Fourteen hundred years ago,
two groups of Arabs stood
before the Ethiopian Christian
king, Negus. Both groups had
urgent requests. Although both
groups spoke the same
language, came from the same
city and maybe brothers even,
they couldn’t have been more
different.
The first group that came to
Abyssinia (Ethiopia) was that of
mostly young men who believed
in a new prophet who
proclaimed that he had been
sent from one true God, Allah.
They called themselves Muslims.
Their request: They wanted the
king to use his famous justice to
allow them to remain in Ethiopia
and protect them against the
other group. However, the other
wanted the exact opposite: they
were the (polytheist) chiefs of
Mecca who importuned the
good king to allow them return
home with these deviants - who
had blasphemed their gods – so
that they could reform them.
However, they conveniently left
out the fact that their method
of reformation consisted,
chiefly, of torture: including
spearing a pregnant woman in
the stomach.
King Negus patiently listened to
both parties but he wanted
more. So he asked the Muslim
group to explain their religion
and to confirm if what their
prophet taught was heresy.
So the Muslim told the king that
their prophet did not come with
anything new, that his message
was only a confirmation of
what came before from other
prophets, like Moses and Jesus
(peace be upon them). Ja’afar,
the leader of the Muslims said:
"O King, we and our ancestors
turned away in ignorance from
the faith of the Prophet
Abraham (peace be upon him),
who with Ishmael (peace be
upon him), built the Kabah and
worshipped only Allah. We did
quite unspeakable things,
worshipping idols, treating our
neighbours unfairly, oppressing
the weak and so on. This was
our life until Allah sent a
Messenger from among us, one
of our own relatives, known
always to have been honest,
innocent and faithful. He asked
us to worship only Allah, to give
up the bad customs of our
forefathers, to be truthful and
trustworthy, to respect and help
our neighbours, to honour our
families and look after orphans,
and to put an end to misdeeds
and fighting. He ordered us to
slander neither men nor women.
He bade us worship none other
than Allah, to pray, to give alms
and to fast. We believe in him
and follow his lead. The Makkans
began to come between us and
our religion, so we left our
homes and came to you, hoping
to find justice."
Upon hearing this, King Negus
said, "Tell me some of the
revelations which your Prophet
claims to have received from
God."
Ja'far then recited chapter 19
which is called the chapter of
Maryam (Mary) in the Qur’an in
which Mary, the pure and
devoted mother of Jesus (peace
be upon him), had to face angry
and disbelieving family
members. She pointed to the
Baby Jesus, but they said they
could speak to a mere baby.
Then Jesus, himself astonished
them by uttering words of
great wisdom. Overwhelmed at
this, the King exclaimed: "The
messages of Jesus and
Muhammad come from the same
source!" And drawing a line
with his cane on the floor, he
said joyfully, “between your
religion and ours there is really
no more difference than this
line." King Negus gave the
Muslims permission to live
peacefully in his kingdom.
Some months before,
Muhammad had told his
followers about the Christian
king and Ethiopia “a king rules
without injustice, a land of
truthfulness.”
Tolerance does not fully cover
the conduct of the king and the
reception he gave the Muslims.
One, when the Muslims came,
they refused to bow to the king
saying “we bow only to Allah”
this quite nettled the king’s
advisers but the just ruler didn’t
mind. Two, the Meccan
polytheists came with many
gifts to bribe the king with, so
that he could give them the
Muslims but he repelled them
saying they were not used to
taking bribes. Third, the Muslims’
stay in Ethiopia was quite
prolonged; at point, they heard
a rumour that the persecution
they suffered in Mecca had
abated, they rushed home only
to discover that the news was
false, some of them returned
back to Ethiopia and the king let
them into his realm.
The Muslims up until today are
grateful for the kindness of the
Christian king. A wicked ruler
might have taken advantage of
the inchoate state of Islam at
the time to grant the request of
the polytheists so that
Christianity wouldn’t have a
competition or nib in the bud
the rise of a future ruler, but he
didn’t. He allowed Islam to
blossom and repelled those who
persecuted its adherents.
Muhammad never forgot this
favour and was forever
beholden to Christianity.
Because of this gratitude, this
migration to Ethiopia is history
101 in Islam. Every Muslim is
supposed to know it but we,
especially those in Nigeria tend
to forget. And it may come as a
shock to Nigerian Christians to
know that a powerful Christian
king once aided, however
indirectly, the growth of Islam
when he could have easily done
the opposite.
But what may shock both
Muslims and Christians is the
content of the letter that
Muhammad (peace be upon him)
wrote the Christians.
In 628 C.E. - when Islam was
already quite powerful - Prophet
Muhammad (s) granted a Charter
of Privileges to the monks of St.
Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai.
Following is a translation of the
clauses in that document:
This is a message from
Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a
covenant to those who adopt
Christianity, near and far, we are
with them.
Verily I, the servants, the
helpers, and my followers
defend them, because Christians
are my citizens; and by Allah! I
hold out against anything that
displeases them.
No compulsion is to be on them.
Neither are their judges to be
removed from their jobs nor
their monks from their
monasteries.
No one is to destroy a house of
their religion, to damage it, or to
carry anything from it to the
Muslims' houses.
Should anyone take any of
these, he would spoil God's
covenant and disobey His
Prophet. Verily, they are my
allies and have my secure
charter against all that they
hate.
No one is to force them to travel
or to oblige them to fight.
The Muslims are to fight for
them.
If a female Christian is married
to a Muslim, it is not to take
place without her approval. She
is not to be prevented from
visiting her church to pray.
Their churches are to be
respected. They are neither to
be prevented from repairing
them nor the sacredness of their
covenants.
No one of the nation (Muslims)
is to disobey the covenant till
the Last Day (end of the world).
Let me repeat the last clause for
the sake of emphasis: “No one
of the nation (Muslims) is to
disobey the covenant till the
Last Day”
I urge every Muslim to honestly
ask himself “have I knowingly
or unknowingly disobeyed this
covenant?” And the Christian
should ask himself “Am I as
large-minded toward the
Muslims as the great Christian
King Negus?”
Two years later, in 630 AD
Muhammad received a Christian
delegation from Najran in
Medina. Muhammad lodged them
in the mosque (yes, in the
mosque!). Debate with Christians
ensued for some days. Finally, all
the kinks were straightened and
Muhammad extended the hand
of friendship towards them,
subsequently, a treaty was
signed and both parties left on
friendly terms.
Finally, just before Muhammad’s
death, another Christian
delegation from Iraq by Jesujab
II headed towards Medina but
Muhammad died before it
arrived.
In the sequel to this article, I’ll
discuss how the early Muslims
after Muhammad were extra
careful not to break the
covenant with the Christians.
Until then, peace.
The writer can be reached at
idooba@gmail.com
The article was originally
published at www.TheMiddle-
path.info