The Churches Were Burning…

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and Muslims had attacked them.

I was sad to read this. How can Muslims attack the house of God?

An excerpt from an article at IslamiCity titled ‘Relations with Christians according to Muhammad’ follows:

“Stronger than the book are the words of Prophet Muhammad himself with regard to Christianity. In 628 CE he sent a charter of freedom to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. If Pope Benedict XVI or his speech writers had looked at this document they would have found a different image of the Prophet.

Here is the letter written to the monks. This letter was written at a time when no one was talking about freedom of religion, pluralism or protection of human life.

Here is a letter from our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to Christians:

“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.

No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.

Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day.”

Saint Catherine Monastery Background

“Saint Catherine Monastery is located in Egypt’s Sani desert. Saint Catherine city is famous for its various sites, e.g. Firon village. Firon is considered a garden rich with the best kinds of fruits of special taste, such as apricots, peach and cantaloupe in addition to the best kind of olives. Furthermore, the city houses Maktab Valleys that is located near Maghara Valleys, besides thousands of unique historical engravings.

The Monastery was built in the 6th century A.D or the 4th century A.D., according to some sources. It is located at the foot of Mount Sinai on one of Wadi al-Sheikhs branches, and rises about 5012 feet above sea level. In 545 A.D, the Monastery was constructed by King Postilianos as a fortress for Sinai monks. It comprises several monuments that presumably date back to the Christ’s era. In addition, the monastery houses a large library that is south of the big Church.

It consists of three adjacent rooms and which comprises about 6000 old historical, geographical and philosophic manuscripts, written in Greek, Syriac and Arabic.

Many of the monastery manuscripts were written in different languages other than Arabic. As for most of the Christian heritage, it was written in Arabic, especially the copies of the Old Testament and the New Testament (The Bible).

With the help of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, a new museum has been recently inaugurated inside Saint Catherine Monastery. The new museum houses distinguished collections of rare books and volumes written in Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Latin and Arabic, and they date back to the first seven centuries A.D.

Among the major acquisitions is an important document, dating back to the year 2 A.H. It is al-’Ohda al-Mohamadeyas; a document signed by Prophet Muhammad , to guarantee full protection for the monastery and Egypt’s Christians. In 625 AD, the Popes of the old monastery went to Prophet Muhammad in Al-Madina, for discussion. The result of this discussion was this document.

Fortunately, all these acquisitions and monumental treasures were kept in a dry clean weather in the heart of Sinai desert for long centuries. Thus, they are still in a good condition. Furthermore, the monastery is notable for being a huge artistic, historic and religious wealth, including Bizantine icons that were painted by the monastery monks, dating back to the period from the 6th to the 9th centuries A.D. “
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After the Pope had made his uninformed statements against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) not only did Muslims defend Islam and our Prophet (pbuh) but also non-Muslims, and Christians included.

I had visited several blogs where people were denouncing the Pope’s statement. They knew about Islam and were not accepting what he said. These non-Muslims came out right away to correct the falsehood of the Pope’s statement.

It was amazing to see non-Muslims defending my religion, and I was very happy, and thanked these bloggers.

So when I found that Muslims had attacked churches, I was very upset. What is wrong with us? Are we going to attack the other people’s holy places because of what one uninformed religious figure said?

What the Pope said is of no consequence and has no effect on our faith. Yes, it reflects badly on the Pope and some people might think badly about Islam, but anyone who has studied history will know for a historical fact that our Prophet (pbuh) reformed the society of Arabia from Jahiliyah (ignorance) to one of monotheism, purity, mercy, and justice.

Michael Hart, a Jewish historian, gave Muhammad the first place among figures in history in his book: The 100:A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History.

What the Pope said is not historically accurate, and any one who cares to research will find this information. If the Pope hates Muslims, we as Muslims should not seek revenge on the house of God.

Have we Muslims forgotten that we are not allowed to burn, destroy or attack any house of worship, and that is even during war? We are not allowed to kill innocent people, children, the women, the elderly, rabbi’s, monks, and priests. We are not allowed to harm trees or plants, and we cannot harm a house where people worship. And these restraints are during a time of a war.

So what if the Pope made this ignorant statement? We as Muslims must stand on a spiritually higher ground than him, because God does not say to seek justice by oppressing innocent people, and we do not seek justice by destroying a house of God. If he doesn’t know of mercy and compassion and restraint, we as Muslims must set the example for him.

I’m aware that Muslims are reacting in extreme ways because of many years of oppression and pain. It was not the Pope’s statement or the cartoons in Denmark that is the root of our anger, but a long history of occupation and wars, and killing and death, which is continuing unabated in Iraq.

The Pope’s statement was the spark that let loose years of anger. But we as Muslims know that the Prophet (pbuh) repeated three times to a man, not to get angry. He said this three times.

Anger is something filthy in the heart, and yes we are all guilty of this bad character trait, it is part of human nature, but we must not just give in to our anger.

Our Prophet (pbuh) recommended ways to control anger, by sitting down, lying down, or making wudu (ritual purification with water) to cool down, to stop and think, and not to act on anger because judgment is impaired.

Let us look at the example of the Prophet (pbuh) when he and his followers were persecuted and killed for many years by the idolaters: he did not lash out in anger when he had the chance or when he finally rode into Mecca victorious. He forgave his enemies and did not seek revenge.

Muslims and non-Muslims have come out and condemned the Pope. We should rally together to inform people about Islam and correct his statements, but we should not overstep this boundary.

We do not destroy any house of God. This is where people worship and we should be ashamed before God, for defaming His house.

We as Muslims need to remember what our Prophet (pbuh) did during such times and implement his actions which is one of mercy and restraint even against those who sought to hurt and defame him and Islam.

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