The Dealings of the Prophet with some Christian Peoples

Sr. Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood.

It is fully recorded that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had friendships and relationships with many Jews and Christians, and we also have specific examples of the Prophet’s (pbuh) dawah (preaching) to Christians.

At the time of the Prophet, the Jews and Christians were known as the Ahl al-Kitab or People of the Book. They all worshipped the same One True God, and followed the same line of revelations from Him, through the various prophets whose teachings were recorded in the Old Testament, and many others who were not recorded.

Muslims all regarded Jesus as the last of a long line of Messengers of God, his life on earth being some 600 years before the call of the Prophet Muhammad.

Some of the famous Companions of the Prophet who were Christians and Jews before accepting Islam were:

- the cousin of the Prophet’s wife Khadijah - Waraqah ibn Nawfal, (who had translated a Gospel into Arabic)

- the Prophet’s (pbuh) own cousin Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh,

- Salman al-Farsi,

- the Negus Ashamah of Abyssinia,

- Rabbi Husayn ibn Sallam (Abu Yusuf) and

- Rabbi Mukhayriq, who made the Prophet (pbuh) his heir

- the Prophet’s wife Rayhanah

- the Prophet’s wife Safiyyah (Zaynab) bint Rabbi Huyayy

- the Prophet’s wife Mariam Qibtiyyah (daughter of an eminent Coptic Christian)

The Year of the Delegations – 631 CE

With the start of the Muslim Year 10 – April-May 631/Muharram 10 AH - delegates to pay respects and offer allegiance to the Prophet (pbuh), who was now the accepted King of Madinah, truly began to arrive in crowds.[1] The tribes around Makkah and Madinah had all accepted Islam, and it was now the turn of the remoter parts of Arabia, including the important region of Najran to the south of Makkah, and the Yemen beyond. Many had been holding back, acting prudently from their point of view, to see what would happen to the Quraysh who had resisted the call to Islam. When they saw Makkah occupied, the threat from the vast Byzantine army at the battle of Tabuk coming to nothing, and even the Thaqif (who were hostile to Islam) surrendering, then they knew the most prudent course would be to make peace.

Deputations began to arrive from all sides to render the adherence to Islam. Among them were ambassadors of five princes of the tribe of Himyar, the princes of Yemen, Mahra, Oman, and Yamama.

One visitor to the Prophet was Malik b. Nuwayrah the chief of Banu Yarbu, a large section of the powerful tribe of Banu Tamim. He was a noble famous for his generosity and hospitality (said to have kept a light burning all night outside his house or tent so that any traveller passing that way would know where to find shelter and food).[2] Malik accepted Islam and was appointed officer to collect the taxes of Banu Hanzalah and send them to Madinah. He was related to Sajjah bint Harith (Umm Sadirah), whose father was of the Banu Yarbu but whose mother was a Christian of the Christian tribe of Banu Taghlib.

The Kings of Himyar accept Islam

In the Yemen there were many who did not wish to accept a Quraysh man as their overlord, since there had been such a long history of rivalry between the Yemen and the Hijaz. However, not long after the battle of Tabuk a messenger came to the Prophet that the Kings of Himyar accepted Islam. They were Harith b. Abdu Kulal (Abd Kilal) and his brother Nu’aym, and Numan the prince of Dhu Ru’ayn, Mu’afir and Hamdan. The Prophet (pbuh) replied graciously, outlining their obligations as Muslims and urging them not to persecute their Jewish or Christian subjects but see to it that they paid the jizya tax.[3]

Abu Musa and Mu’adh b. Jabal were sent to govern the two provinces of Yemen, which had been under Himyarite rule, and to teach Islam. As they left Madinah the Prophet (pbuh) walked along beside Mu’adh’s horse giving last minute instructions right up to the final moment. Mu’adh, one of the most talented and famous reciters of the Qur’an, also had a reputation for excessive fervour,[4] and was given these specific instructions by the Prophet (pbuh): ‘Make things easy for them and do not put them into difficulty. Be lenient, not harsh; encourage, rather than repress. Talk to them pleasantly, and not in a manner that might repel them. Reconcile, and do not alienate.’[5]

‘You are going to people of the Book,’ the Prophet (pbuh) added. ‘First of all invite them to worship Allah (alone) and (acknowledge) that I am His Apostle. When they come to know Allah, then teach them that Allah has enjoined on them five prayers in every day and night (ie. in twenty-four hours), and if they start offering these prayers, then tell them that Allah has made it an obligation for them to pay the zakat from their property. It is to be taken from the wealthy among them and given to the poor amongst them. And if they obey you in that, then be cautious! Don't take their best properties (as zakat) and be afraid of the curse of an oppressed person (ie. an expression meaning that they must act justly) as there is no veil between his prayer and Allah.’[6]

He then questioned Mu’adh on how he would judge an issue if there was no ruling about it either in the Qur’an or from the Prophet’s (pbuh) known teachings.

