St Catherine's Monastery Sinai
Mawlid An-Nabi is the Islamic name given to the birthday of the prophet Muhammad. This is one of the most important dates in the Islamic calendar for practising Muslims and is often time of great reflection. I was greatly moved by a comment received by a Pakistani Muslim brother, on our post regarding the daily threat of assassination to Asia Bibi's life, whilst in prison. In his comment he reflected on a letter held by the Egyptian Coptic orthodox Church of Sinai, in which Muhammed espoused religious freedom and safety for all Christians. Most notably last point of his letter impels Muslim's to comply with the contents of his letter till the end of days. Many Islamic scholars place great emphasis on the period in Muhammads life within his writing take place. Placing greater priority for later works within the Sura, this letter to the monastery at Sinai is reportedly dated form 628AD, placing it within the latter stages of the prophets. With this in mind I have reproduced the wonderful words of peace written by brother Muhammed Arif Najmi including the text form the letter written by the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
We at the BPCA would like confer our best wishes to all those celebrating Mawlid An-Nabi today
I stand in support of Asia bibi. As a Pakistani Muslim I fell embarrassed for such a blatant violation of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) teachings.
On the occassion of Prophet Muhammed(PBUH) birthday, this messege of love and peace is to all my fellow Christain Pakistanis and around the world.
Muhammed Arif Najmi
Karachi
Prophet Mohammad's(SAW) letter to the Christians:
The Greek Orthodox monks living in the monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai have in their possession many precious documents going back many centuries.Their library is one of the finest in the world for ancient manuscripts. One of the most precious documents of all is the copy of a letter narrated by Prophet Muhammad to the monks in the year 628. Its contents might come as a surprise to many, since in this precious manuscript Muslims are exhorted to protect the Christians living within their midst.
Saint Catherine's Monastery (Greek: Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης Moni tes Hagias Aikaterines) lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in the city of Saint Catherine in Egypt's South Sinai Governorate. The monastery is Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The original letter was taken away in 1517 by the Turkish Sultan Selim I and is now in the Topkapi Museum in Instanbul, but the sultan gave the Saint Catherine's Monastery monks a copy of it.
A copy of the document by which the Prophet Mohammed
gave protection to the monastery
Source: romanvirdi.com
English translation from 'Muslim History: 570 - 1950 C.E.' by Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq, ZMD Corporation. P.O. Box 8231 - Gaithersburg, MD 20898-8231 - Copyright Akram Zahoor 2000. P. 167.
:• This is a message from Mohamed 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 (The end of the world - Judgement day.).
Don't forget our protest our peace concert on 10th March 2012:
http://britishpakistanichristian.blogspot.com/2011/11/protest-march-and-trafalgar-square.html
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