Activities

Christianity and Judaism in the sight of Islam

Suggested mutually projects

In a few minutes I want to tell Christians and even Jews what Islam says about their religions and Prophets. Then accordingly I may suggest some ideas or projects in order to, firstly: encourage mutual communication and understanding, secondly: to abrogate misconceptions concerning Islam.

Briefly, Muslims believe that all prophets were sent to their respective nations from God (Allah). They all had the same mission and message - guiding people to the right path. And all Muslims have to believe that there are three revealed monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These all trace their origins back to Abraham (PBUH). The prophets of these religions were descended from him - Moses, Jesus and others from Isaac, but Muhammad was from Abraham through his other son, Ishmael. In many verses the Holy Quran commands Muslims to believe in all prophets. It is also among the pillars of Iman (faith) to believe in them. Not only that, but also any Muslim thinks that Moses or Jesus or any prophet hasn’t been sent by God, he or she will be considered as nonbeliever. When one reads the Holy Quran it will be very clear that Christians and Jews hold a special place in Islam. So by no means, on the first hand, does Islam accept to be described as an enemy of Christianity or Judaism. On the other hand, it has been written by some Western Christian writers that after the Soviet Union had vanished, the West had a psychological need to have an enemy, therefore they chose Islam. According to this Islamic view regarding the Christianity and Judaism, I want to suggest some mutual projects among the followers of these three religions.

The first project: as long as the three religions are divinely revealed, we (followers of them) should not relate teachings of these three religions to the bad behaviors and wrong practices of their followers. In other words; many in the West think that Islam encourages its followers to be terrorists, to hate non-Muslims and to kill them. Apart from the origin they got such misconception, whether from the media or the existence of some bad Muslims, Christians should not think that bad Muslims follow Islam through their bad deeds. We (Muslims) see Christian people who don’t follow the bible and do bad deeds everyday. For example, Jesus says: "5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. " Then he says: "5:44 Love your enemies, bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Ch. 5) How many Christians follow these teachings? The answer simply is: not all of them.

The second project: religious leaders should always distinguish between the actions performed in the name of God and those performed in the name of Satan. They should not be silent towards the bad deeds happening in the name of God such as wars in Iraq and other countries. In other words; some Muslims think that Christians or the Vatican agree with what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other hand, Christians think all Muslims like to blow up the white house, or the event of 11th September was in the name of Islam. Mr. Bush has been described as a good Christian, and he declared a crusade against Islam. So it seems he hasn’t read the verses in the bible mentioned before? Does he follow the bible in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or he expects Muslims to practice the fore-mentioned verses, while he doesn't. He wants Muslims to sit down, say nothing and shut up and be good little Muslims, while Muslims are being slaughtered and Muslims lands occupied. It seems that he misunderstood the meaning of "turn the other cheek", so he wants the others to turn their cheeks. According to such divine revelations written in the bible, all Christians should not only disagree with what's happening in the name of Christianity, but also they have to stop it and acquit the church from its sanctioning. Muslims should also do that.

The third project: as I mentioned before, the three religions are revealed from the same God. They also call people to worship the same God. Regarding the contents of these religions, there are two parts in every religion. The first part: morals, the good qualities, such as love, peace, truthfulness and helping others etc. the second part: the legislation, the laws concerning our actions. As you know, morals are not changeable. So the three religions should share the first part: morals. For example: it is not allowed to steal, lie, and hurt others, neither in Islam nor in Christianity or Judaism. You should love others and respect them whether you are a Muslim or a Christian? It is not allowed in Christianity to hurt non-Christians nor occupy their lands, nor to kill millions of Iraqi and afghani children for the 11th September event, while these children were born after the 11th of September. Here in Damascus, the Venerable Tuma used to cure Christian, Jewish and Muslim children of the incurable diseases. He didn’t distinguish between the Christians and Muslims. As you may know, those who killed him were not Muslims. They asked him to come and cure one of their children. The project I want to suggest is: why don’t Muslims, Jews and Christians together promote the first part: morals? Let's spread love, peace, and stop war and injustice. Let's call for the Religious tolerance among each other.

The fourth project: let's promote the principle of acquittal. I have read the bible. I love Christ and know what he asked his followers to do and not to do. So I will not accept those who do bad deeds in the name of him. In other words; I will acquit Christianity and Jesus from their actions. Christians should know that we, Muslims, do not accept a single word against Jesus or even Mary. Even if Christians deserted Jesus and hated him, we, Muslims, would not.

This Islamic behavior towards Jesus should be followed by Christians towards Muhammad. They should read about our Prophet Muhammad and acquit him from what some Muslims badly do.

The fifth project: the mutual effort to stop the religious indifference. Many people join the non-religious movement everyday. So it is the church, synagogue, or mosque that loses constantly some of its followers. We should have statistics regarding the number of followers who desert the church and the mosque everyday. Such statistics must be formal and true, otherwise, in the near future, we will have to close or sell the mosque or the church. In fact, some available statistics indicate that the church in the West has lost a huge number of its followers. The suggested project is: why don’t we ask each other for a help to stop such movement? We, Muslims, promise to tell non-religious people, who deserted the church, to love Jesus as much as Muhammad.