Christians the world over celebrated Good Friday yesterday, to remember the day they believe that Jesus was crucified on the cross and tomorrow will be Easter Sunday, a celebration of the day they believe Jesus arose from the dead.

Throughout and interwoven too will be the Easter bunny and Easter eggs and so on. These later symbols of Easter have nothing to do with the religious observances and are considered by many as paganism.

How did the Easter bunny become associated with the religious connotation? One theory is that the symbol of the rabbit stems from pagan tradition, specifically the festival of Eostre, a goddess of fertility whose animal symbol was a bunny.

Rabbits, known for their energetic breeding, have traditionally symbolised fertility, hence for commercial reasons as well we have Easter eggs, baskets, rabbits and so on.

However, I don’t want to get into a tangle with the beliefs and celebrations of my Christian brothers and sisters. Our beloved prophet Muhammad (pbuh) taught us to respect others and he was always mindful, when it came to the beliefs of others. The Koran says in Surah 109:6:

O disbelievers,

I do not worship what you worship.

Nor are you worshippers of what I worship.

Nor will I be a worshipper of what you worship.

Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship.

For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.

I’m simply going to say that Muslims do not celebrate Easter at all. Muslims deny that Jesus died and was resurrected from the dead. Yet they do believe that he is alive, having been taken up into heaven until he returns and sets the myths about him right as Allah has promised. And surely Allah’s promise is true.

We are still observing the blessed month of Ramadan and are in the days of receiving Allah’s merciful forgiveness. We are in dire need of forgiveness and we ask Allah to forgive us for things we have done wrong knowingly and for all that we do wrong unknowingly.

One prayer for forgiveness based in Hadith follows: “O God, You are the most Forgiving One, You love to forgive, so forgive me.” (At-Trimidhi).

It sounds simple, but it takes practice. These ten days of Ramadan are the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Bermuda have a blessed weekend, filled with peace, love and forgiveness.

Ramadan Mubarak!

• Linda Walia Ming is a member of the Bermuda Hijab Dawah Team, a group of Muslim women who reside in Bermuda and have a goal of educating the community about the religion of Islam