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Fatwa CenterUsing free public transportation as Christmas present in Australia
Question
Assalaamu 'Alaykum wa rahmatuLLAAH In Victoria (Australia), all public transports are free on the 25th of December, on behalf of Christmas. What is the ruling on using this free service? Is it forbidden, considering it as a Christmas present? JazaakumuLLAAHU khayran katheeraa
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 
is His Slave and Messenger.
It is permissible for you to use such transportation when you need it, even if they refuse to take the fare on their holidays as this does not involve committing anything prohibited and it is not taking part in their celebrations or showing approval of such.
Even if we say that it is a gift from them, Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah 
said in his book, Iqtidhaa’ As-Siraat Al-Mustaqeem (discussing non-Muslim holidays and gifts on those holidays): “As regards accepting gifts from them on the day of their festival, indeed, we have already mentioned that ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib 
was given a gift on Nayrooz (a non-Muslim holiday) and he accepted it. Besides, Ibn Abi Shaybah reported in his book Al-Musannaf: “...Wakee’ related from Al-Hakam ibn Hakeem, from his mother, from Abu Barzah, that there were Maggi people living with him and they would give him gifts on Nayrooz and Mahrajaan (two non-Muslim holidays), and he would say to his family, you may eat those fruits, and anything else, give back to them. All this is evidence that the holiday has no effect on abstaining from accepting their gifts; rather, the ruling is the same for their holidays or other days, as this is not considered aiding them with regard to their symbols of disbelief.” [End of quote]
Allaah Knows best.
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