Umar Quotes
Had I performed my prayers in the Church of the Resurrection, the Moslems in a future age might have infringed the treaty under color of imitating my example.
Omar’s army had conquered the city and he had promulgated a treaty granting other religions the control and sanctity of their holy places. When he was invited to pray in the Church of the Resurrection, a common Islamic practice when they conquered infidel religious institutions, he explained his reasoning to a Christian leader.
Omar I, c. 581-644, 2nd Caliph of Islam, Statement to the Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem, 638
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This sura illustrates why peace treaties between Islamic and non Islamic countries are difficult to negotiate and enforce. For some fundamentalist Muslims, even making a peace treaty with Israel would constitute a transgression of the word of God. Nonetheless, the first treaty that the United States ever made was with a Muslim nation—Tripoli.
Anti Hindu prejudice has been a problem for Pakistan from the beginning of its founding.
This event and quotation is an interesting reversal of the 2004 Iraq war where the “Judeo-Christian” United States defeated a Muslim tyrant, freeing the Muslims of the country. In 636 the Muslim Armies attacked Syria which was under the oppressive yoke of the Byzantine Christian Emperor Heraclius. The Muslims won and freed the Christians and Jews. One difference was however that in 636, the Christians and Jews celebrated the Muslim victory as is described herein.
The place of non-Muslims in an Islamic country, if any, has been a point of great anxiety among Christians, Jews, Bhais, and others. These have been persecuted and expelled from numerous Islamic countries while in others such as modern Turkey there is no problem. This particular cleric is seen as more “modern” and “liberal” than most. Even he has little concept of equality and freedom of religion.
Nigeria was about equally divided into Muslims who dominated the North and Christians and Animists who dominated the South. The former were intent on making Sharia—Islamic Law—the law of the nation and the latter were equally passionate to avoid it. Muslim protests got very violent including murdering innocent civilians; the Christians threatened to retaliate.
He is a Greek Orthodox Christian, and he correctly observes that the Islamic world was considerably more tolerant than the Christian until the 18th century when Islam had become less tolerant in the Middle East while the Christians were modernizing and going through a cultural and intellectual enlightenment and societal modernization while the Muslims, became less tolerant than they were in earlier years leading to the modern situation.
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. Umar was a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was also an expert Muslim jurist known for his pious and just nature, which earned him the epithet Al-Fārūq ("the one who distinguishes (between right and wrong)"). The title Amir al-Mu'minin was held by Umar ibn Khattab who was also the first one to be given this title.
