Christianity Today has been taken in by sharpies who aren’t telling it the truth. Mark Durie is right: the document that this story is primarily about is “pious propaganda.” The ancient covenant Muhammad supposedly made with Christians, known as the Achtiname, is indeed supposed to have been written by Muhammad around 628 to the monks of St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai. Unfortunately, it is of even more doubtful authenticity than everything else about Muhammad’s life. Muhammad is supposed to have died in 632; the Muslims conquered Egypt between 639 and 641. The document says of the Christians, “No one shall bear arms against them.” So were the conquerors transgressing against Muhammad’s command issued just a few years before their invasion of Egypt?
There is no mention of this document in any remotely contemporary Islamic sources. Among other anomalies, it bears a drawing of a mosque with a minaret, although minarets weren’t put on mosques until long after the time Muhammad is supposed to have lived, which is why Muslim hardliners consider them unacceptable innovation (bid’a).
The document exempts the monks of St. Catherine’s monastery from paying the jizya. While it is conceivable that Muhammad, believing he bore the authority of Allah, would exempt them from an obligation specified by Allah himself in the Qur’an (9:29), the Achtiname specifies that Christians of Egypt are to pay a jizya only of twelve drachmas. Yet according to the seventh-century Coptic bishop John of Nikiou, who had firsthand knowledge of what happened when the Arabs invaded Egypt, Christians in Egypt “came to the point of offering their children in exchange for the enormous sums that they had to pay each month.”
The Achtiname, in short, bears all the earmarks of being an early medieval Christian forgery, perhaps developed by the monks themselves in order to protect the monastery and Egyptian Christians from the depredations of zealous Muslims. Modern scholars doubt its authenticity, and the prevailing opinion among Muslims is likewise dubious.
“Covenantal Theology: Can Muhammad’s Ancient Promise Inspire Muslim-Christian Peace Today?,” by Jayson Casper, Christianity Today, December 21, 2018:
Christians esteem the biblical progression of covenants—Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic—finalized by Jesus as he ushered in the New.
But for the sake of religious freedom in the Muslim world, should they embrace a further covenant: Muhammadian?
Modern scholarship suggests the Muslim Prophet’s Christian covenants could offer contemporary guidance; they already influenced a favorable verdict in the case of Christian Asia Bibi in Pakistan.
After eight long years on death row, Bibi was acquitted of blasphemy by the Muslim nation’s Supreme Court in late October. The Christian mother of five had been sentenced for uttering contempt for Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, while attempting to drink water from a well.
The three-judge panel ruled that contradictions in accuser testimony and Bibi’s forced confession by a local cleric rendered the charges invalid.But in the official court document, one justice went as far as to partially base his judgement on how Bibi’s accusers violated an ancient covenant of Muhammad to the Christian monks of Mount Sinai—“eternal and universal … not limited to [them] alone.”
“Blasphemy is a serious offense,” wrote judge Asif Khosa, “but the insult of the appellant’s religion … was also not short of being blasphemous.”
He referenced a 2013 book by John Morrow, a Canadian convert to Islam. The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World is an academic study of six treaties commanding the kind treatment of Christians, reportedly dated to the seventh century.
Each similar in scope, they command Muslims not to attack peaceful Christian communities, to aid in the construction and repair of churches, and even to allow self-regulation of tax payments.
It is “nothing short of providential,” Morrow wrote, that they have been “rediscovered” at a time of widespread Islamist violence against the Christians of the Middle East.
“For Muslims, it means a wake-up call, an awareness that they have deviated from the Islamic tradition,” Morrow told Patheos, the religion and spirituality website.
“[It] requires that Muslims not only tolerate Christians, but love them as their brothers and sisters.”
This resonates with Mustafa Akyol, Turkish author of Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan must be congratulated,” he said. “Both for saving Asia Bibi from execution, as well as taking great pains to explain why this was the right Islamic thing to do.”
But the senior fellow at the Cato Institute also gave two serious challenges for the treaties in Covenants. Some experts dispute their authenticity; and most Muslims are unaware of them.
“Yet to me, these covenants look convincing, at least in their general spirit,” said Akyol, “because they resonate with ecumenical themes already in the Qur’an.”
Islam’s holy book calls Christians the closest of all people to Muslims, with a direct call for the protection of synagogues, churches, and monasteries.
