyday, i go to school with them and everything. I find your comment very rude. I know that i am not a racist, so therefore your statement is false. Better luck next time.

Anyone that wants to further that discussion, go here:

http://waleg.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=846