CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

Awareness of the initial mutual goodwill and understanding between adherents of Islam and Christianity can help build Christian-Muslim relations today on positive lines.

Unfortunately, the initial mutual goodwill and understanding between adherents of Islam and Christianity have been considerably eroded over the centuries. Perhaps a perusal of the accounts given below of early encounters between adherents of the two faiths will encourage a return to that enviable state. 

Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam (570-632 AD), was twelve years old when he accompanied his paternal uncle, Abu Talib, on a caravan journey to Syria. When they camped at Busra, he met a Christian monk known as Bahira, who was well-versed in Christian scriptures. One day, as the latter emerged from his cell, he saw Muhammad, in whom he recognized the signs of prophethood. After some conversation, he advised Abu Talib to hasten back to his land with his nephew and protect him against enemies, for a great future lay in store for him. Somewhat alarmed, Abu Talib took him back to Makkah soon after he finished trading in Syria. Much later, at the age of forty, when the Prophet was meditating in a cave called Hira, situated near Makkah, he was visited by the Angel Gabriel, who came to him with the first revelations contained in the Quran: “Read! In the name of your Lord, who created:  created man from a clot [of blood]. Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know.” (96:1-5)

After this extraordinary experience, Muhammad rushed back home to his wife Khadijah, to whom he said, trembling, “Cover me with a cloak, cover me with a cloak.” Then, having recovered a little, he told her of his experience and said: “I feel my life is in danger.” She responded, “No, never! God will never bring you to grief.” Then she took him to her cousin, Waraqah ibn Naufal, who had become a Christian.

Waraqah commented: “The One who came to you is the same Namus (the specially appointed Divine Messenger) who came to Moses. I wish I were a young man and could live till the time when your people will expel you.”

The Prophet asked, “Will my people expel me?”

Waraqah replied: “Yes, no one has been before, who brought the same thing that you have brought, without the people turning hostile to him.” (As-Sirah by Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, p. 238)

Another such encounter took place a few years after Muhammad’s receiving prophethood. At this time, Makkah was dominated by idolaters who, rejecting monotheism, set about persecuting the Prophet and his Companions. The Prophet, therefore, advised his followers to leave for Abyssinia (now known as Ethiopia), a justly ruled Christian kingdom, “until God leads us to a way out of our difficulty.” (As-Sirah by Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, p. 322) About eighty Muslims then emigrated to Abyssinia, where they lived under the protection of the Negus, the Christian ruler of the land, until after the Prophet emigrated to Madinah.

The Makkans, upset at this Muslim exodus, immediately sent a delegation to the Negus asking for the emigrants’ extradition to Makkah. However, the Negus refused to yield to their appeal until he had heard the refugees plead their case. This was ably done by Jafar ibn Abi Talib, who briefly described the teachings of Islam. At the request of the Negus, he recited certain Quranic revelations. When the patriarchs heard the first part of the chapter of the Quran entitled ‘Mary,’ confirming the message of the Evangel, they were pleasantly surprised and said: “These words must have sprung from the same fountainhead from which the words of our Lord Jesus Christ have sprung.” The Negus then said, “What you have just recited and that which was revealed to Moses must have both been issued from the same source. Go forth into my kingdom; I shall not extradite you at all.” (As-Sirah by Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, p. 336)

These examples help us understand the goodwill between many adherents of Islam and Christianity in early times. Reviving this goodwill can help build Christian-Muslim relations on positive lines today.