RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND CONVERSION

Respect for Others’ Religions A few Companions of the Prophet of Islam, in their zeal to propagate the new faith, began to abuse those who worshipped other gods. But this incurred God’s displeasure, and a verse was revealed commanding them not to do so. (6: 108) The freedom of religion advocated in this verse is a policy of mutual benefit. If we wish freedom for ourselves, the price we must pay is to grant the same right to others. There can be no exclusivity about freedom if there is to be justice in this world. By granting others their legal rights, they will be willing to reciprocate. But if we abuse or coerce, the result would be no religious freedom. How far Islam goes along the road to religious freedom is made clear by an event in the Prophet’s lifetime. The famous eighth century biographer, Ibn Ishaq, records how a delegation of Yemenese Christians came to see the Prophet of Islam and had a long dialogue with him in his mosque in Madinah, which went on until the Christians’ hour for prayer. They desired to worship according to their rites, in this mosque considered to be second in importance only to the Masjid-e-Haram in Makkah. As they were beginning their orations, one of the Muslims attempted to stop them from praying in the Christian way. But the Prophet intervened, permitting them to complete their prayers inside the mosque. The Rights of Others Islam gives serious consideration to religious freedom and takes pains to avoid infractions. There is an incident which illustrates this point. Umar Faruq, the second Caliph, travelled to Palestine at the request of the Christians to finalise the agreements between them and the Muslims. T.W. Arnold in his book, The Preaching of Islam, relates how ‘In company with the Patriarch, Umar visited the holy places, and it is said while they were in the Church of the Resurrection, as it was the appointed hour of prayers, the Patriarch bade the Caliph offer his prayers there, but he thoughtfully refused, saying that if he were to do so, his followers might afterwards claim it as a place of Muslim worship. Truth is acceptable only when man’s reason, his intellect, attests to its being so.