Justice and Compassion in the Qur'an: The People of the Book In the Period of the Prophet Muhammad

When we examine the relations of the Prophet

Muhammad with the people of the Book during the first years of Islam, we see that he co-operated with Christians.

When Muslims were subjected to cruelty by pagans in Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad told them to migrate to Ethiopia, a place where Christians lived at that time. King Negus, the Christian ruler of that country, accepted the migrant Muslims and protected them against oppression.

In the Qur'an Allah also gives the example of Jesus’ disciples to other believers for their loyalty to Allah and His Messenger. There are also striking similarities between the first Muslims and the first Christians. The communities who first believed in Allah always remained faithful to Allah‘s messengers, despite being subjected to difficulty and torture. In the Qur'an, Allah relates that the first Christians in the time of the Prophet Jesus were sincere Muslims who surrendered themselves to Allah:

When Isa' sensed disbelief on their part, he said,

And when I inspired the Disciples to believe in Me and in My Messenger, they said,

Despite treachery, attacks and plots, the Prophet always forgave the perpetrators in compliance with the verse

And as the verse suggests, "Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and kindly instruction, and discuss (things) with them in the politest manner..." (Surat an-Nahl, 125), he always summoned people to Islam with gracious advice.

In the Period of the Caliphs Justice was Exercised in Compliance

With the Qur'an

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the caliphs who succeeded him were also very sensitive regarding exercising justice. In conquered countries, both natives and newcomers led their lives in peace and security. Abu Bakr, the first Caliph, demanded his people to adopt just and compassionate attitudes in these lands. All these attitudes were in compliance with the values of the Qur'an. Abu Bakr gave the following command to his army before the first Syrian expedition: Stop, O people, that I may give you ten rules to keep by heart: Do not commit treachery, nor depart from the right path. You must not mutilate, neither kill a child or aged man or woman. Do not destroy a palm tree, nor burn it with fire and do not cut any fruitful tree. You must not slay any of the flock or herds or the camels, save for your subsistence. You are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them to that to which they have devoted their lives. You are likely, likewise, to find people who will present to you meals of many kinds. You may eat; but do no forget to mention the name of Allah. Umar ibn al-Khattab, who succeeded Abu Bakr, was famous for his justice and made contracts with the indigenous people of conquered countries, just like the Prophet Muhammad did. Each one of these contracts was an example of understanding and justice. For instance, in his declaration granting protection to Christians in Jerusalem and Lod, he ensured that churches would not be demolished and guaranteed that Muslims would not worship in churches in groups. Umar granted the same conditions to the Christians of Bethlehem. During the conquest of Medain, the declaration of protection given to the Nestorian Patriarch Isho'yab III (650 - 660 AD) again guaranteed that churches would not be demolished and that no building would be converted into a house or a mosque. The letter written by the patriarch to the bishop of Fars (Persia) after the conquest is most striking, in the sense that it depicts the compassion and compassion shown by Muslim rulers to the People of the Book in the words of a Christian: The Arabs to whom Allah has given at this time the government of the world... do not persecute the Christian religion. Indeed, they favor it, honor our priests and the saints of the Lord and confer benefits on churches and monasteries. The following document by Umar shows us the kind of love and compassion Allah grants to man, provided that he adopts the character traits described in the Qur'an: This is the security which ‘Umar, the servant of Allah, the commander of the faithful, grants to the people of Ælia. He grants to all, whether sick or sound, security for their lives, their possessions, their churches and their crosses, and for all that concerns their religion. Their churches shall not be changed into dwelling places, nor destroyed, neither shall they nor their appurtenances be in any way diminished, nor the crosses of the inhabitants nor aught of their possessions, nor shall any constraint be put upon them in the matter of their faith, nor shall any one of them be harmed. All these are very important examples revealing the understanding of justice and love of true believers.

By means of the conquests made in the period of caliphs, the communities in these regions were saved from violence and had the opportunity to come to know Islam. However, people were never forced to convert to Islam. As the verse, "To you your religion, and to me, mine" (Surat al-Kafirun, 6) suggests, everyone practiced their religion freely and never faced any sort of oppression. They learned about the religion of Islam from the practices of Muslim people who observed its principles in their true sense, and thus they were greatly impressed. The majority of these people complied with the sincere call of these pious Muslims, and thus the number of people who converted to Islam increased steadily. For instance, in the time of Abu Bakr, some of the Christians in Kinde and Iyad converted to Islam of their own free will, as did others after the conquest of Damascus. The false assertion that people in conquered countries converted to Islam under threat has also been disproved by Western researchers, and the justice and compassionate attitude of Muslims has been confirmed. L.Browne, a Western researcher, expresses this situation in the following words:

Incidentally these well-established facts dispose of the idea so widely fostered in Christian writings that the Muslims, wherever they went, forced people to accept Islam at the point of the sword. In his book The Prospects of Islam, Browne goes on to say that the real motive behind the Muslims' conquests was the brotherhood of Islam.

The People of the Book

There are many nations in the world with different colors, creeds, and languages. These differences, as mentioned earlier, have been a cause of enmity throughout history in societies that did not live by religious moral values. The perceived wisdom is that people can never manage to co-exist and that disputes arise wherever such differences exist. However, this is a great misconception and the facts are otherwise. In fact, it is Allah Who created human beings in different communities and in the Qur'an, He calls all people to peace and security:

All divine religions revealed through Allah‘s messengers summon people to have faith in Allah, recommend them to display moral perfection and warn them against bad morals. Despite the fact that all divine religions—except for Islam— are distorted, it is evident today that some of their messages are fundamentally the same. That is why these conflicts, which are stirred up artificially, lack reasonable and logical grounds. As stated in the verse above, the main reason for unrest among people is not complying with Allah‘s summoning but following in the "footsteps of satan."

Believers' harbouring hostile feelings to other people who have faith in Allah is a moral weakness that displeases Allah, who prohibits all believers from displaying such feelings. He calls on people to establish peace, sevgi and friendship. In the Qur'an, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, the last Messenger of Allah, Allah gives believers explicit commands and recommendations on this subject.

The Status of the People of the Book in the Qur'an

Remember when Moses said to his people,

In the Qur'an Allah does not even discriminate between those who do not believe in Him and religion and those who are actively hostile to it. Allah commands Muslims to make their position clear to those who are hostile, while He orders them to treat with justice to those who do not show such hostility:

In the Qur'an, we are commanded not to make judgments about people just because they belong to a particular race, nation or religion. In every community, there are good people as well as wicked people. In the Qur'an, Allah draws attention to this differentiation. For instance, right after mentioning the rebellious nature— against Allah and His religion—of some People of the Book, there is reference to an exception and, said: