These attacks targeting Christians in Iraq and elsewhere are an assault on the long tradition of protection offered to minorities across the Islamic world, writes AIJAZ ZAKA SYED.
This must be one of those ironies of ironies that history is littered with. Iraq’s Christians have become the latest victim of the war spawned by the neocons as a new crusade. Thousands of Christians are fleeing Baghdad, Mosul and other cities to northern Iraq or abroad, reports the New York Times.
Of course, Christians have been fleeing Iraq, just like other Iraqis have been since the 2003 Invasion, clearly unappreciative of Uncle Sam’s gifts of freedom and democracy. But there has been a clear upsurge since the October 31 siege of a church in Baghdad that killed 51 worshippers. There has been a series of bombings and attacks since, allegedly carried out by the ubiquitous Al Qaeda.
The campaign against Christians is supposed to be motivated by a revenge factor as the community, rightly or wrongly, is identified with the Western coalition. But trying to see a method in the madness of the lunatic fringe we are dealing with is an exercise in futility.
The Christians are not the only victims in the theatre of absurd that is the post Invasion Iraq. The terrorist does not distinguish between Muslims and Christians or Sunnis and Shias. Men and women, young and old, innocent and guilty – no one is safe. There really is no method in the madness, apparent in continuing, mindless violence seven years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Still, what’s happening to Christians is infinitely tragic. This is all the more unfortunate considering Christians have lived in this ancient land for over two-thousand years in peace and security. Just as they have in the rest of the Muslim world. In fact, contrary to the recent fiction, minorities have always been fiercely protected across the Muslim lands.
From Caliph Omar’s era to the forces commanded by Salahuddin Ayuubi (Saladin), there has been a history of Muslims intervening to end the massacre of Jews, incidentally by Christian armies, in the Holy Land. In fact, when Jews were being hunted like animals all across Europe they found a welcome refuge in Muslim Turkey and the Middle East. (The Israelis are repaying that historical debt in kind today to the Palestinians!) Even today the Ottoman country is home to a large thriving Jewish population. So is Yemen. So is Iran. So are many other Muslim countries.
But more than the Jews, the real story of integration and religious and cultural harmony involves the Christians. The Christian Arabs have always been a healthy and cherished part of the Arab world. In fact, they’ve never regarded themselves as a minority totally identify as they do with the issues and concerns of the Arab-Muslim world. In fact, it’s Christians who pioneered Arab nationalism and Baath socialism, two of the powerful political movements of the 20th century.
How many people outside the Middle East know that one of the most evocative songs ever written and sung about Makkah, the holiest city for Muslims around the world, has been written and sung by two Christians? This ode to Makkah and the spiritual and emotional journey of the Hajj has been written by Lebanese poet Saeed Aql and immortalised by the legendary Fairouz, the Arab world’s most popular singer.
Some of the biggest Arab film stars, writers, poets and intellectuals happen to be Christians. The most ambitious Arab production paying tribute to Saladin, the fabled Muslim warrior and victor of Jerusalem, is a creation of Yousuf Chahine. The legendary Egyptian filmmaker of course was a Christian. This is not merely limited to arts and culture. Some of the leading figures of the Palestinian struggle have been Christians.
If the Christians have felt truly at home, credit should be equally shared by host societies. For how secure or otherwise a religious or cultural minority feels depends on the majority. And in its long history, the Arab-Muslim world has never failed its Christians, nor ever made them feel they are anywhere but home.
What’s going on in Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan these days is therefore such a shame. These incidents, even if isolated, are not just a disgrace to the long tradition of protection and security offered to minorities across the Arab and Muslim world, they are a travesty of Islamic teachings.
When the early Muslims were being persecuted in Makkah, Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be to him, asked them to migrate to Habasha (Ethiopia or Abyssinia) saying its Christian King Najashi (Negus) will protect them as fellow believers.
And many of the new believers, including some from the Prophet’s own family, did migrate to Ethiopia and enjoyed the royal hospitality until things improved back home. Even when Quraish chieftains sent messengers to Najashi asking him to drive out the “misguided” few as they did not even believe in Jesus being the son of God, the king refused to withdraw his protection. In fact, the king helplessly wept when Prophet’s cousin, Jafar ibn Abi Talib, recited the Qur’ānic verses praising Jesus and Mary.
History repeated itself when the whole of Arabia embraced Islam. In 628 C.E., a delegation from St Catherine’s Monastery visited the Prophet seeking his protection. The monastery, located at the foot of Mount Sinai, is the world’s oldest and is a treasure house of rare manuscripts, icons and Christian history.
Here’s what the Prophet offered them a treaty. Some excerpts: “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 and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God, I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, 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 oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it’s not to take place without her consent. No Muslim is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”
Goes without saying that the covenant is not just limited to St Catherine’s Monastery but extends to all Christians in Muslim lands. Without imposing any conditions or obligations, this bill of rights, clearly the world’s first, just about covers everything – freedom of faith, right to property, right to work and, above all, security of life.
As my friend and eminent scholar Dr Muqtedar Khan of Delaware University (US), who first brought this amazing accord to my notice, puts it, this is a charter of rights without any duties. More important, by asserting that Muslims are with Christians “near and far”, the Prophet shut the door on potential future conflicts between the two great faiths.
Perhaps it’s time for Muslims and Christians, who make up for more than half of the world population, to revisit the spirit and message of that historic accord fourteen centuries ago.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain had famously asked God when confronted about his slain brother Abel. Well, all of us – Muslims and Christians – are each other’s keepers. After all, we all worship the same God.
[AIJAZ ZAKA SYED is a Dubai-based writer who has written extensively on the Middle East and Muslim world. Reach him at aijaz.syed@hotmail.com]