A few days ago;

Lebanon slipped to the brink of civil strife as a result of the bloody armed clashes in the Tayouneh area, south of Beirut, between Shiite and Christian parties, which threatened the end of the scene of peaceful coexistence that the Lebanese laid its foundations in the “Taif Agreement” document of the year 1410 AH / 1989 AD, after they tasted the scourge of a devastating civil war for years. 1395-1411 AH / 1975-1990 AD.

The recent unfortunate events offer us an opportunity to reflect again on the values ​​of religious coexistence in the light of the historical memory of the sons of the Arab-Islamic civilization, to see the nature of the values ​​governing the foundations of coexistence among its various components of sects, bees and sects?

And how were the relations proceeding realistically within the Islamic sphere between these components?

The truth is that from the Prophet’s “Medina Constitution” to the Ottoman Milli system;

The just contemplator believes that respecting pluralism and allowing the option of self-management for the components of the nation were the most important guiding universal values ​​throughout the history of the Islamic experience. with it.

The Islamic public sphere also allowed the attendance of those who differed from it in the most private circumstances, such as the prayers for rain, which is a private and pure religious practice, not to mention the activities of the public political sphere such as the joint protest demonstrations against tyranny in which the holy books of all sects were publicized!!

We do not claim that pure idealism accompanied all the details of the history of co-existence without malice or unfairness. A fair reader of history does not say this with regard to what is the biography of human beings from the nature of injustice;

But the moment of disruption in the application of the rules - if it occurred - was considered a temporary, isolated and condemned departure from the established principles of pluralism and spaciousness to which everyone continued to appeal, and that the grievances included everyone and were practiced by everyone, albeit in varying proportions in both cases.

In this article; We will review - based on the legacies of the Islamic historical experience - occasions and situations in which the parties to the "national community" united spectra and sects, moments of joy and sadness, to see how everyone often coexisted, sympathetic and cohesive, so the paths of life brought them together from the niches of knowledge to the wheels of the state, and the occasions of society included them in a wedding feast. Or the funeral of a personal person of scientific or societal affair, or their peaceful or war activity unified their position to raise a complaint of local tyranny or to ward off the scourge of foreign aggression, carrying their sacred books and religious symbols in harmony and peace.. and without denunciation or astonishment!!

Founding precedents


The message of Islam came - from its first day - to the universality of the discourse and the universality of the call, and soon the city became the capital of the multi-people and multi-belief state of the Messenger, peace be upon him, as the people there, as stated in 'Sahih al-Bukhari': "Mixtures of Muslims, polytheists, idolaters and Jews"! Then the announcement of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him - as “the imam of the nation and the one who is alone in the religious and worldly leadership,” according to the expression of Imam al-Baji (d. 474 AH / 1081 AD) in his book “Al-Muntaqa” - was “Sahifa al-Madina”, that is, “the constitution of the city,” which laid the foundations for a common coexistence in which these became static. The city/state is “a nation without people,” according to the principle of citizenship, not religion or ethnicity.

Prophet ﷺ founded the coexistence tolerant between the components of the "homeland" of the new, Napoleon represented the directives of the Quranic nodal and a community has developed: {There is no compulsion in religion} and {not God forbid those who have neither religion nor drive you out of your homes, justly and justly with them, God loves those }; The Prophet ﷺ applied this in his practical Sunnah; He used to visit Jewish patients (Sahih Al-Bukhari), perform out of respect for their funerals (Sahih Al-Bukhari), and treat them financially until he borrowed from a Jewish merchant, so he died and his shield was mortgaged to him (Sahih Al-Bukhari).

He even allowed his Christian guests to perform their rituals inside the Prophet's Mosque; Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH/1350 AD) stated - in “The Rulings of the People of Dhimmah” - that “it was authentic on the authority of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he sent a delegation of Christians from Najran (in the year 9 AH/631 AD and numbering 14 men) into his mosque, and their prayers came and they prayed in it,” and that “ Some things can be taken from this story, including: It is permissible for the People of the Book to enter Muslim mosques. And he, peace be upon him, instructed his companions on how to pray for the “People of the Book” as a reward for a favor that they would do to them. Imam al-Dhahabi (d. 749 AH / 1348 AD) - in 'History of Islam' - attributed to Ibn Umar that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "If you invite one of the Jews and Christians, then say: May God increase your wealth and your children."

In the footsteps of this noble prophetic guidance; The Companions and the Followers and their followers marched with kindness from the just Muslims and other sons of the Islamic nation, throughout the eras in which the nation enjoyed its intellectual health and civilizational comfort; The leaders of the Islamic conquests would give the owners of the open land “security for themselves, their religion, their money, their churches, and their crosses, nothing detracted from that and no one lived with them without their religion.” Historically, there was a "Christian judge" and a "Jewish judge", which they call idiomatically "Al-Najid".

