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Christ and Baha'u'llah
by George Townshend
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chapter 5 | start page | single page | chapter 7 |  |
Chapter 6
MUḤAMMAD AND THE CHRISTIANS
TO the
Christians Muḥammad showed the greatest kindness. Insisting that all
Muslims should fully accept both Jesus Christ and His Gospel and assuring them
in the Qur'án (Sura 5 verse 85) that they would find the Christians nearest of
all men to them in affection, He took the Christians under his express
protection.
A remarkable illustration of this is afforded by the
charter which Muḥammad granted to the Christians in general and to the
monks of the monastery of St. Catherine, near Mount Sinai, in particular, the
actual document itself having been faithfully preserved down the centuries by
the analysts of Islám.
Quoting this charter in The Spirit of Islám (p. 84) Syed Ameer 'Alí remarks that it
"has been justly designated as one of the noblest monuments of enlightened
tolerance that the history of the world can produce," and he calls
attention to its marvelous breadth of view and liberality of conception.[1] "By it," he writes, "the
Prophet secured to the Christians privileges and immunities which they did not
possess even under sovereigns of their own creed; and declared that any Moslem
violating and abusing what
1. That this charter represented the firm attitude of tolerance and goodwill which the Prophet was accustomed to show towards Christians may be judged from the terms of a parallel charter to the Christians of Najrán is quoted by the author in the same work on page 273.
[page 41]
was therein ordered, should be regarded as a violator of God's testament, a
transgressor of His commandments, and a slighter of His Faith. He undertook
himself, and enjoined on his followers, to protect the Christians, to defend
their churches, the residences of their priests, and to guard them from all
injuries. They were not to be unfairly taxed; no bishop was to be driven out of
his bishopric; no Christian was to be forced to reject his religion; no monk
was to be expelled from his monastery; no pilgrim was to be detained from his
pilgrimage. Nor were the Christian churches to be pulled down for the sake of
building mosques or houses for the Moslems. Christian women married to Moslems
were to enjoy their own religion, and not to be subjected to compulsion or
annoyance of any kind on that account. If Christians should stand in need of
assistance for the repair of their churches or monasteries, or any other matter
pertaining to their religion, the Moslems were to assist them. This was not to
be considered as taking part in their religion, but as merely rendering them
assistance in their need, and complying with the ordinances of the Prophet
which were made in their favor by the authority of God and of His Apostle.
Should the Moslems be engaged in hostilities with outside Christians, no
Christian resident among the Moslems should be treated with contempt on account
of his creed. Any Moslem so treating a Christian should be accounted
recalcitrant to the Prophet."
No Christian student reading Muhammad's teachings can miss
the fact that His ethical system corrected many of those corruptions which had
crept into the Christian Faith of the seventh century. For instance
Muḥammad preached an emphatic monotheism in place of a trinitarian
[page 42]
Godhead. He left no room for that sacerdotalism which had so enervated and
distorted the spirit of the Gospel. He encouraged and promoted in the strongest
way the pursuit of science and learning which had become anathema to Christian orthodoxy; He is
believed to have said that the ink of the scholar was more holy than the blood
of the martyr and to have bidden believers to go as far as China for knowledge
if necessary. Instead of endorsing celibacy He honored marriage, home life and
home duties and by the stress He laid on the oneness of all believers and the
paramount duty of brotherly loyalty He showed His horror of schism.
So kindly were the relations between the two Faiths and so
strong the spiritual influence of Muḥammad that the Christian masses
were disposed to accept the Faith of the Arabian Prophet. The Báb indeed says
that they were only prevented from doing so by the failure of the clergy "for if these had believed, they would have
been followed by the mass of their countrymen." Had it not been for
the unfortunate divisive counsel of these Christian priests, history would have
been different indeed.
[page 43]
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chapter 5 | start page | single page | chapter 7 | |
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