Professional British boxer and former unified light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan, who is also reportedly a practicing Muslim, surprised his daughter by putting up a Christmas tree with assorted decorations at home ... and all hell broke loose on social media.
Online trolls attacked Khan for celebrating the Christian holiday, accusing him of "betraying" Islam and going as far as claiming he is going to hell.
In a post shared with his 1.2 million followers on Instagram, the 31-year-old Olympic medalist captured a decorated Christmas tree in his family home.
"While everyone's asleep, daddy put the Christmas tree up. Lamaisah's going to be happy #Christmas #MerryChristmas2017," the caption read.
The post drew severe criticism from some Muslim social media users, who insisted that celebrating Christmas contradicts the teachings of Islam.
Some comments were particularly abusive, with one user threatening to kill Khan and his family.
"I promise to god I want to kill you and your family Amir," one Twitter user told Khan, before deleting his tweet, according to Metro.
"Muslims don't celebrate Xmas"
"Putting up a Christmas tree is a sin"
Some went as low as wishing him death
However, people were quick to defend Khan and blast the trolls for spreading hate
Many agreed that people were blowing it out of proportions
"Thank goodness his daughter can't see any of these comments"
Some even applauded him for representing "the true example of Islam"
Newsflash: Jesus and Islam are not at odds
There is no doubt that most Muslim scholars discourage Muslims from celebrating Christmas as they consider it an act of imitating non-Muslims, which is frowned upon in Islam.
Still, as Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, it is worth noting that Islam holds Jesus in >extremely high esteem.
He is regarded as Prophet Muhammad's precursor and one of God's most prominent messengers.
Muslims believe Prophet Muhammad came to complete Jesus' message, rather than refute it. Additionally, the Qur'an considers Jesus' birth a miracle and states that disrespecting him is a sign of disbelief.