Imam Ibn Katheer (d. 774 AH / 1373 AD) tells us - in 'The Beginning and the End' - that Muslims and Christians shared in Damascus for seven decades one "temple" to perform their prayers, half of it was a church and the other half was a mosque, and "Muslims and Christians entered this temple from One door... Then the Christians turn to the west to their church, and the Muslims take a right hand to their mosque." This "temple" is what later became a mosque exclusively for Muslims when the two parties agreed on that in the year 86 AH / 705 AD, and it was known historically and until now as the "Umayyad Mosque".

With the setback of the value tide among Muslims at the end of the second century; Many balances of justice and grace were disrupted, and societal grievances spread under the weight of political strife, social crises and the rupture of the internal fabric. Then all of this deepened with the beginning of the fourth century of foreign factors represented in the external threats to the Islamic world in its east and west, as a result of the attacks of the Byzantines, the Crusaders of the Franks, and the wars of Christians in Andalusia. It has often been linked between these threats and the members of the non-Muslim component within the Islamic region from which they were affected.

Mutual discipleship


Perhaps one of the first manifestations of positive coexistence between Muslims and others is the mutual intake of sciences and knowledge that continued throughout the eras of Islamic history. In the early days of Islam, many Muslims received from the Jewish and Christian rabbis various knowledges that did not contradict the teachings and realities of Islam. An example of this is what al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH / 1448 AD) mentioned - in 'Tahdheeb al-Tahdheeb' - that the imam exegete Muqatil bin Suleiman al-Balkhi (d. 150 AH / 768 AD) used to "take from the Jews and Christians the knowledge of the Qur'an that agrees with Their books.” Despite what was said about Muqatil al-Jarh al-Hadith, his views on interpretation are not devoid of any of the books of interpretation approved by Muslim scholars!

As the imam of Maghazi Muhammad bin Ishaq (d. 151 AH / 769 AD) "carrying about the Jews and Christians and calling them in his books 'the first people of knowledge'"; According to Al-Nadim (d. 384 AH / 1047 AD) in 'Al-Fihrist'. Al-Tabari (d. 310 AH / 922 AD) informs us - in his history - that when the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil (d. 247 AH / 861 AD) issued his discriminatory decisions against non-Muslims in 235 AH / 849 AD, among them was that “He forbade their children to be taught in the books of the Muslims and [ordered] that no Muslim should teach them.” This indicates that all people of religion shared the places of education

Ibn Khallikan (d. 681 AH / 1282 AD) - in 'Deaths of Notables' - tells us that the distinguished Christian doctor Yahya bin Jazla (d. 493 AH / 1100 AD) "was reading to Abi Ali Ibn Al-Walid al-Mu'tazili (d. 478 AH/1085 AD) and accompanies him." Abu Muhammad al-Ghanawi al-Nusabi al-Shafi’i (d. 660 AH / 1262 AD) was “discontinued in his house [in Damascus]… a group of Muslims, Jews, Christians and Samaria would frequent him [so] everyone would recite”;

According to Ibn Taghri Bardi (d. 874 AH / 1470 AD) in 'An-Nujum al-Zahira'.

Likewise, what Al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1506 AD) narrated - in 'For the sake of the conscious' - on the authority of Shams al-Din Muhammad bin Yusuf al-Jazari al-Shafi'i al-Qusi (d. 711 AH / 1311 AD) that "he stood up for reading, so Muslims, Jews and Christians recited to him, and he was the preacher of the Tulunid Mosque. [in Cairo], and Al-Taki Al-Subki (d. 756 AH / 1355 AD) read to him and narrated from him.”

It was stated in the translation of Abd al-Sayed bin Ishaq al-Isra’il (d. 715 AH / 1315 AD) - in Ibn Hajar’s ‘Al-Durar al-Katina’ that he was “the judge of the Jews (= their religious reference), and he loved Muslims, attended hadith councils, and heard him [Muhaddith al-Sham al-Hafiz] al-Mizzi ( Died 742 AH / 1341 AD), then God Almighty guided him and accepted Islam. and with the witnesses of the “Hadith Hearing Councils”; Some Christians and Jews attended “Sufi hearings” among Muslims, and so Al-Dhahabi narrated - in “History of Islam” - that “the presenter of the Hariri sect,” Sheikh Abu Al-Hasan Al-Hariri (d. Even about Jews and Christians.

Comprehensive crises One


of the recurring phenomena in Islamic history was the protests that took place in its major cities against the authorities’ abuse and oppression of people or the lack of security and stability, and it was usual for all religious sects to participate in a national front to confront injustice and tyranny. Among the strangest of those incidents was the incident that took place in Damascus in which every sect carried its holy book and participated in supplications inside the Umayyad Mosque!

Al-Maqrizi (d. 845 AH / 1441 AD) - in 'Ita'az al-Hanafa' - stated that in the year 363 AH / 974 AD, Abu Mahmoud Ibrahim bin Jaafar al-Barbari al-Kitami (d. 370 AH / 981 AD) - the commander of the Fatimid Egyptian military - entered Damascus, which was in a state of turbulence, and when “The matter worsened and the affliction intensified.” Its people, led by the “Sheikhs of the Country,” staged demonstrations denouncing the turmoil and calling for security. “The Muslims opened the Qur’an, the Christians the Bible, and the Jews the Torah, and they gathered at the mosque and chanted with prayers, and they circled the city while it was spread over their heads!!”

