Christianity and Islam

monotheism by the Prophet of Islam, and began to persecute the Prophet and his Companions. At this juncture, the Prophet advised his followers to leave temporarily for Abyssinia (in Africa), a Christian kingdom—where “a king rules with justice, a land of truthfulness—until God leads us to a way out of our difficulty.” Therefore, a number of Muslims emigrated to Abyssinia on the Prophet’s advice. Here they lived under the protection of the Negus. About eighty men, not counting women and children, had migrated. They lived in Abyssinia until after the Prophet’s emigration to Madinah. The Makkans were so upset at this exodus of the Muslims to Abyssinia that they immediately sent to the Negus a delegation carrying precious gifts in order to bring about the emigrants’ extradition and return to Makkah. The two ambassadors, ‘Amr ibn al-A’as and Abdullah ibn abi Rabiah, presented to the Negus and his patriarchs their precious gifts and asked for permission to have the Muslim emigrants extradited and sent back to Makkah. They said to the Negus, ‘O king! A number of ignoble plebeians from Makkah have taken refuge in your country. They have apostasized from the religion of their people and have not joined your religion. They follow a new religion, known neither to us nor to you, which they created.’ The Negus refused to yield to their appeal until he had a chance to hear the refugees plead their own case. He sent for them and asked, ‘What is this new religion which caused you to separate yourselves from your people, a religion which is different from mine as well as from any other of the known religions?’ Then Jafar ibn Abi Talib rose and gave a brief description of the teachings of Islam. The Negus asked him to recite some of the revelations which their Prophet claimed to have come to him from God. Jafar then recited to the Negus the first part of the chapter entitled Mary.