What a smooth and devious deceiver Mustafa Akyol is. Here are some of the “ecumenical themes already in the Qur’an”:
Jesus is not the Son of God and belief in the Trinity is “excess”: “O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter anything concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word which he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and do not say ‘Three.’ Cease! It is better for you! Allah is only One Allah. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.” — Qur’an 4:171
And: “It is not befitting to Allah that he should beget a son. Glory be to him! When He determines a matter, he only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” — Qur’an 19:35
Jesus was not crucified: “And because of their saying: We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger – they did not kill him or crucify him, but it appeared so to them; and those who disagree concerning it are in doubt about it; they have no knowledge of it except pursuit of a conjecture; they did not kill him for certain.” — Qur’an 4:157
Those who believe in the divinity of Christ are unbelievers: “They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is Christ, the son of Mary.” — Qur’an 5:17 (cf. 5:72)
Christians have forgotten part of the divine revelations they received: “From those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message that was sent them: so we estranged them, with enmity and hatred between the one and the other, to the day of judgment. And soon will Allah show them what it is they have done.” — Qur’an 5:14
Those who believe that Jesus is God’s Son are accursed: “The Jews call Ezra a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! ” — Qur’an 9:30
Christians who do not accepted Muhammad and the Qur’an are the most vile of created beings: “Nor did those who were given the Scripture become divided until after there had come to them clear evidence. And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakah. And that is the correct religion. Indeed, they who disbelieved among the People of the Book and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein. Those are the most vile of created beings.” — Qur’an 98:6
Muslims must fight against and subjugate Christians: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden what has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” — Qur’an 9:29
Also, a hadith has Muhammad predicting that Jesus will return at the end of the world and break the cross, as it is an insult to Allah’s power to say that he would have allowed one of his prophets to be crucified: “Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, ‘By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary [Jesus] will shortly descend amongst you people [Muslims] as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the Jizya [a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim government]. Then there will be abundance of money and nobody will accept charitable gifts.'” — Bukhari 3.34.425
Professor Mustafa Abu Sway of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Quds University in Jerusalem said Muhammad made agreements with many Christian communities. He celebrates especially how the prophet received delegates from Najran (near the border with Yemen), hosting them in his mosque….
Bibi’s argument with her accusers started when they refused to drink water from a Christian hand. This is against the practice of Muhammad who freely ate with Jews, said Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi in Amman, who according to a report by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center is the leading Salafi-Jihadi theoretician in the world….
“O you who have believed, indeed the polytheists are unclean…” — Qur’an 9:28
Some may say that Islam doesn’t consider Christians to be polytheists, but the Qur’an says otherwise. Its call to the “People of the Book” not to “worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allah” (3:64) is a rejection of the Christian idea of the divinity of Christ.
And despite acquitting Bibi, the Supreme Court verdict also upheld the duty of the state to prevent blasphemy and confirmed that capital punishment is consistent with Islam….
And for some Western experts, Covenants is shoddy scholarship of traditions invented to begin with.
The book is “pious propaganda,” said Mark Durie, an Anglican pastor from Australia with a doctorate in Qur’anic theology. “I don’t know of any serious scholar who believes [these texts] are genuine.”
He believes they were produced by Christian communities angling for better treatment by Muslims.
For example, Muhammad had no contact with the tribes of Sinai when the covenant with St. Catherine’s monastery was supposedly composed. The stipulations better reflect concerns from later Egyptian history when Christians were persecuted and prevented from repairing churches.
Another curious note from the alleged recovered covenants: Why would a community of monks receive a promise of religious freedom for Christian women who marry Muslims?
“It is the survival strategy of a victim to praise the abuser and become an apologist for his better side,” said Durie. “There is no true freedom in making up stories about Muhammad; only proof of bondage.”
Authentic or not, Mitri Raheb, former president of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, said the covenants reflect how certain Muslims in certain contexts did treat Christians positively….
Akyol said the solution is internal.
“The antidote to such bigotry, among whose victims Asia Bibi is only one, must come from Islam itself,” he said.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan just showed us an example.”
FYI says
Who do muslims worship?muhammed or allah?who comes first?
In Judaism and Christianity,God is more important than any prophet and obeying His commandments is the priority.
Yet in islam we often see that the cult of devotion to muhammed is ABOVE allah.
criticize allah and muslims may react badly but it is nothing to the fraudulent,violent rage you see when muhammed is criticized.
Is muhammed above allah?it seems many muslims think this,they certainly behave so with this “blasphemy” nonsense.Look at the pakistani muslims..