And when the influence of the Buyihi minister, Abi al-Fadl al-Shirazi (d. 362 AH / 973 AD), “many supplications for him in the mosques and in the churches and in the sale (= synagogues of Jews).” When the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (d. 411 AH/1021 AD) exaggerated his oppression of his flock in Egypt in the year 395 AH/1006 AD, "[His] Al-Kitamite allies gathered and pleaded with him, as well as all other writers, workers, soldiers, merchants... Christians and Jews, and asked him to pardon them." Al-Maqrizi adds that the pardon was issued in “a register [of which] a copy was written for Muslims, a copy for Christians, and a copy for Jews!”

In the year 394 AH / 1005 AD, a senior Christian official intervened in the Fatimid state to lift the injustice against the people of the Levant, the Muslims and others. He complains about the misfortune that has befallen the people and what has included the Levant and its people...of injustice, abuse and injustice, which has not been the norm in ancient times nor modern times.When the letter reached her..she went to the ruler [to remove this injustice, so he accepted her intercession], and he consulted with her in matters and act according to her opinion.”

According to Ibn al-Qalansi al-Tamimi (d. 555 AH / 1160 AD) in 'The History of Damascus'.

Among the manifestations of cohesion between followers of religious sects;

The solidarity and sympathy that I sometimes show in moments of grief and times of war has reached the point of participating in the funerals of notables, fighting in wars and what their circumstances require of shelter and relief.

Among the earliest and strangest evidence for this is what was mentioned in Imam al-Bukhari’s “Al-Tareekh al-Awsat” (d. 256 AH / 870 AD) and “Al-Musannaf” by the modern imam Ibn Abi Shaybah (d. 297 AH/910 AD) according to a narration on the authority of Imam al-Sha’bi (d. 106 AH / 725 AD) that “Umm died Al-Harith bin [Abdullah bin] Abi Rabia [Al-Makhzoumi died after 69 AH / 690 AD] and she is a Christian, so the companions of Muhammad, peace be upon him, witnessed her” and walked at her funeral as mourners for her!!

Others added that this Christian woman was called Sabha al-Habashiah, and her death was in Mecca, after the death of her companion husband, Abdullah bin Abi Rabea al-Makhzoumi, in the year 35 AH / 656 AD.

Ibn Abi Shaybah also narrated that "Ibn Umar (d. 73 AH / 693 AD) was asked about a Muslim man who follows (= follow her) Christianity [when] she dies? He said: He follows her and walks in front of her."

In contrast; When the ascetic Imam Mansour bin Zathan Al-Wasiti died in the year 128 AH / 747 AD, "the Jews and Christians and the Magi wept over him at his funeral." Al-Hafiz Ibn Asaker (d. 571 AH / 1175 AD) reported - in 'History of Damascus' - that he walked at the funeral of the imam of Sham al-Awza'i, "the nations of the Jews, Christians and Copts." He also quoted with his chain of transmission on the authority of “Sahib Sitra” Imam al-Fazari (d. 186 AH / 803 AD) - who is “one of the imams of Muslims and scholars of religion” - as saying: “When Abu Ishaq al-Fazari died, I saw the Jews and Christians throwing dust on their heads from what happened to them.”

Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH / 1071 AD) - in 'History of Baghdad' - stated that on the day of the death of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH / 855 AD) "the funerals and mourning occurred in four categories of people: Muslims, Jews, Christians and Magi."

in the Islamic West;

Imam al-Dhahabi reported on the authority of the Andalusian historian Ibn Bashkwal (d. 578 AH / 1182 AD) that the great Andalusian scholar Ubaid Allah bin Yahya bin Yahya al-Laithi al-Qurtubi (d. 298 AH / 912 AD) “was seen on the day of his death who mourned for him from every beating, even Jews and Christians!!”

It was also reported by Ibn Asaker that “the sheikh of Persia in his time” Muhammad ibn Khafif al-Dhabi al-Shirazi al-Sufi died in the year 371 AH / 982 AD “and the Jews, Christians and Magi gathered at his funeral.”

Al-Dhahabi said that when the ascetic scholar Ibn Abi Nasr, nicknamed "Al-Afif" (died 420 AH / 1030 AD), people went out for his funeral, so "in front of him was a group of hadith companions cheering, takbeer and showing the Sunnah, and his funeral was attended by all the people of the country, even Jews and Christians."

joint battles and


on the battlefields; In many cases, Christians joined the armies of some Muslim sultans and participated with them in just or unjust wars. Among the positive examples of this is what the historian Ibn al-Abri (d. 685 AH / 1286 AD) tells us in 'The History of the Mukhtasar al-Dawla'; He says that when Sultan Ghiath al-Din al-Saljuqi (d. 644 AH / 1246 AD) faced the rebellion of Bab al-Turkmani (d. 638 AH / 1240 AD), who claimed prophecy in the year 638 AH / 1240 AD and mobilized 6000 knights to spread his call; Sultan Ghiath al-Din sent an army in which there was a group of Franks who were in his service, so they fought them, and the Muslim soldiers did not dare to attack them and refrained from them when they imagined them [of strength]. Al-Mutanabbi Baba, the leader of the rebellion.

