Saturday, April 6, 2013

The Qur’an commands usto show affection and compassion to devout Jews and Christians

- <pt - ▓███▓ - "Published by, M NajimudeeN Bsc - INDIA|®|-
- - - * - Translator:: http://translate.google.com/m/ -▓███▓ -
- - > - > Muslims believe in all theProphets sent by
Allah before our Prophet (saas), and love and respect them all
equally. Similarly, they also harbor a profound love and respect for
those people who were genuinely devoted to these true Prophets and who
defended the truth with them. Verses from the Qur'an referring to the
peoples of the Prophets read as follows:
You who believe! Be helpers of Allah as Jesus son of Maryam said to
the Disciples, 'Who will be my helpers to Allah?' The Disciples said,
'We will be the helpers of Allah.' One faction of the tribe of Israel
believed and the other disbelieved. So We supported those who believed
against their enemy and they became victorious. (Surat as-Saff,14)
... There is a community among the People of theBook who are upright.
They recite Allah's signs throughout the night, and they prostrate.
They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and enjoin the right and
forbid the wrong, and compete in doing good. They are among the
righteous. You will not be denied the reward for any goodthing you do.
Allah knows those who have taqwa [fear of Allah]. (Surah Al 'Imran,
113-115)
Because Muslims behave according to the Qur'an and the Sunna of our
Prophet (saas), they also love the People of the Book. They feel
affectionfor those who remained loyal to Allah's Prophets and the
mission imparted to them. It is for these reasons that there can be no
questionof a Muslim who has faith in Allah and His Book ever adopting
an anti-Semitic line. That is because it is wrong to be anti-Semitic,
in other words to harbor enmity toward devout Jews who obeyed the
ProphetMoses (as) and his mission. It is unlawful, according to the
Qur'an, to feel anger toward thePeople of Israel because they live by
the Torah sent down by Allah to them through the Prophet Moses (as).
Such a moral conception is unbecoming of Muslims.
What matters for us is the attitude of our Prophet (saas), who always
treated Jews believing in Allah in his own day with great
understanding and justice. The People of theBook were treated with
great compassion in the time of our Prophet (saas) and the four
Caliphs who followed. These people were watched over and protected,
and their rights preserved with justice. Our Prophet (saas) both
called on them to convert to Islam but also treated them well and
allowed them to live by their own faith.
If according to the Qur'an, the attitude to be adopted toward the
People of the Book wereone of hostility, then thefirst person to do
that would obviously have been our Prophet (saas) himself. The fact
is, however, that historic documents make it clear that in the time of
our Prophet (saas) and the Caliphs who came after him, devout Jews and
other People of the Bookwho sought shelter with Muslims, asked for
protection and did not fight against them were always treated in a
loving and protective manner. (You can read more details from here. )
Allah clarifies this in these verses:
Allah does not forbid you from being good to those who have not fought
you in the religion or driven you from your homes, or from being just
towards them. Allah loves those who are just. (Surat al-Mumtahana, 8)
Those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabaeans and the
Christians, all who believe in Allah and the Last Day and act rightly
will feel no fear and will know no sorrow. (Surat al-Ma'ida, 69)
It is for these reasons that, according to the verses of the Qur'an,
it is atheists, associaters that Muslims need to wage an intellectual
struggle against, both in the timeof our Prophet (saas) and in the
present day, and not devout believers. Our Prophet (saas) never fought
devout Jews or Christians who believed in the Oneness of Allah. The
Prophet (saas) and his companions only fought against atheists and
those pagans and hypocrites who did all they could, physically and
psychologically, to harm Muslims and prevent the spread of the
religion and stop Muslims preaching.
Looking at the battles fought by our Prophet (saas), these were always
fought for defensive purposes. In other words, the Prophet (saas)
never embarked on war against those who did not declare war on him,
and never continued fighting against those who wished to put a stop to
it or asked for terms. Our Prophet (saas)remained completely loyal to
the conditions regarding war revealed by Allah in the Qur'an. Allah
reveals this in the Qur'an on the subject:
Permission to fight is given to those who are fought against because
they have been wronged – truly Allah has the power to come to their
support – (Surat al-Hajj, 69)
But if they cease, Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat
al-Baqara, 192)
... Do not fight them in the Masjid al-Haram untilthey fight you
there. But if they do fight you, thenkill them... (Surat al-Baqara,
191)
Therefore, the history of Islam is full of such examples. For
instance, on one occasion the Jews of Haybar came to our Prophet
(saas) and said that their goods had been removed by certain Muslims
without their permission. At this, the Prophet (saas) gathered the
Muslims together in the mosque and told them the property of those
with whom treaties had been agreed were sacrosanct and that what they
had done was. (Musnad, IV, 89; Vakıdi, II, 691; Serahsi, Siyer, I,
133, IV, 1530) Article 17 of the Medina State Treaty our Prophet
(saas) had drawn up in his first years in the city used theexpression,
" Those of the Jews who join us willbe helped and well treated. They
will suffer no injustice and their enemies will not be helped." A
rticle 25 of thesame treaty says, "The Jews of the Beni Awf
andbelievers are one Ummah. They will live bytheir own faith, and
Muslims by theirs." Article 36 says, "There will be mutual aid,
kindness and goodness between Muslims and Jews." (Ibn Kathir, as-Sira,
II/322; Hamidullah, el-Vesaik, p. 44-45; Co-existence in Western and
Western sources, p. 285).
When Abubaqr (ra) captured Tabariyya afterour Prophet (saas), the
Christians living there were given guarantees that their churches
would not be harmed. When Umar (ra) captured Jerusalem he issued a
decree to the populace, declaring that the places of worship of the
People of the Book would not be harmed. Another decree issued by Umar
(ra) to the Christians of Medain included the principle that "No
Christian shall be forced to become a Muslim against his will". During
the capture, in the time of Uthman (ra), of Debil, an Armenian city,
the Christians living there were given a guarantee in a decree that
places of worship would be protected. Permission was always given for
damaged churches to be repaired and for new synagoguesand monasteries
to be built.

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