“islam with muhammed makes no sense”
See You Tube Apostate Prophet channel for outstanding and expertly presented explanations…
Martin says
I don’t believe on that.. the Christians never got on with Muslins..so the history says…
somehistory says
Christians appreciate and believe in the promises in the Bible…these are between God and His people.
Christians benefit from these promises…covenants…God made with Abraham, Moses, David and through Jesus to His disciples. The one with Abraham promised that “all nations” could receive a blessing because the man listened and was obedient to God. The one through Jesus is also a blessing to people of all nations because Jesus “was obedient all the way to His death.”
Andy promise made by moslims to Christians isn’t worth the paper upon which it was written. Full of lies and deception in furtherance of islam. There is no “sharing of Christianity and demons.’ Christians have nothing in common with moslims any more than the fact all are imperfect persons living on earth.
There is no comparison of islam’s lies with the Divine Promises God made with some humans in order to benefit all of mankind that wishes to be blessed by Him.
somehistory says
“Andy”…should be “and any” promise…
Sam says
ISLAM IS NOTHING BUT LIES!
Guy Forester says
It appears to me that many big name “Modern Christian” groups and churches have adopted a social gospel that is not founded on traditional Biblical principles. Christians have been admonished by Jesus and the Apostles to love our enemies, and pray for them. At the same time we are advised to avoid blind guides, false prophets, and to look for the proof of teachings by the fruits they produce.
We should pray for muslims find ways to share the gospel with them, and treat them as we would want them to treat us in daily life. However, I am not aware of any Christian group that follows the Bible and the teachings of Jesus that promotes the beheading of non believers, suicide holy war, or honor killings.
All we need to know about the teachings of the religion we dare not name and the prophet we dare not name are revealed by the fruits of their teachings. San Bernardino, 3 years ago, is a good example of that. Two girls beheaded (probably brutally raped prior) in Morocco, is the latest shining example of the fruits of these teachings.
Perhaps the editors at CT should do a comparison of the teachings of Jesus v the teachings of the prophet we dare not name.
Spiro says
They can’t if they did they would have to admit Islam is anti Christ
By its very nature and teachings
Guy Forester says
+1
Kepha says
No wonder they now call that mag _Christiainity Astray_.
As for covenantal theology, I refer any and all to the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647. It is essentially about how God moves his eternal decree to save the elect via the mediator Jesus Christ from the realm of eternity to our space- and time-conditioned created (but fallen) world.
gravenimage says
Christianity Today touts ancient forged document as basis for “Muslim-Christian peace today”
……………………..
As soon as I saw this headline, I assumed the reference was likely to the “Achtiname”.
Of course, Muhammed–assuming he ever lived at all–never visited the Sinai.This was made up by the terrified monks of St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai at a much later date, hoping that if any Muslims believed this that they might stop attacking them.
Now clueless dhimmis believe this, pushed by Islamic Taqiyya.
Wellington says
About as authentic as the Donation of Constantine.
Rezali Mehil says
Salaam Wellington,
I trust you are keeping well and stuffing that fat belly of yours adequately.
With respect to this treaty .. I think it does not really matter whether it is true or not. It is the intent behind it that is more important .. you being an intelligent kaffir know this.
So if it was written and signed by the “terrified monks of St. Catherine’s Monastery” (GravenImage’s words not mine) …what does that say about them?
That their god cannot save them … or they do not want the same fate as Jesus …where is the faith that God will be their eternal protector?
In their flowing robes they pretended to be clever … they were some of the few peoples who could read and write in those days. They came up with a form of words (praying to Christ that the words are the right ones to do the trick… lol) , they signed it and then FORGED the other signature …thinking that it will fool all the people in the surrounding area. What does this say about their cowardice and weak behaviours… I mean REALLY?
Wellington, The truth is that Christianity is weak and had already peaked in the 6th century.
The fright of the monks that GI is talking about is the same fright that your POPE has now. His appeasement of us is overwhelming, HE is the wolf in sheeps’ clothing that your bible talks about … forget about any beast from the East.
See, he has abandoned Asai Bibi (who IMHO is a much better Christian than your Pope) , see how he has abandoned your Christians of the ME, he asks you to take more of us into Europe , but refuses to house any in Vatican city.
The truth is that you hate Islam because you don’t see the same capitulation from our imams.. like it or not they set the same standard the world over … they are not traitors to our prophet SAW or their belief in Allah SWT.
Wellington!!! Do you not have pangs of jealousy when you realise the truth in my words, does the Pope’s behaviour not make you angry?
Wellington… why bother with those weak and pathetic Christians and their wolf leader… come and join us …WE are the winners… a steady and powerful ship with solid leaders.
