Interfaith Relations Quotes
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.
The Koran is even more discriminatory regarding Jewish & Christian clerics: {584380}.
This was a document prepared by the Caliph and presented to Christians in Syria to sign if they wanted peace and to be free from assault in Islamic lands. For centuries thereafter these, and variations of them, were conditions imposed on Christians and Jews in Islam lands. Some of these can be recognized as variants of conditions that American and other coalition troops were required to adhere to in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. By today’s standards this was highly discriminatory and a gross imposition on a minority. However at the time, this was one of the more liberal doctrines. Jews and Christians otherwise could live in Muslim lands, practice their religion, work there, live where they would, acquire property, practice professions, and even achieve high office. Jews and Christians rose to the highest ranks of Islamic government administrators including Prime Ministries. Their persons were safe from assault and derisions all provided they followed the Pact of Umar or its current version. In contrast Jewish and Muslim minorities in Christian nations were treated much more harshly. They could practice only a few occupation, were constantly under physical attack, were forced to live in ghettos, had their property seized, and in many cases were tortured and killed.
This sura has been in great controversy throughout the Muslim Empires. In part it separates many of the Arab cultures from the Ottomans. The latter had an organized meritocracy whereby Jews, Christians and other “heathens” of exceptional talent were sought out for advisory and leadership positions. In part this was justified as requiring that the Caliph and the Sultans had the power of life and death over their key appointees, hence they had to be slaves and other suras prohibited Muslims holding other Muslims in slavery. Even in modern times some Muslim countries have had key non-Islamic appointees and others would not. In historical practice, the Ottoman Empire utilized far more Christians and Jews that those societies involved Muslims until relatively recent historical times.
Anti Hindu prejudice has been a problem for Pakistan from the beginning of its founding.