Let us compare this with what happened five years later in the year 642 AH / 1244 AD when the Ayyubid kings of Damascus, Homs and Karak allied themselves with the Crusaders against their Muslim brother and cousin, the Sultan of Egypt Najm al-Din Ayoub bin Sultan al-Kamil al-Ayyubi (d. 647 AH / 1249 AD), so they marched "under the flags of the Franks with crosses on their heads." !

According to the expression of Imam Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 654 AH / 1256 AD) in 'Mirat al-Zaman'.

The teachings of Islam necessitated the protection of non-peaceful citizens “and the prohibition of Muslims and infidels who intend to harm them, and the rescue of those who were captured from them”;

As Imam Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah al-Hanbali (d. 620 AH / 1223 AD) says in his book 'Al Kafi'.

Indeed, the Noble Qur’an made one of the legitimate aims of jihad to

protect places of worship for all religions

;

The Almighty said: “And had it not been for God to repel people, one by another, monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques would have been demolished.”

The strange thing is that in practice, it sometimes happened that Muslims who were ideologically opposed to the Muslim authority were left in the captivity of the enemies as punishment, while protection was provided to others, so all those who were captured from the “Muslim dhimmis” were ransomed. Al-Tabari reported - in his history within the events of the year 231 AH / 846 AD - that a redemption took place for the Muslim captives of the Romans in Constantinople, and the Abbasid Caliph Al-Wathiq (d. Roman hands!!

Al-Imad Al-Isfahani (d. 597 AH/1200 AD) tells us - in 'Al Bustan al-Jami' - that when the Crusaders Franks seized - in the year 541 AH / 1246 AD - the city of Edessa (= the city of 'Urfa' in Turkey today) and a fortress near it, and "they took whoever was in it." Of the Jews, Christians and Muslims... So the Muslim soldiers gathered [against them]... So he freed all the captives." Just as the Crusader occupier did not differentiate between the adherents of religions in its occupation and oppression; The Muslims did not differentiate between them in terms of protection and freedom from captivity.

Among the deep and significant positions in this context are; The story of Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH / 1328 AD) in releasing the Jewish and Christian prisoners who were captured by the Tatars in their attack on Damascus in the year 699 AH / 1300 AD. In his letter to the Christian King of Cyprus Sargon, it came: “And all the Christians knew that I… I addressed the Tatars in The release of the captives...Then [their king Ghazan (d. 703 AH / 1303 AD)] allowed the Muslims to be released. And he said to me: But we have Christians, we took them from Jerusalem, so these are not released. And we will not leave a prisoner, neither from the people of the religion nor from the people of dhimma. And we released from the Christians whomever God willed, so this is our work and our charity, and the reward is on God.”

Defense and Relief


One of the

forms of

solidarity that has a great impact is what non-Muslims used to provide to their Muslim brothers in terms of relief or shelter for fugitives from danger to their lives that came from a local or foreign authority. When the Andalusian imam Talut bin Abdul-Jabbar al-Ma’afari (died before 206 AH/821 AD) - who came to al-Dhahabi in ‘Sir Al-Alam al-Nabala’, he described him as “one of the working scholars” - fled from the pursuit of the Prince of Andalusia Al-Hakam the First Umayyad (d. 206 AH/821AD) He disappeared for a year with a Jew, then went out and went to the vizier, Abu Al-Bassam, to hide with him, and he handed him over to the government.

And the Umayyad prince did not remain silent about this painful paradox, so he said to his minister: “A Jew preserved him and covered him for his place of knowledge and religion, and you betrayed him when he intended you, and you excused (= betrayed) his responsibility”!! Then the emir dismissed the treacherous minister and rewarded the loyal Jew “and increased his charity.” The story says that he converted to Islam, affected by that fine reward, and his story became “the parable of fulfilling a duty” in all of Andalusia!

Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi quoted in “The History of Baghdad” - and was followed by Judge Iyad al-Maliki (d. 543 AH / 1148 AD) in “The Order of Knowledge” - on the authority of Imam al-Daraqutni (d. 385 AH / 996 AD) that the judge of judges in Baghdad, Ismail bin Ishaq al-Maliki (d. 282 AH / 895 AD), who is who “published the doctrine of Malik (Bin Anas d. 179 AH / 796 AD) in Iraq” according to al-Dhahabi in “Al-Siyar”; Abdoun bin Sa’id Al-Wazir, who was a Christian, came to him, so he stood up and welcomed him. He saw the denial of that by the witnesses. When [the vizier] came out, he [the judge to the witnesses] said: I knew your denial, and God Most High said: {God does not forbid you from those whom He has not in religion, and they did not expel you from your homes to be kind to them.” This man fulfills the needs of the Muslims, and he is an ambassador between us and [Caliph] Al-Mutadhid (d.

