Boreal
Remembering Uzza
If Islam Was Explained to Me in a Pub
The Christian Mosque of Medina
Gerry:
Crucifying Christians is not in keeping with the example of the Prophet at Tabuk.
Uzza: No, it is not. Even Allah, in spite of the invectives He showers on Christians for suggesting Jesus is His son, early on betrayed a fondness for the followers of Jesus because, He says, among them are priests and monks who are not arrogant[363].
Archie: I thought Allah hung around with angels, lots and lots of angels, not monks and priests?
Uzza: He does not have to, to know what they are like. He is God.
Archie: Did Muhammad hang around with priests and monks?
Uzza: As if I did not see that one coming.
Archie: Well, did he?
Uzza: Before he announced that he had been chosen by God to be his last and greatest spokesperson at the age of forty, or thereabouts, Muhammad accompanied or led trading caravans as far north as Damascus. At twelve years of age he joined his uncle on a business trip to Syria. On the way there, the caravan passed by a Christian monastery near present-day Basra where a Christian monk named Bahira invited the merchants to stay overnight.
Bob: Now, there’s a good Christian.
Uzza: Later that evening, he asked the young Muhammad to sit with the men of the caravan, if not to participate in the conversation then to just listen. Remember, this was pre-Islam and after the collapse of most of the Roman Empire. It was a time when people of every faith could get together and without fear, talk about their gods and their religious beliefs.
Gerry: It would have been interesting to hear what our future Prophet had to say.
Uzza: The future spokesperson for the Almighty would return to this monastery many times during his extensive travels throughout the Middle East. Years later, the former merchant, now famous as the Prophet Muhammad, allowed a monk to build a Christian mosque next to his own in Medina.
Bob: A Christian mosque? Isn't that like a church?
Uzza: I guess so.
Archie: Why have we never heard of it?
Uzza: Muhammad, on returning from Tabuk, on the advice of Allah, had the Masjid al-Dirar demolished[364]. But I would not read too much into its destruction.
Bob: Why?
Uzza: Two reasons. The first being that Muhammad, on the way back, escaped another assassination attempt and feared that those who would see him dead used the Christian mosque as a place to conspire against him and therefore Allah may have recommended its destruction as a precaution.
Archie: You would think that having the only god in the universe as your guardian would be precaution enough.
Uzza: [ignores him] The second is, after the believers came into possession of Jerusalem, they made sure that both the Jewish and Christian places of worship were not disturbed, therefore you have to assume that the destruction of the Masjid al-Dirar was for legitimate security concerns.
Archie: Building that dome where the Jews wail on their wall was not disturbing the place. Give me a break!
Footnotes
5:82 You shall find the most hostile people to the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists; and you shall find the closest in affection to the believers those who say: “We are Christians.” For among them are priests and monks, and they are not arrogant.
Allah’s fondness for some priests notwithstanding, Taqi ad-Din Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328) made their murder a priority in times of war. The Salafist theologian is the darling of Saudi Wahhabis and militants groups seeking to justify their violence.
[364] The Masjid al-Dirar had been built next to the Masjid al-Quba whose first stones were positioned by Muhammad himself. After receiving the revelation that He should not pray there, he realized that it had been a mistake to allow its construction and had the Masjid al-Dirar destroyed. The fact that the Christian mosque was built with Muhammad’s approval would indicate that Abu ‘Amir's intentions were honourable, but revelation 9:107 says otherwise.
9:107 And those who build a mosque (the reference is to the mosque built in the neighbourhood of the mosque of Quba’, the first mosque built by Muslims) or hurt [the Muslims], to spread unbelief, to disunite [the believers] and to await him (he is said to be Abu ‘Amir) who had fought Allah and His Messenger – they will certainly swear that they meant nothing but good. Allah bears witness that they are liars.
9:108 Do not stand up there [for prayer]; for a mosque founded on piety from the first day is worthier of you standing in it. Therein are men who love to be purified; and Allah loves those who purify themselves.
9:109 Is one who founds his edifice upon the fear and Good Pleasure of Allah better, or one who founds his edifice upon the brink of a crumbling precipice that will tumble down with him into the Fire of Hell? Allah does not guide the unjust people.
9:110 The edifice which they built will continue to be a source of doubt in their hearts, unless their hearts are cut up into pieces. Allah is All-Knowing, Wise.