What say you man?…
More Later …
Rezali
Grizzly says
And this is one of the many reasons I’m not a follower of the Terrible Desert God! That is Yahweh, Mohammed (who is Allah), & Jesus.
“That their god cannot save them … or they do not want the same fate as Jesus …where is the faith that God will be their eternal protector?” Yet Rezali, this is not unlike Allah who, because Allah was essentially an invention of Mohammed, had to have Mohammed & his evil ilk chastise Unbelievers by their hands. Delusions & figments of the imagination are incapable of doing anything on their own… the nature of delusions & figments. Islam is Mohammed & what he did & inspired… all evil.
“WE are the winners… a steady and powerful ship with solid leaders.
What say you man?…” Maybe, but what’s the destination? Hell? The history of Jihad (& Islam) is that it, like all bullies, must be fought! Bullies cannot be reasoned with (witness yourself) & cannot be placated nor can they be influenced by their ‘better angels’… they only understand force. When I was a child, once I understood the nature of the bully the bullying stopped. India, once it truly understood the horror & intentions of Islam, fought back well. Witness also The Reconquista; The Crusades; The Gates of Vienna; The Barbary Pirates War; & the various humiliating defeats inflicted on Muslim (Arab) aggressors by Israel… I could go on & on & on. Islam is a paper tiger! Europe, for instance, is waking up: slowly, but waking up. When we fully realize our danger & what you (Islam) have done & intend to do… then beware the fury of the Northmen! We don’t love to fight, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t know how to!
The point is that we must identify our enemy. Understand our enemy. Defeat our enemy. The ONLY way for the world to be safe from the barbaric depradations of Islam is to do exactly this. WHEN we defeat it… it must be FULLY defeated… even in the hearts & minds of Muslims: or like any disease & virus it will just come back. Mecca & Medina must be completely destroyed & their soils sown with salt. The Kaaba pounded into dust & then tossed into an anonymous part of the ocean (& I apologize in advance to the ocean for THAT pollution). Note that only Islam deserves this kind of extinction, not Muslims… Muslims are victims of Mohammed too. At last, when the terrible burden of Islam is lifted, Muslims will finally contribute positively to the world instead of just pirating & plagiarizing everything its vile hands touch.
So come Rezali, give up your evil religion & contribute to humanity… at long, long last.
WPM says
If violence threats of murder beheading Jewish villagers who are unarmed and surrender to your “winners” in ancient middle east ,I rather side with the others who see this behavior as cowardly and sadistic . If cutting elderly priest throats at mass in France in the 21 century for allah brings glee to your eyes ,beheaded young European girls on a camping trip in Africa in the name of allah I side with the others who find this behavior appalling .I find appeasement by the current Pope cowardly, that does not make the people he appeases to right or just or true believers of a merciful forgiving God. When mad mobs want a mother of 5 put to death because she had a drink of water from the community well ,making it “unclean” because she is Christian and she refuses to renounce here faith ,I side with her not the mob. You love the power of the terrorist , the violent mob against a small simple women, might makes right for your cause, and if Christian , or Jew , or Hindis fight back you default into the victim mod ,how dare these people not grovel in front of allah with there butts in the air screaming their curses in pray form at Christians ,Jews to the pagan moon god.
On a side note Merry Christmas to you my misguided pagans of the moon god. My you find the Holy Spirit before you leave this world. God loves you also as a father loves his children you are his Children who lost your way following your insanely violent illogical moon god .
WPM says
If the imams are all on the same page why are the Shiites and Sunnis fighting to the death on what Islam is all about? Why are the biggest murders of Moslem other Moslems killing each other on who is really the right kind of Moslem in the name of allah? Why has no country that follows Sharia law not a hell hole of human rights abuse? Why are most Moslems running away from Moslem majority Islamic hell holes to countries where Sharia law is not practiced in the west?
abad says
Allah is a false god, it is an Arab moon god.
Islam is based on a lie and Satan is the father of the lie.
Mark Swan says
.
Rezali Mehil,
Greetings,
Yes it is true, the Muslim arrogant pushiness has caught most off guard—
that is changing—people are waking-up to this spoiled special people
status that Muslims love to bask in—they resent it and the motive
behind it—what goes around—comes around.
When events that affect the general populations of these numerous people
drastically change how they want to live—these people will react.
Do you not see, Muslim attempting infestation into the free world causes
more than concern—strong leadership intent on protecting its people,
will culminate from all this chaos—people will give-up a lot for their
security.
