Accepting Gifts from Non-Muslims is a Sunnah

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In this season, we must not allow some Muslims to convince us that it is haram to receive gifts from our non-Muslim family and friends.  That is not the sunnah.  There are many ahadits that demonstrate that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) accepted gifts from non-Muslims.  These ahadits are swahih. 

For example, it is recorded that Rasulullah (s.a.w.) sent Sayyidina Hathib ibn Abu Balta’ah (r.a.) to the Christian ruler of Alexandria with a message for him, and the Patriarch accepted the letter, honoured Sayyidina Hathib (r.a.), and made his stay comfortable.  The Patriarch then sent him back with a garment for the Prophet (s.a.w.), a mule with its saddle, and two slave girls as gifts.  One slave girl was Sayyidatina Umm Ibrahim Mariyah bint Sham’un al-Qibthiyyah (r.a.), and the other one the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) gave as a gift to Sayyidina Jahm ibn Qays al-‘Abdari (r.a.).  The slave girls were both eventually freed.