THE SECRET OF UNITY — Agree to Disagree

There were three Jewish tribes residing in Madinah at that time. Almost, half of the population of Madinah consisted of Jews. When the Prophet settled in Madinah, he adopted the Jewish qibla as his own in Madinah. The Prophet’s qibla, or prayer direction, was the Kabah, but he started praying in the direction of the Jewish qibla. This was done only to avoid confrontation. This was the policy of peace adopted by the Prophet. When the Prophet settled in Madinah, he issued a declaration that has come down in history as Sahifat al-Madinah, which means the Madinah Declaration. In this, the Prophet included a provision in these words: “For Jews their religion, for Muslims their religion” (Ibn Hisham). It means that the Prophet placed both the Jewish and Muslim communities on an equal level. There was no difference between Muslims and Jews. The Prophet gave equal status to both the communities. According to Islam, the categorization of people into enemies and friends is wrong. Everyone is either a friend or a potential friend. I would like to share an interesting incident here. When the Prophet was in Madinah. One day it happened that he saw a funeral procession passing by. The Prophet was seated at that time, and on seeing the funeral procession, he stood up in respect. One of his Companions said: “O Prophet, it was the funeral of a Jew, not a Muslim.” That is, you are offering respect to a Jewish body. The Prophet of Islam remarked: “Was he not a human being?” (Al-Bukhari). Here, we can see that the Prophet was able to discover a commonality between Muslims and Jews: they have equal status; there is no difference at all. This is the true spirit of Islam. Those Muslims who say this or that community are enemies of Islam profess un-Islamic thinking. According to Islam, no one is our enemy, not even Jews. No community or nation is the enemy of Islam. Once when I was in the US, I was invited to give a lecture in a church. After my lecture, a Christian scholar asked me a question. “In Christianity, we have a very good teaching. Jesus Christ has said: ‘Love your enemy.’ This is a very nice teaching. Can you cite any example of this kind from Islam?” I replied: “Yes, you can refer to Chapter 41 of the Quran. There are 114 chapters in the Quran, both big and small. The verse in Chapter 41 reads: ‘Good and evil deeds are not equal. Do good deed in return for bad deed; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend” (THE QURAN 41: 34).This