RELIGIOUS HARMONY — Not Religious Uniformity

and Judaism) gathered in one place. They carried out dialogues and discussions on various religious topics for many days. Reports say that during this period, when it was time for the Christians to pray, they stood up in the mosque itself and prayed according to their custom. The Prophet saw this, and let them continue what they were doing. So they performed their prayer in the mosque. This conference is described by Muhammad Husain Haykal in his book, The Life of Muhammad: The three scriptural religions thus confronted one another in Madinah. The delegation entered with the Prophet into public debate, and these were soon joined by the Jews, thus resulting in a tripartite dialogue between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This was a truly great congress which the city of Yathrib [the earlier name for Madinah] had witnessed. In it, the three religions which today dominate the world and determine its destiny had met, and they did so for the greatest idea and the noblest purpose. Although Islam believes in the oneness of reality, it lays equal stress on the practice of tolerance in everyday dealings, even if it means going to the extent of permitting non-Muslims to come to an Islamic place of worship for religious discussion, and if it is time for their prayers, letting them feel free to perform their worship according to their own ways in the mosque itself. Tolerance has been the rule throughout the history of Islam. It has, in fact, been one of the main underlying causes for its successful dissemination. Here I quote from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: Islam achieved astonishing success in its first phase. Within a century after the Prophet’s death in AD 632 [the early generations of Muslims)… had brought a large part of the globe — from Spain across central Asia to India — under a new Arab Muslim empire… despite these astonishing achievements, other religious groups enjoyed full religious autonomy.” Encyclopaedia Britannica 9/912 And this is the part which I wish particularly to stress: Despite these astonishing achievements, other religious groups enjoyed full religious autonomy.