During the struggle with the Crusaders;

In one year, the siege on Muslims in Acre intensified, so Sultan Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (d. 589 AH / 1193 AD) ordered a ship loaded with supplies to help them, and cooperated in carrying out the task of breaking the siege, "Muslim and Christian men from the people of Beirut", who led the ship with tight planning until I entered Acre despite the heavy guard of the Crusaders.

And Ibn Kathir told us that when the Tatars invaded the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, Baghdad, in the year 656 AH / 1258 AD, people hid “in mosques, mosques, and intersections, and none of them escaped except the dhimmis of the Jews and Christians, and those who sought refuge in them” among the Muslims.

A century ago,

The famous incident was during the Egyptian revolution in the year 1338 AH / 1919 AD against the British occupation, when the Coptic priest Sergius entered the Al-Azhar Mosque and was the first Christian to ascend his pulpit in history, where he delivered several political speeches in the presence of senior Muslim scholars.

Weddings and Banquets


Situations of sorrows and crises were not unique in their unification of the followers of religions in Islamic civilization; The occasions of joy and celebration had their share of that unification and unity; An example of this is the historic reception organized by Mamluk Cairo for the first Abbasid caliph in Egypt, nicknamed "Al-Mustansir" (d. 660 AH / 1262 AD). When his convoy arrived - on Rajab 8, 659 AH / 1261 AD - Sultan al-Zahir Baybars (d. 676 AH / 1277 AD) rode to meet him. And with him was the minister... the judge of judges... the witnesses, the presidents, the reciters and the muezzins, the Jews of the Torah, and the Christians of the Bible... and it was a memorable day; As the historian Qutb al-Din al-Yunini (d. 726 AH / 1326 AD) tells us in 'The Tail of the Mirror of Time'.

After the last liberation of Acre from the Crusader occupation in 690 AH / 1291 AD by the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil bin Qalawun (d. 693 AH / 1294 AD), thus ending the era of the Crusades in its historical sense;

Al-Ashraf entered Damascus.

The numerous fatwas in Islamic jurisprudence books related to the holidays of non-Muslims suggest the extent of the phenomenon of Muslims attending these holidays, including Muslim women.

The jurist al-Muhtasib Ibn Abdoun al-Tajibi al-Andalusi (d. 527 AH / 1133 AD) called for “preventing Muslim women from entering churches” on the occasions of Christian holidays and weddings.

The geographer, the jurist al-Maqdisi al-Bashari (d. 380 AH / 991 AD) reported to us - in “The Best of Taqasim” - that “among the Christian holidays that Muslims recognize and appreciate the seasons are: Easter at the time of Nowruz, and Pentecost in the time of heat, and Christmas in the time of cold, and the Eid of Barbara in the time of rain.” This is felt by the openness of the celebrations of these holidays and the freedom available to their owners to hold them, so that it has become a general culture for all, and Muslims even chronicle their dealings with it.

This history of Christian holidays seems to be relatively old, and even the modernists were not spared from it.

When Imam Al-Hafiz Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi dated the death of the linguist Abu Amr Ishaq bin Murar Al-Shaibani (d. 210 AH / 825 AD), one of the sheikhs of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal;

He said that it was the year 210 AH / 825 AD "on the Sa'ain Day - in a neglected year - and it is one of the Christian holidays".

The exchange of invitations for wedding and other banquets and the exchange of gifts became common, as we find in the story of Imam Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH / 798 AD) with Bahram al-Majusi, who gave a “public feast for Muslims, Christians, Jews and Magi.” The Hanafi mufti Shihab al-Din al-Hamawi (d. 1098 AH / 1688 AD) - in 'Games Uyun al-Baseer' - quoted the fatwas of Sheikh al-Islam Abu al-Hasan al-Saadi al-Hanafi (d. 461 AH / 1070 AD) that "one of the Magi had a lot of money, well-written by the poor Muslims, he fed He covers them hungry, clothes their naked, spends on their mosques, gives paint to their saddles, and lends to the needy (= the needy) Muslims.

The traveler and Andalusian jurist Ibn Jubayr (d. 614 AH / 1217 AD) when he visited the city of Tyre in Lebanon witnessed a Christian wedding in its port, and described accurately the details of what happened in it, noting that “Muslims and other Christians from the audience returned on their way as two sages (= two rows) looking at them (= The people of the wedding) and they do not deny that.” In the year 1156 AH / 1744 AD, the supervisor of the accounts of the Wilayat of Damascus, Fathi Effendi al-Daftari (d. after 1156 AH / 1744 AD) held a party on the occasion of his daughter’s marriage, “and it was seven days each day for a group: […] and the third day to the sheikhs and scholars, […] and the fifth day to the Christians and the Jews.

