Magian neighbours, and when their festival comes round they send us gifts.’

She answered: ‘As for whatever they have slaughtered for that day, do not eat it; but eat from their fruit-trees.’

Wakīʿ also related, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥakīm, from his mother, from Abū Barzah, that he had Magian tenants who would present him with gifts at Nowrūz and Mihrjān. He used to tell his household, ‘Whatever is fruit, eat it; and whatever is not, return it.’

All of this indicates that the festival itself has no bearing on the permissibility of accepting their gifts; the ruling is identical whether it is their festival or not, since doing so is not helping them in the rites of unbelief.

Accepting gifts from unbelievers—whether they are at war with us or under treaty—is, however, a distinct issue with its own details and scholarly debate, which is not our concern here. What is permitted is to eat the food of the People of the Book on their festivals, whether one buys it from them, receives it as a gift, or obtains it by some other means, provided they did not slaughter it for the festival itself. As for the animals slaughtered by the Magians, the ruling regarding them is well known: according to the majority, they are forbidden.