(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Islam was never anti-Christianity or anti-Judaism. Muslims were warned that fighting or abusing other people, in any way, over faith would make them enemies of Allah. Just before his death, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) "recommended" Christians and Jews to Muslims.
This was the message of Dr John Morrow, Canadian researcher, professor and writer, who came to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to lecture on the Covenants of Islam.
The public lecture was organised by the Tabah Foundation and the Embassy of Canada in Abu Dhabi, spreading the message of true Islam, which is nowadays severely distorted by extremist, ideologically-driven groups such as the Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Shabaab in Somalia, Al Qaeda in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, the Taleban in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
"Today, when Muslims take up arms in the name of Islam, not only Christians flee, but thousands of Muslims flee too," said Dr Morrow. "Traditional, true Islam is a religion of love, peace and understanding. We do not torture, kill, kidnap and, sure as hell, we do not rape. Those who do act against Allah!"
Aside from his academic duties, Dr Morrow, who converted to Islam at the age of 16 and took the Muslim name Ilyas Abd Al Alim Islam, is the director of the Covenants Foundation, an organisation dedicated to disseminating traditional, civilisational Islam, promoting Islamic unity, protecting persecuted Christians and improving relations between Muslims and members of other faiths. He regularly travels the world to promote peace and justice.
Habib Ali Al Jifri
While in Abu Dhabi, Dr Morrow brought along enlarged copies of a few of Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) covenants, the proof that the Prophet encouraged respect for one another's religion.
With Islam's rising influence in Arabia by 626 AD, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) sent a series of letters to various kings and leaders in and around the Arabian Peninsula, declaring his intention for peace and cooperation. According to Dr Morrow, only about 300 of such letters survive today, although he wrote many more."He made dozens of treaties with Christians, Jews, polytheists, even Zoroastrians," pointed out Dr Morrow. "The Covenants of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) were respected by the caliphs, by the Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Safavids. Fatwa after fatwa, the covenants were renewed, year after year, century after century. They were transmitted in an unbroken chain from the seventh to the 21st century. Historically, they are as solid as diamonds," he stressed.
In short, what the Covenants with Christians contain is the freedom to worship and practise one's faith, protection of Christian houses, churches and personal belonging, respect for Christianity.
Disobeying or breaking these Covenants would mean a mortal sin for Muslims, making them the "enemy of Allah".
"These are not my words, these are the words of the Covenants," stressed Dr Morrow.
Reform
His teachings were backed by Habib Ali Al Jifri, founder of Abu Dhabi's Tabah Foundation and an Islamic scholar from Yemen, who re-enforced Dr Morrow's statement that "to say that Islam needs to be reformed is to say that Islam is deformed". What needs to be reformed, in Al Jifri's opinion, is how Muslims understand Islam, which is not a religion of extremism and blood shedding. "We are at an unprecedented situation. Throughout the history of Islam there had been bloodshed, but nowadays the bloodshed is in the name of Allah; atrocities are made in the name of Allah," he said.
Therefore, Al Jifri is calling on all Muslim leaders to stand together against extremists and on all Muslims to return to the true message of Islam, which has nothing to do with terrorising other faiths.
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