A hundred years ago, after the sectarian strife in Aleppo on February 28, 1919 (= year 1337 AH); Aleppo historian and poet Kamel al-Ghazi (d. 1349 AH / 1933 AD) says that "it occurred to some of the three great sects to seek to emphasize what is between these boredoms of old love and loyalty, in order to avoid that this incident has distorted their virtues or left an impression of malice or grudge in the hearts." So the chiefs of boredom took the scholars and priests to meet with one of them once a week, during their meeting they exchanged terms of affection and love.

Charities and endowments


are also manifestations of mutual righteousness. The benefactors of each religion give

alms

to the poor of the other religion and allocate endowments to help them. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, accepted the alms of non-Muslims from the subjects of the Islamic state. Indeed, the first endowment in the history of Muslims was from the money of a wealthy Jew from the people of Medina, who fought with the Muslims in the Battle of Uhud in the year 3 AH / 625 AD in defense of Medina, and he called his people to fight with the Muslims and said: “Oh, Jews, by God, you have known that Muhammad’s victory over you is right.” By this, he reminds them of their duty to defend Medina in compliance with the terms of the Medina newspaper / constitution.

Imam Muhammad bin Ishaq - in the 'Sira' - mentioned that the Jew Mukhairaq al-Nadari (d. 3 AH / 625 AD) witnessed Uhud and said before the battle: "If I am injured, then my money is for Muhammad to do whatever he wants." Ibn Saad (d. 230 AH / 845 AD) - In 'The Great Classes' - To the Rightly Guided Caliph Omar bin Abdul Aziz (died 101 AH / 720 AD) that "the walls of the Prophet, peace be upon him... The seven walls that he endowed [were] from Mukhareq's money" This, and Ibn Kathir narrated - in 'The Beginning and the End' - that they "It was the first stop in the city." This is despite the fact that the biography scholars did not agree on the evidence of Mukhareq’s Islam, and it appears that a Jew was killed because Muslims usually do not mention the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, by his mere name, as mentioned in Mukhareq’s saying “Mali to Muhammad”, but rather mention him by his title, so they say: “Prophet of God” or “Messenger of God”.

And Ibn Jubayr describes to us in his journey - and during the days of the Frankish Crusaders control over the coast of the Levant - about the merciful treatment with which the Christians of Mount Lebanon met their neighbors from the Muslim worshipers, and he says: “It is surprising that the Christians near Mount Lebanon, if they see some who are cut off [for worship]] Among the Muslims, they brought them sustenance and did good to them, and they say: These are those who are cut off from God Almighty, so their participation is obligatory.

The Muslim traveler was alerted to this paradox by the logic of his time, so he wrote a commentary: “And if the treatment of the Christians is against their detractor, then what do you think of the Muslims, one with another”?!

And when the scholar of the Levant Muhammad Kurd Ali (d. 1373 AH / 1953 AD) spoke about the “Kasbah of the Mountain” in Lebanon, he said that “to this day there is an old mosque from the tenth century built by one of the princes of Lebanon, and the Diriyun (= residents) are still Deir al-Qamar (Christians) are keen on his safety, so they pledge to build it, even if he has no one to perform prayer in it!!

The coexistence between these components has led to strange results, from cultural quotation to devotionalism, and even participation in some public religious rites in supplication to God to lift the affliction from everyone; In 'Sharh al-Talqin' by Imam Abu Abdullah al-Maziri al-Maliki (d. 536 AH / 1141 AD) "there is nothing wrong with expelling the dhimmis [voluntarily] to seek rain with the Muslims." Indeed, some scholars said that “it is not forbidden for the Jews and Christians to go around for rainy days and go around [in it] by crucifixion and polytheism.”

These fatwas have gone out of the theoretical premise to the historically applied reality. Al-Maziri quotes the imam of al-Sham al-Awza’i as saying: “Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik (the Umayyad caliph, d. 105 AH / 724 AD) wrote to his workers to take the dhimmis out for dropsy, and none of the [scholars] of his time reproached him!” It was stated in Al-Bustan Al-Jami’ by Al-Asfahani that in the year 288 AH / 901 AD, the water level of the Nile in Egypt fell below the level required for agriculture; “Then the Muslims, the Christians and the Jews went out for rain,” that is, they pray the rain.

on the level of popular religiosity; Imam Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771 AH / 1370 AD) - in “Tabaqat al-Shafi’i al-Kubra” - states that the ascetic Sheikh Abu al-Taher al-Mahali (d. 633 AH / 1236 AD) was an orator of the mosque of Amr ibn al-Aas (d. 43 AH / 664 AD) in Egypt, and he was famous for " The belief of the people of his time in him, even the Jews and Christians, and their blessing in his handwriting. This includes the prevalence of circumcision among the Christians of Egypt and Andalusia, as well as their writing of the basmalah in the introductions to their books, and their calling them by religious titles similar to the titles of Muslim scholars such as “Muwaffaq al-Din” and “Shams al-Din”!!