Though they do not intend such strictness—it will take place—Muslims
will not feel so comfortable strutting among such conditions that are
essentially caused by them and the anarchist who up to this point have
been their great enablers—these fair weather friends will be quieted.
Hold on to your hat—you are about to see some dramatic reaction.
With all this—you will see the Christian leadership change too.
Over two billion at present in the world.
You are feeling cocky.
Stick around.
Lydia Church says
Christianity Today has been compromised for a long time.
Due to the infiltration and apostasy, most areas of the ‘church’ now are.
They have all signed on to the ‘new program.’
(psst! The ‘new program’ leads down the broad road to destruction!)
Indiana Tom says
Christianity Today has seemed to me to be more of a Socialist Gospel Liberation Theology magazine for more than a few decades now.
ben t says
Add “career builder, money maker and globalist” to your description.
Gary says
Lydia, I couldn’t agree more, unfortunately the “church world” has suffered the same agenda. Is it any reason chures are closing every weel in the US, people are tired of such error, people want truth and most might not know what it is but can tell what it isn’t.
simpleton1 says
We must be strong, in our culture, to be a beacon, so that is ok to become an ex muslim, and they can be assured that Western Culture is strong enough to protect them!.
That is why Osama bin Ladin quoted the “strong horse” “winners” that will draw people to support the islamic course.
The option is up to muslims, whether to honestly join a nation, that is forsake islam, or leave and go to one of the 57 genuine islamic states.
Spain’s “reconquista” of 700+ years, was not fast or easy.
Identify the problem, and some of the reasons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconquista
“ A landmark was set by the Christian Chronica Prophetica (883–884), [160 years after the first invasion], a document stressing the Christian and Muslim cultural and religious divide in Iberia and the necessity to drive the Muslims out.”
A definition of the problem and differences, though far from perfect was named.
though it does have a wiki slant on christianity history.The fact is that the Chronica Prophetica identified and named the ‘enemy’ and where the problem was.
A full translation of “Chronica Prophetica” http://pages.pomona.edu/~kbw14747/prophchr.htm
Where one can go easily to the heading of “HISTORY OF MUHAMMAD”, (a long paragraph) where there is a summation of just some of the deeds of Muhammad, ending in
It is the calling out of very much of what Muhammad is about, to name the difference , and in those days it was naturally from an old style Christian perspective.
The problem was named, and despite hitches, politics, it was 600 years, before the job was completed, but always with the knowledge and saying exactly that islam was not compatible with Christianity.
In today’s terms there is no getting around that islam, being in considerable part an ideology, is not compatible with democracy either!
The other major part of our problem is also how to expose the “double think” in our institutions, and through out the general public.
Calling out Mohammad is exposing both “double thinks”
This seems to be one of the guiding beacons in defining the problems of islam, and why it had to be not only resisted but in the end proved it had to be removed from Spain.
It was done in a sense of nationalism, with truth, which today is almost forbidden in Europe.
simpleton1 says
My earlier comment went into moderation and will probably appear later.
However with less explanation and only one link.
The Spanish knew the truth about Mohammad!
I am sure that the Spanish and Portuguese learnt a lot more of Mohammad, through hundreds of years of opposition and knew of the truth of Mohammad.
simpleton1 says
We must be strong, in our culture, to be a beacon, so that is ok to become an ex muslim, and they can be assured that Western Culture is strong enough to protect them.
That is why Osama bin Ladin quoted the “strong horse” “winners” that will draw people to support the islamic course.
The option is up to muslims, whether to honestly join a nation, that is forsake islam, or leave and go to one of the 57 genuine islamic states.
Spain’s “reconquista” of 700+ years, was not fast or easy.
Identify the problem, and some of the reasons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconquista
“ A landmark was set by the Christian Chronica Prophetica (883–884), [160 years after the first invasion], a document stressing the Christian and Muslim cultural and religious divide in Iberia and the necessity to drive the Muslims out.”
A definition of the problem and differences, though far from perfect was
though it does have a wiki slant on christianity history.
The fact is that the Chronica Prophetica identified and named the ‘enemy’ and where the problem was.
It is the calling out of very much of what Muhammad is about, to name the difference , and in those days it was naturally from an old style Christian perspective.
The problem was named, and despite hitches, politics, it was 600 years, before the job was completed, but always with the knowledge and saying exactly that islam was not compatible with Christianity.
In today’s terms there is no getting around that islam, being in considerable part an ideology, is not compatible with democracy either!
