Muslims are not terrorist or barbaric.
The letter which our master the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ had written (by his secretary) addresses to all Muslims was presented in this current web site on 19.11.2012. Now, in order to show how a true Muslim should behave, let us read the translation of the Immunity which Khalîfa ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, who is alleged to have destroyed four thousand churches, granted to the people of Elijah during his caliphate. The name of Ilyâs ‘alaihis-salâm’ is known as ‘Elijah’ among Christians. Likewise, they call Jerusalem ‘Ilyâ (Elijah)’.
“Herein is the letter of immunity granted by ’Umar ul-Fârûq ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, the Emîr of Muslims, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and has been written so as to comprehend their existence, their lives, churches, children, the invalid ones as well as the healthy ones, and all other people; as follows:
“Muslims shall not intrude into their churches, demolish any part of their churches, appropriate even a tiniest piece of their property, or use any sort of enforcement to make them change their religion or modes of worship or convert to Islam. No Muslim shall give them the smallest harm. If they want to leave their hometown by their own accord, their lives, property and chastity shall be protected till they have reached their destination. If they want to stay here they shall be in total security. Only they shall pay the jizya [income tax] which is incumbent upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. If some of the people of Jerusalem and Byzantines want to leave here together with their families and portable property and evacuate their churches and other places of worship, their lives, churches, travel expenses and possessions shall be protected till they reach their destinations: The aliens shall not be taxed at all till harvest, no matter whether they stay here or go away.”
Signature:
Muslims’ Khalîfa ’Umar bin Hattâb
Witnesses:
Khâlid bin Welîd
’Abd-ur-Rahmân bin ’Awf
’Amr ibn-il ’Âs
Mu’âwiya bin Ebî Sufyân
’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ attended the siege of Jerusalem with his blessed presence. Christians accepted to pay the jizya and went under the protection of Muslims. They handed the keys of Jerusalem to ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ himself. Thus they were freed from the heavy taxations, persecutions, torments, oppressions and cruelties of their own state, Byzantium. Soon they saw the justice and mercy in Muslims, whom they had been looking on as enemies. They realized that Islam was a religion commanding goodness and beauty and guiding people to happiness pertaining to this world and the next. Without the least compulsion or threatening, they accepted Islam in large groups which were mostly the size of a quarter of a town.
A close examination of this document provided above will show that the true Muslims, the true religious guides showed great toleration towards all the other religions, helped Christians and Jews, and even repaired their churches and temples, how much less to force them to convert to Islam or destroy their temples. Were not there any Muslims who maltreated Christians? Perhaps, there were some. Yet they were only a small number of ignorant people who were unaware of the commandments of our religion. Those people did so in consequence upon their sensuous indulgences, and were chastised by other Muslims. No Muslim with common sense and with sufficient knowledge of the commandments of Islam followed them. Those people, who were Muslims only in name, persecuted not only Christians but also Muslims. Their misdemeanour has nothing to do with Islam. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the hundred and sixty-eighth âyat of Nisâ Sûra of the Qur’ân al-kerîm: “Those who reject Faith and do wrong, –Allah will not forgive them, nor guide them to any way.” (4-168)
If explanations of the Qur’ân al-kerîm are examined, it will be seen that Allâhu ta’âlâ commands (Muslims) always to treat other people with mercy, compassion and forgiveness, to forgive those who harmed you, always to smile benignly and to speak softly, to be patient, and to prefer amity in social relations. It is written in the annals of the world that our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ always recommended amity and offered a compassionate hand even to those who were opposed to him.
Because Christian priests shut their eyes to truth, represent Islam as a religion of barbarism, and educate young Christians with this fallacy, the trepidation which those poor Christians feel during their first visit to Muslim countries change to astonishment upon learning the fact. Islam has never been a religion of savagery, and Muslims have never transgressed against Christians, none the least for bloody purposes. On the contrary, Muslims have protected Christians whenever they needed protection.
Ref: These paragraphs are quoted from the book “Why Did They Become Muslims?” page 286. The book is published by Hakikat Kitabevi, Istanbul. You can find the whole book and the other valuable books in the web site www.hakikatkitabevi.com.tr and download in PDF format for Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB format for iPhone-iPad-Mac devices and MOBI format for Amazon Kindle device.
Turkey Tribune