Among the strangest examples of this is what was narrated by the French traveler Laurent Darvio (d. 1113 AH / 1702 AD) in his memoirs included in his book 'Description of Damascus', written at the end of the seventeenth century AD; He says, as reported by Kamel Al-Ghazi: “In our time there is a group of Armenians living in Entebbe (located in the south of Turkey today). They enter mosques and pray there... They also baptize their children, respect the cross, and celebrate Christian seasons!!

Legitimate protection


from examples of guarantees of religious coexistence in the Islamic experience What Muslim scholars and judges used to issue fatwas to repel the injustice of rulers against their subjects, especially from non-Muslims, and this is what the historian Al-Balazari (d. 279 AH / 892 AD) - in “Futuh al-Sham” - stated that When some Christians from Mount Lebanon rebelled against the Abbasids, and their emir over the Levant, Salih bin Ali (d. 152 AH / 769 AD) took the general Christians of the region for the crime of some of them; This was rejected by the imam of al-Sham al-Awza’i (d. 157 AH / 769 AD) denouncing in a “long letter” he sent to the Emir “the eviction of the dhimmis from Mount Lebanon who were not compliant with those who left for their exodus.. God Almighty: {Do you not bear the burden of another’s burden}!!

The same was done by the Mufti and Judge of Judges in Egypt, Al-Harith bin Miskin Al-Maliki (d. 250 AH/864 AD), who asked the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun (d. 218 AH / 833 AD) to fight the Copts of the village of Al-Bashmore (located today in the Dakahlia Governorate in northern Egypt) when they rebelled against his authority in 216 AH / 831 AD, so Al-Harith refused Fighting them, saying to the Caliph: "It is not lawful for you [their blood]! Al-Ma'mun said to him: You are a goat!!" Ibn al-Wardi (d. 749 AH / 1348 AD) mentioned - in his history - that in the year 721 AH / 1321 AD a sedition took place in Cairo in which some of the common people were besieged Churches: “The Sultan got angry and asked the judges, who gave him a fatwa to reprimand them.”

At the height of the Ottoman Empire's victories and expansion; Its mufti, Sheikh al-Islam Ali bin Ahmed al-Jamali, known by his nickname 'Zanbeli Ali Effendi' (d. 932 AH / 1527 AD), objected to a decision that her powerful Sultan Selim I (d. 925 AH / 1520 AD) wanted to issue, which stipulates that "the Christians in the kingdom must embrace Islam all, or [that ] Get out of the country.” So, the Jamali Mufti stood firmly in his face, “and said to him: It is not permissible for you to do that! We have nothing but to take from them tribute and obedience!!”

And when the Lebanese thinker Shakib Arslan (d. 1366 AH / 1946 AD) narrated this story - in his book 'Tarikh Ibn Khaldun', stressing that its story is "narrated by mutawatir and in books as well" - he commented on it saying: "It has been proven that Islamic Sharia with its justice and honesty is what preserved the Christians in the Sultanate. In the Ottoman days, the sultan was able to implement everything he wanted with them, and that is why we find atheists of the Turks always criticizing the work of Islamic law on the pretext that it is the reason for the survival of the Christians in the Ottoman Sultanate, and that their survival was the reason for the weakness of Turkey..., and therefore when they seized power after the general war ( = World War I) They expelled all the Christians from Turkey, and only the Christians who were in Constantinople remained” because the Europeans refused to evacuate them!!

Then Arslan added, as if he was living in our current moment in which Islamophobia is on the rise - officially and popularly in the West: "It is surprising that we see Europeans working with all their might to erase Islamic legitimacy under which - and only because of it - Christians remained in all Islamic kingdoms... enjoying all rights What Muslims have enjoyed since the advent of Islam to this day of people..and it is surprising [also] that we see them nevertheless prefer that Islamic governments be atheists, even if they expel all Christians from their countries! And if he preserves them, and they love his demise, even if that means their demise!!

بل إن المستشرق السويسري آدم متز (ت 1336هـ/1917م) يقول -في كتابه ‘الحضارة الإٍسلامية في القرن الرابع الهجري‘- إنه "كثيرا ما كان رجال الشرطة المسلمون يتدخلون بين فرق النصارى لمنعهم من المشاجرات" فيما بينهم، وذكر نموذجين من تلك الوقائع؛ مشيرا إلى محاولة الخليفة المأمون فرض الحرية الدينية قانونيا لطوائف المسيحيين ولو كان عدد إحداها عشرة أشخاص فقط، لكن رؤساء الكنائس اعترضوا على ذلك فتركه المأمون!