‘Then I will exercise ijtihad (reasoning and judgement based on the principles of the Qur’an and sunnah) to form my own judgment,’ said Mu’adh. The Prophet (pbuh) was pleased with that, and that is the basis of Shari’ah law to this day.

‘The last advice the Prophet (pbuh) gave me when I put my foot in the stirrup,’ said Mu’adh, ‘was this: ‘Make your character good for the people, Muadh ibn Jabal!’’[7]

‘Mu’adh,’ he said, ‘You may well never see me again, after this year; but perhaps you will pass by this mosque of mine, and my grave.’ It was an ominous thing to say. Mu’adh left him, weeping.[8]

So Mu’adh and Abu Musa both took up their posts, and toured their provinces teaching and giving judgments. When the two preachers came to each other’s borders, they would visit and greet each other. One day Mu’adh went to meet Abu Musa, and found him sitting with a group around him, and a man with his hands tied behind his neck. It was a Jew who had converted to Islam and then apostatized, and had not only not been put to death (as some zealots might have wished), but had been held in safe custody for three months while they tried to make him change his mind back again. This time Mu'adh challenged Abu Musa’s judgement, and apparently not heeding the Prophet’s (pbuh) warning that he should be gentle, declared that he would not get down from his camel until the man had been executed. Abu Musa deferred to him, and this most severe sentence was carried out forthwith.[9]

In August 631/Rabi ath-Thani 10 AH. Khalid b. Walid was dispatched with a force of 400 to the Banu Harith b. Ka’b of Najran to invite them to Islam, with the order to show no hostility unless they refused peace. Khalid had expected a fight, but they readily accepted the peace terms and agreed to send a deputation.[10]

Khalid was next sent on to Hamdan in Yemen, where many of the people were Christians or Jews, and their priests and Rabbis were held in high esteem Despite Khalid’s persistence they did not respond to his call. The more arrogant Yemenites, proud of their ancient civilization and culture, regarded the interior of Arabia as a ‘backward’ area and were reluctant to accept that anything from there could be a source of enlightenment for them.[11] Yemen had never been subject to the Hijaz – on the contrary, the Hijaz had been the object of many of their past military campaigns. In spite of Khalid’s best efforts for over six months, he was not able to make any headway.

The Bishop’s Delegation from Najran

Meanwhile, the Prophet had sent a latter of invitation to Islam to the rulers of Najran. In December 631/Shaban 10 AH the delegation from Najran arrived in Madinah to see the Prophet (pbuh), sixty Christian horsemen whose careers had been financed and encouraged by the Byzantine Emperor. Twenty-four of the riders were of noble families and three of those had held positions of power – Abu Harithah b. Alqamah, the Bishop and spiritual leader of Najran, Abdu’l Masih (al-Aqib, the person in charge of government affairs), and Shurahbil (Sharhabeel) al-Ayham (as-Sayyid, in charge of educational and political affairs).

The Najranis had sympathy with much of Muhammad’s (pbuh) teaching, and admired the religious practices he was inaugurating – but they were concerned to defend the role of Jesus (pbuh) as the Divine Son of God, the second ‘person’ in their Holy Trinity. All Christian theologians, no matter to which branch of the Christian Church they belonged, understood that the entire edifice of Christianity as it was then being propounded depended on the literal acceptance of the doctrine of an original sin, which was then passed on to all humanity by inheritance, from which it was impossible for any human being, no matter how devout, to escape without extra Divine help. Thus, it was a necessary part of the faith that God Himself should become incarnate in human flesh, a being that was both God and Man – and therefore more than Man - to bring about the means for Man to escape the clutches of original sin; but at the same time he had to be part of humanity, so that Man might logically be the one paying the redemption for that sin. Jesus (pbuh), they reasoned, was this God-Man, and the whole point of his incarnation on earth was in order to die as a sacrifice of God Himself, to God Himself, to save or redeem humanity from its impossible situation.

Once this doctrine of original sin was questioned, or the free grace and compassion of God accepted so that there was no need of sacrificial redemption from sin, then the notion of an incarnate saviour became unnecessary and nonsensical. The whole edifice of Christianity would be undercut – and this was the very real danger the Christian intellectuals grasped immediately. So, the Christians defended Trinitarianism and the divinity of Jesus (pbuh), whereas Muhammad (pbuh) called them to recognise the One-ness of God and the spiritual unity of all humanity.

