My work place does secret Santa presents, can I participate? This is something that can occur in the West for Muslims. At this time of year many places of work will have secret santa where names are in a hat and you have to choose a name and buy a present for them without saying it is from you.

Generally speaking, exchanging gifts with non-Muslims is acceptable. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did this with non-Muslims. The issue with secret Santa is that these gifts are connected to Christmas.

Christmas holidays is not one of our holidays so should we participate in this? Nowadays Christmas is becoming more of a social event than a religious event. If these gifts have something to do with the Christian religious practices then no, we should not participate. If it is a matter of end of the year and it is the culture of the work then it is OK but make sure this point is made.