وجه آخر
ختاما؛ فإننا -حين نقف على هذه اللحظات ونتوقف عند تلك المحطات- واعون بالجانب الآخر من التجربة -وقائع ونصوصا- الذي ‏صبغه ‏التشاحن بدلا عن التعاون، والتحارب عوضا من التحاور. ولكننا نعتقد أن صور التراحم والتلاحم -التي نقدم هنا نماذج يسيرة ‏منها مما حفظته سجلات التاريخ المنشورة- ‏كانت هي الأصلَ الممثـِّلَ للمبدأ القيمي المؤسِّس للعلاقة بين مكونات ساكنة أقطار الإسلام منذ انساحت فتوحه خارج ‏جزيرة العرب، تلك العلاقة القائمة على خضوع الجميع لمبدأ "الإنصاف والانتصاف" وقاعدة "لهم ما لنا وعليهم ما ‏علينا".‏

وأما ما سواها من صور التظالم -بمختلف ضروبه- فكانت تعكس الممارسة التاريخية للمبدأ القيمي في لحظات ضعفها وانكفائها ‏الأخلاقي، متخليةً عن قيم البر والقسط: توظيفا مطفِّفا لنصوص الدين تسويغا لهضم حقوق الأخوة ‏والعهد والجوار، أو تأثرا ‏بأزمات هموم العيش اليومي ورَهق ‏التعايش المجتمعي، أو انعكاسا لمظالم السياسة والسلطان، وحسابات الولاء لحكم محلي ‏داعم أو غزو أجنبي داهم.‏

وآية كل ذلك؛ أن الظلم -مهما كان مصدرُه مُسْلِماً أو غيرَ مُسْلِم- ‏عانى منه الجميع مسلمين وغير مسلمين، والتحيز والتمييز مارستهما كافة ‏المذاهب والطوائف الإسلامية حتى تجاه بعضها بعضا، استجابة لغواية التعصب المذهبي.‏ كما أن التحالف مع الأعداء والاحتلال الأجنبي مارسه المسلمون وغيرهم.

ومن أمثلة شمول ظلم السلطة للجميع بمن فيهم رموزهم العلمية؛ ما رواه ابن تَغْري بَرْدي -في ‘النجوم الزاهرة‘- من أنه في سنة 791هـ/1389م "قـَـبَض [الأميرُ] منطاش (قـُـتل 795هـ/1393م) على متّى بطرك النصارى وألزمه بمال، و[قبض] على رئيس اليهود وألزمه أيضا بمال… ثم طلب منطاشُ [إحضارَ] الشيخ شمس الدين محمد الركراكي [القاضي] المالكي (ت 793هـ/1391م) وألزمه بالكتابة على الفتوى في أمر [الانقلاب على] الملك الظاهر بَرْقوق (ت 801هـ/1398م) فامتنع من الكتابة غاية الامتناع، فضربه منطاش مئة عصاة وسجنه بالإسطبل"!!

ويكفي أن نذكر من صور التظالم بين المسلمين –بداعي التعصب المذهبي- هذه الأقوال التي صدرت من بعض علمائهم الكبار الذين ينتمون إلى طبقة يُفترض فيها أن تضبط أحكامَها بميزان كفتاه: العلم والعدل؛ فقد كان القاضي شَريكاً النَّخَعي (ت 177هـ/791م) -على ما رواه عنه الخطيب البغدادي في ‘تاريخ بغداد‘- يقول: "لأنْ يكون في كل حي من الأحياء [بالكوفة] خَمّارٌ خير ‏من أن يكون فيه رجل من أصحاب أبي حنيفة‏ (ت 150هـ/768م)".

ورأى العالم الحنفي محمد بن شجاع الثلجي (ت 266هـ/879م) أن ‏‏"أصحاب أحمد بن حنبل يحتاجون ‏أن يُذبَحوا‎‏"!! فما بالنا بالمغايرين في المعتقد الديني الذين عُرفوا -في أحيان كثيرة- بـ"ما لهم من الحرية الزائدة والجاه ‏القاطع" في مؤسسات الاقتصاد وأروقة السلطة!!‏

إن هذا التاريخ الطويل والتراث العريض للتسامح الإسلامي مع معتنقي الأديان المختلفة هو ما جعل المؤرخ الفرنسي غوستاف لوبون (ت 1350هـ/1931م) يستخلص -في نهاية كتابه ‘حضارة العرب‘- أن المسلمين عاملوا "كل قـُطْر استولوا عليه بعطف عظيم تاركين لهم قوانينهم ومعتقداتهم…؛ فالحق أن الأمم لم تعرف راحمين متسامحين مثل العرب ولا ديناً سمحاً مثل دينهم".

وهي الخلاصة نفسها التي توصل إليها اليوم الأديب والصحفي اللبناني الشهير أمين معلوف حين قال في كتابه ‘الهُوِّيَّات القاتلة‘: "لو كان أجدادي مسلمين في بلد فتحته الجيوش المسيحية، بدلا من كونهم مسيحيين في بلد فتحته الجيوش المسلمة؛ [فـ]ـلا أظن أنهم كانوا استطاعوا الاستمرار في العيش -لمدة أربعة عشر قرنا- في مدنهم وقراهم، محتفظين بعقيدتهم؛ [فـ]ماذا حدث فعليا لمسلمي إسبانيا وصقلية؟ لقد اختفوا حتى آخرهم: ذبحوا أو هُجِّروا أو تم تعميدهم بالقوة! يوجد في الإسلام -ومنذ بداياته- قدرة مميزة على التعايش مع الآخر"!!