The Christians allowed to camp in the Madinah Mosque

The Christians were treated with the utmost hospitality, and to allay their fears were allowed to have their tents erected in the security of Prophet’s (pbuh) mosque, where they had all provisions of food and drink supplied to them. They made ready to meet him by taking off their travel (secular) clothes and putting on their ceremonial robes of fine silk embroidered with crosses, and gold rings.

However, when they greeted the Prophet (pbuh) he did not respond. They continued to wait on, and at the end of the day went to find Uthman b. Affan and Abdu’r Rahman b. Awf, who were known to them. They explained they had waited all day, and did not know what they were supposed to do. They had received the Prophet’s (pbuh) letter and responded – should they now go home again, without speaking to him? Ali, who was with Uthman and Abdu’r Rahman, suggested they should take off their copes and rings, and try again. Sure enough, when the Prophet (pbuh) approached him the next time, they were successful.

When the time came for the asr prayer, they also prayed, facing the east, the Prophet (pbuh) allowing them to do so. They assured the Prophet (pbuh) that they did not intend to change their faith, but wanted to hear what he had to say about Jesus (pbuh). He told them that he had nothing to say that day, but they should wait. The next morning the Christians came forward, led by the Bishop.

‘O Muhammad,’ the Bishop opened, ‘Tell us what it is that you say about the Lord, the Messiah?’

‘He is a servant of God,’ replied the Prophet (pbuh), ‘one chosen by God, and who answered Him.’

‘Do you know whether his birth was caused by a father?’

‘He was not born of human intercourse,’ replied the Prophet (pbuh), ‘so he could not have a father.’

‘Then how can you say that he is a servant who has been created, when you consider all created servants to have been born as the result of human intercourse, and to have fathers?’

The angel gave Allah’s answer: ‘The likeness of Jesus according to God is like the likeness of Adam. God created him from earth. Then God said to him: ‘Be.’ That is the truth from your Lord. Therefore do not be of those who go beyond the bounds (of reason).’ (Surah 3.58-59).

The Challenge of a Mubahalah

The Prophet (pbuh) recited this to the Christians. Next the angel revealed that he should issue the challenge of a mubahalah, that they should pray, and let the One True God send His curse on the party which was not declaring the truth.

‘If anyone disputes with you concerning him, after knowledge has been given to you, say to him: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, and ourselves and yourselves. Then let us call upon God to witness against each other, and let us invite the curse of God to fall upon those who lie.’ (Surah 3.60-61).

The Najrani leaders held a consultation, and decided to act cautiously - for if the Prophet (pbuh) truly was a Messenger of God, they would have invoked disaster upon themselves. Their unanimous view was to wait until the following morning, and then watch carefully to see what the Prophet (pbuh) did. If he came out with his children and his family showing he had the confidence to risk their safety, then they would withdraw from the contest of prayer; but if he came out defended by Companions ready to support him, then they should let the contest go ahead, for in that case, he would be showing that he did not have real confidence.

So the Christians came out early with the Bishop at their head, to see whether or not the Prophet (pbuh) would emerge with his family. He came out holding the hand of a younger man, two little boys walked in front of him (and scurried shyly beneath his cloak when he stopped), and a woman followed behind.

‘Who are these people?’ asked the Bishop.

‘That is his cousin Ali b. Abu Talib, who is also his son-in-law and the father of his two grandsons,’ he was told, ‘the most beloved of all creatures to him. Those children are the sons of his daughter by Ali. That woman is his daughter, Fatimah, the dearest of people to him and the closest to his heart.’[12]

The Bishop looked at the other Christian leaders. ‘He has come out with the special members of his family, trusting in his own truthfulness,’ he said. ‘By God, he would not have come with them if he was afraid that the proof would be against him.’ The others agreed.

So the Bishop called out that they would not make a contest of prayer, but would make peace with him.

The Jews who believed Ezra to be a Son of God

There were some Jewish leaders there who denied the prophethood of both ‘Isa (Jesus pbuh) and Muhammad (pbuh), and apparently some who elevated the status of Uzayr (Ezra pbuh) the Lawgiver to that of a Son of God.[13] The Jews and Christians then began to interrogate each other, disputing amongst themselves, let alone with the Muslims.

The various ways in which some Jews and Christians interpreted the words of God in their scriptures, or had assembled and edited their scriptures, in some cases violated the teachings of the many prophets and messengers who had been sent to reveal God’s word since time began. When they asked the Prophet (pbuh) which messengers he believed in, he gave his answer from Surah 2.136.

