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Fatwa CenterDinner with Christian relatives who pray to Jesus at dinner
Question
My christian relatives have family dinners and they pray aloud to Jesus (peace be upon him) and praise his name. They especially mention his name over the food. I told them I can't eat it and asked them to just say "God" but they refused saying Jesus was Son of God! (astafirAllah!) Should I just not accept the dinner invitation?
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.
We have previously clarified that a Muslim may accept the invitation of a disbeliever and eat with him, and that it is only permissible to accept the invitation if there are no violations of the Islamic Sharee'ah. Please, refer to Fatwa 88935.
If the food served is Halaal (lawful), then what is mentioned in the question does not make it forbidden to eat; that is, the food itself does not become unlawful. However, the problem in this situation is keeping their company while they associate partners with Allaah Almighty in the manner you mentioned. Allaah, The Exalted, Says (what means): {And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allaah denied [by them] and ridiculed, do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them. Indeed Allaah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers in Hell all together.}[Quran 4:140]
If they invited you over for dinner and you believed that it would be most likely that they will carry out such acts of Shirk aloud, supplicating other than Allaah in your presence, and will not listen to your advice, then it is better for you to decline the invitation.
Allaah knows best.
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