The other major part of our problem is also how to expose the “double think” in our institutions, and through out the general public.
Calling out Mohammad is exposing both “double thinks”.
This seems to be one of the guiding beacons in defining the problems of islam, and why it had to be not only resisted but in the end proved it had to be removed from Spain.
It was done in a sense of nationalism with truth, which today is almost forbidden in Europe
Jack Cade says
If Islam seems reasonable or peaceful, it is a lie.
Joe says
While the document is probably forged. It is also the case that before 900, Islam did not have assimilation. The “new” Koran and Hadiths come from the same guy in the 10th century. It is that assimilation that everyone hates.
The Koran of the 6th and 7th centuries, the Koran of Mohammed, is not the same as the Koran of today.
Alice says
A good example of the social justice gospel that is dividing the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today!
Charles Upton says
Dear Robert Spencer:
I am the partner of Dr. John Andrew Morrow in the Covenants Initiative, our campaign to bring back the Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad from historical obscurity. In response to your article on Jihad Watch, “Christianity Today touts ancient forged document as basis for ‘Muslim-Christian peace today’,” about the acquittal of the Christian women Asia Bibi by the Pakistani Supreme Court on charges of blasphemy, and the role of the Covenants in this, I need to ask: Are you a competent scholar of these documents? Do you reject them based on a thorough study of the arguments for and against their legitimacy? Are you aware of our detailed and exhaustive arguments for the likely validity of (most) of the Prophetic Covenants that appear in Dr. Morrow’s book The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World (Angelico, 2013), as well as in the three-volume anthology Islam and the People of the Book (Cambridge Scholars, 2017)? In these books we have specifically confronted and refuted most of the arguments brought by various scholars against the Covenants’ validity; if you have good reason to believe the Covenants are forged, it should be easy for you to refute our arguments, one by one. As for your other objections, there have certainly been Muslim leaders who have ignored the commands and example of the Prophet Muhammad by oppressing other religions, just as there have been Christians—the judges, torturers and executioners of the Inquisition, for example—whom “Judge not lest ye be judged” and “Whatever ye do unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do unto me” have not restrained from evil. Taking many centuries of history into account, no community of believers is free of major collective sin. Jesus Christ told his disciples “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another” (John 13:34)—and Allah, in the Qur‘an, said of Muhammad, “And We have not sent you, except as a mercy to [all] the worlds” (Q:21:106-107). These passages demonstrate that anyone who hates unjustly in the name of a particular God-given religion has misrepresented and slandered that religion—just as the Inquisition slandered the religion of Christ—just as ISIS and their like have slandered the religion of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
But what is most disturbing about your response to the article in Christianity Today on the acquittal of Asia Bibi, is—that you don’t seem happy about it. Is it because she is Catholic rather than Orthodox that you show no sympathy for her? The defense of the life this woman, by pious Muslims, in obedience to the command of our Prophet—some of whom lost their lives in the process—was a stern and holy act of love, totally in line with both her tradition and ours. In the words of the Noble Qur‘an, “Whoever saves the life of one human being, it is as if he had saved the lives of all humankind” (Q. 5:32). It appears, however, that when you encounter such an act of true love, the first thing it does is bring out all the hate in you. Is your hatred for Islam stronger than your love for your fellow Christians? When Muslims defend a Christian woman, do you react with anger because this violates your image of Islam? If so, it is only one short step to secretly rejoicing when ISIS massacres Christians because their crimes confirm that image! We are not in a popularity contest, Mr. Spencer. The struggle is not to make Muslims or Christians look good, but to make sure that they are good. That’s why we have been in the thick of the ideological fight against ISIS since 2013, and why we submitted a paper to the Trump administration entitled “War on Five Fronts: A Comprehensive Plan to Defeat ISIS.” When you call into question the motives of Muslims who risk their lives to defend Christians, and claim this defense is based on a false notion of Islam, it’s as if part of you actually wants all Muslims to be terrorists—and anyone who wants all Muslims to be terrorists is not working against terrorism in the name of Islam, but rather for it. If you impugn the actions of Muslims who defend Christians, are you truly a friend to your fellow believers? Or are you really their enemy?
Here is a link to 43 contemporary stories of Muslims defending Christians from attack by ISIS and other groups; feel free to look them over, then let me know what you think:
https://covenantsoftheprophet.org/2018/10/15/muslims-defending-christians-around-the-world/
Sincerely,
Charles Upton
for Dr. John Andrew Morrow
and the Covenants Initiative
cupton@qx.net