‘We (Muslims)’ it stated categorically ‘believe in God and in what has been revealed to us, to Ibrahim(pbuh), Isma’il (pbuh), Ishaq (pbuh), Yaqub (phuh) and his children. We believe in what has been revealed to Musa (pbuh), and to ‘Isa (pbuh), as well as in all the revelations which the prophets have received from their Lord. We do not differentiate between them. And we have submitted ourselves to God.’ In other words, all Jews and Christians were called to accept all prophets as being from the same Divine Source, with compatible messages from the One True God; and to accept that neither ‘Isa (Jesus pbuh), nor Muhammad (pbuh), nor Uzayr (Ezra pbuh), nor any other of the prophets ever claimed to be more than Messengers from that One True God.

The angel’s instruction was for Muhammad (pbuh) not to take an antagonistic approach, but to call all believers in the One True God to concentrate on what they had in common.

‘O people of the Book!’ he was requested to say, ‘Come to that which is common between us – that we do not worship anything besides God, that we do not associate anything with Him, and that we do not take one another as lords besides God.’ (Surah 3.64).

It was wrong that people who surrendered their entire lives to God should quarrel with each other about abstruse theological matters – it was God Himself that mattered, not how people interpreted their various experiences of the Divine. Forbearance, long-suffering, pardoning and patience were the qualities the Prophet (pbuh) gave as his example. Allah had told him: ‘Take the way of pardon; advise the correct and turn aside from the ignorant.' (Surah 7.199). There should be no attempt to force unwilling people to believe. When this advice was revealed the Prophet (pbuh) asked Jibril to interpret it for him. It was so important that he should be certain about it. Jibril told him to wait while he asked the One Who knew. He left the Prophet (pbuh), then came back.

‘O Muhammad,’ he said, ‘Allah commands you to unite yourself with those who cut you off, and to give to those who refuse to give to you, and to pardon those who are unjust to you.’[14]

If the Jews or Christians refused to accept this, he was not to persecute them, but simply to bear witness that Muslims, at least, had submitted to God’s will.

The Prophet (pbuh) stipulated that they would be allowed to practice their own faiths freely, provided they would pay the jizya of two thousand protective breastplates, each valued at 40 dirhams. No gold or silver, produce or slaves would be taken from them. A thousand breastplates would be paid in the month of Safar, and the other thousand in the month of Rajab. 40 dinars would be supplied for a house for the Prophet’s (pbuh) agent. For this, they would have the protection of Allah (jiwar Allah) and the protection of Muhammad b. Abdullah (dhimmah). They accepted the terms gladly.

They asked the Prophet (pbuh) to deputize a teacher to go with them. The Prophet (pbuh) told them to come back in the evening, and he would delegate ‘one who is strong and trustworthy.’ Umar heard this.

‘I went to the Zuhr prayer early,’ he said, ‘hoping to be the one who would fit the description. When the Prophet (pbuh) finished the prayer, he began looking to his right and his left and I stretched upwards so that he could see me.’ But the Prophet (pbuh) called on Abu Ubaydah, saying that he was the Amir or ‘guardian of his followers.’

This particular Christian delegation decided not to abandon their Nicene Creed, the Creed formulated by the Church in 325 CE. When they left, they were given gifts to take with them, and guards rode with them to guarantee their safety. Had it all been a waste of time? Indeed not - one member of the delegation, Abu Harithah, admitted to his friends that he was absolutely convinced of the truth of Muhammad’s (pbuh) message, but he felt that he could not personally accept Islam because of what he owed in finances, honour and respect to his people. Who knows what results came to pass in the months and years to come?

[2] Isfahani 14.65. His wife, Layla bint Minhal (Umm Tamim) was famous for her great beauty, and said to have had the most beautiful legs and eyes of her time!

[3] Ibn Ishaq p.644. The jizya was a tax was only paid by non-Muslims who accepted Muslim rulers. Muslims themselves paid the zakah tax (a fortieth of their surplus income)

[8] Ibn Kathir 4.137. In fact, he never did see the Prophet (pbuh) again.

[10] Ibn Ishaq p.645. Khalid returned with this deputation in January 632.

[11]Jesus (pbuh) faced the same kind of attitude because he came from Nazareth in Galilee, and not Jerusalem. ‘Can any good thing come out of Galilee?’ St. John’s Gospel 1.46.

[12] Kitab al-Irshad, p.117; ‘The Sealed Nectar’ p.451.

[13] I have not found any reference to any Jew believing Ezra to be ‘the’ or ‘a’ Son of God anywhere outside of the Qur’an itself. It does seem extraordinary that any Jews would do such a thing, but lack of evidence does not prove that this did not happen. Allah knows best. The Alim Encyclopedia gives an account of a prophet Ezra who died or slept for 100 years and was then revived, and restored to the people the copy of the Torah which had been buried and lost, and made a fresh copy from it, and was therefore called by some a ‘Son of God.’

[14] Reported in ‘Muhammad – Messenger of Allah’, Ash-Shifa of Qadi Iyad. Tr Aisha Bewley, Madinah Distribution, UK.