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The Noble Tradition Of Muslim Tolerance for Other Faiths
Nirvana
aka BUBBA ` ` South Carolina, USA Veteran
for more on this subject, read further: http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/toleran1.html
An Abridged Version of Pickthall's Lecture
In the eyes of history, religious toleration is the highest evidence of culture in a people. It was not until the Western nations broke away from their religious law that they became more tolerant, and it was only when the Muslims fell away from their religious law that they declined in tolerance and other evidences of the highest culture. Before the coming of Islam, tolerance had never been preached as an essential part of religion.
If Europe had known as much of Islam, as Muslims knew of Christendom, in those days, those mad, adventurous, occasionally chivalrous and heroic, but utterly fanatical outbreaks known as the Crusades could not have taken place, for they were based on a complete misapprehension.
Innumerable monasteries, with a wealth of treasure of which the worth has been calculated at not less than a hundred millions sterling, enjoyed the benefit of the Holy Prophet's (Muhammad’s) Charter to the monks of Sinai and were religiously respected by the Muslims. The various sects of Christians were represented in the Council of the Empire by their patriarchs, on the provincial and district council by their bishops, in the village council by their priests, whose word was always taken without question on things which were the sole concern of their community.
The tolerance within the body of Islam was, and is, something without parallel in history; class and race and color ceasing altogether to be barriers.
One of the commonest charges brought against Islam historically, and as a religion, by Western writers is that it is intolerant. This is turning the tables with a vengeance when one remembers various facts: One remembers that not a Muslim is left alive in Spain or Sicily or Apulia. One remembers that not a Muslim was left alive and not a mosque left standing in Greece after the great rebellion in l821. One remembers how the Muslims of the Balkan peninsula, once the majority, have been systematically reduced with the approval of the whole of Europe, how the Christian under Muslim rule have in recent times been urged on to rebel and massacre the Muslims, and how reprisals by the latter have been condemned as quite uncalled for.
If Europe had known as much of Islam, as Muslims knew of Christendom, in those days, those mad, adventurous, occasionally chivalrous and heroic, but utterly fanatical outbreaks known as the Crusades could not have taken place, for they were based on a complete misapprehension.
Innumerable monasteries, with a wealth of treasure of which the worth has been calculated at not less than a hundred millions sterling, enjoyed the benefit of the Holy Prophet's (Muhammad’s) Charter to the monks of Sinai and were religiously respected by the Muslims. The various sects of Christians were represented in the Council of the Empire by their patriarchs, on the provincial and district council by their bishops, in the village council by their priests, whose word was always taken without question on things which were the sole concern of their community.
The tolerance within the body of Islam was, and is, something without parallel in history; class and race and color ceasing altogether to be barriers.
One of the commonest charges brought against Islam historically, and as a religion, by Western writers is that it is intolerant. This is turning the tables with a vengeance when one remembers various facts: One remembers that not a Muslim is left alive in Spain or Sicily or Apulia. One remembers that not a Muslim was left alive and not a mosque left standing in Greece after the great rebellion in l821. One remembers how the Muslims of the Balkan peninsula, once the majority, have been systematically reduced with the approval of the whole of Europe, how the Christian under Muslim rule have in recent times been urged on to rebel and massacre the Muslims, and how reprisals by the latter have been condemned as quite uncalled for.
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Comments
One of my old schoolfriends worked for the ICMP. This is the International Commission for Missing Persons in the Former Yugoslavia which was set up by the G7 in 1996. They were tasked with identifying the thousands of bodies from the genocides in the region. She told me the following terrible story:
They visited one village which had, apparently, had a mosque and a high percentage of Muslim inhabitants but found none. Eventually, they were taken to the town carpark. "This is where the mosque stood," they were told. When they excavated, they discovered not only the ruins of the mosque under the tarmac but also the bodies of every Muslim villager, men, women and children. There was not a living Muslim left in the area.
This is not some ancient historical massacre. This happened during the years from 1991 to 1996.
Palzang
Accept the views and creeds of others.... embrace their philosophies, beliefs and faiths, because even if they only serve to reinforce what we practise, they have served a constructive purpose.... Our so-called 'enemies' are our greatest friends, teachers and allies. Are they not?
There is currently a "reality TV" programme about a Muslim retreat (which I have to admit that I am not watching). The retreat leader is ABDULLAH TREVATHAN, who has been a Muslim since the '60s. He commented that, when he converted, Islam was seen in much the same way as Buddhism is today: a way of peace and reconciliation.
I certainly remember the converts whom I knew and hearing Cat Stevens talking about his own Sufism. They were mystical and peace-focused.
It is to be hoped that Buddhism does not emerge from its time as the fashionable way for disenchanted Westerners with the same 'ghetto mind' that seems to have afflicted Islam. Perhaps we need to draw closer to our Muslim sisters and brothers.
Palzang
Fede: you make me glad that I have not been watching. Fortunately, Islamic women are finding their voices being heard at last. They are in much the same position as their Western sisters not so long ago. They have yet to produce a Germaine Greer or Ms Dworkin but it is only a matter of time. My dear correspondent Yasmin Alibai-Brown shows the sort of courage needed, facing as she does death threats and insults. The Islamic patriarchy is not so very different from the phallocrats who denied women the right to own property, vote or have a career. It is not so long ago that our 'civilised' society imprisoned any woman daring to attempt such things or confined them to mental institutions. We dare never forget the forced feeding of suffragettes.
Mystical and peace-focused, Great! The only problem arises from religionists' NEED TO BE RIGHT. A not uncommon problem in any religion, but much in evidence in the Islam of to-day.
I await the day when the sense of the brotherhood and sisterhood of all sentient beings come to the forefront.
http://www.islamonline.net/english/introducingislam/tolerance/article04.shtml :
[Let there be no compulsion in religion, truth stands out clear from error.] (Al-Baqarah 2:256)
It is the conviction of a religion’s adherents, not the compulsion they can impose on others, that establishes its moral force on earth. This was a principle evident in the life and practice of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) as well as the Constitution of Madinah which he drew up with the multi-religious community of Madinah.
This document guaranteed the freedom of worship to all religious communities. This was the spirit of the Qur’an that shines into the hearts of all its perceptive readers: the spirit of tolerance and understanding. Allah says in the Qur’an that He has made people into nations and tribes so that they can know and deal with each other in an equal temper of kindness and generosity:
[O humankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know and deal with each other in kindness (not that you may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God (is he who is) the most righteous of you, and God is Knower, Aware.] (Al-Hujurat 49:13)
The above verse emphasizes the point that in Islam there is no place for intolerance, prejudice, or bigotry based on color, race, nationality or any such considerations. This all-encompassing tolerance of Islam applies to all elements of life and all affairs of Muslims.
The Muslim's acceptance of the Jews and Christians (referred to in the Qur'an as People of the Book) as authentic religious communities is made clear:
[And dispute not with the People of the Book, except with means better (than mere disputation), unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong and injury.] (Al-`Ankabut 29:46).
This verse tells Muslims that they should take all measures to avoid dispute, anger or other negative feelings between themselves and others.