In 628 C.E. Prophet Muhammad (s) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war.
An English translation of that document is presented here:
This is a message from Muhammad 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 (end of the world).*
It seems some Muslims have as hard a time following the words of their prophet as we have following the words of Jesus. My first response in reading this is “AHA! See there… you Muslims are disobeying your own laws!” And then I get slapped upside my head when I remember “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Sort of a beam-in-your-own-eye moment. Ouch.
The Koran, the best known and most followed sacred writing of the Islamic faith tells its believers to kill infidels/non-believers. They are doing a pretty good job of fulfilling that mandate. See http://www.persecution.org – This is the truth about what Muslims are currently doing to Christians. We need to acknowledge this truth while challenging ourselves to live up to God’s Word.
Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet member, Shahbaz Bhatti, was assassinated by gunmen on March 2, 2011.
A 17-year-old girl who converted to Christianity from Islam was shot to death recently in an apparent “honor killing” in Somalia
Four Christians were given suspended prison sentences recently for opening a place of worship without a license in the eastern region of Kabylia, Algeria, according to Asia News
On Dec. 12, seven house churches were forcibly closed in West Java, Indonesia, by Muslim extremists who claimed the buildings were being used for “illegal church meetings,”
On Nov. 22, three more believers were killed in Mosul, Iraq, according to the Assyrian International News Agency and Cable News Network