Christian Monk Bahira Essay

The encounter between Christians and Muslims in the land formerly known as Sham and presently marked the country of Syria. One of the most noted early contact was the meeting of the then a young merchant boy by the name Muhammad and the Christian hermit Bahira on a trading journey he had made with his uncle Abi Talib. This encounter between Muslims and Christians could be seen as predating the coming of Islam, but as soon as the Christian Monk Bahira saw prophet the young Muhammad, he had felt some and seen some greatness in the boy, he felt an experience that kind of impressed him about the young Muhammad and even to the extent of seeing Muhammad as possessing the signs and qualities of greatness and prophet hood that were said in the gospel

and in the Torah. Bahira then advised prophet Muhammad’s uncle Abi Talib to take a very good care of the boy as something great will become of the boy in future and it will be prophetic.

This encounter then serves as a symbolic representation of positive encounter between Muslims and Christians and that religious discrimination was not that effective even though Islam was yet to be revealed to Muhammad. During Mu’awiya Bin Abi Sufyan’s time, the Muslim capital was located at Damascus, and during this time, the entire greater Syria came under Muslim rule, the Christian population learned to survive under Muslim government and abide by the laws, pay taxes, and were given the freedom to contribute in the community and outside the community as they wish without total restriction on rights to choose and live as long as they continue to live peacefully with each other. Soon after this encounter, the Christian byzantine community began to assimilate into the linguistic and cultural influence of their rulers. It is said that the Christian and Muslim encounters and interaction in the greater Syrian community, when it comes to the intellectual interdependence between the two, and the sharing of each other’s literature. It even made the relationship between Christians and Muslims during this

period. Samer Khalil contribution on the survey have referenced a considerable amount of knowledge about the life style and activities of prophet Mohammed mentioned in more than seven different books of Christian authors. The fact that Christians also had a thorough acquaintance with the Qur’an was also demonstrated during early Muslim and Christian in the Byzantine. Looking at the historical facts behind the Melkites, Jacobite’s and the Christological controversies in Arabic in third/ninth century Syria found that the indigenous Christian communities that lives in the Arab world have found themselves trapped in the “burgeoning common wealth of Islam.” Many of the Christians have even learned Arabic “for ecclesiastical use.” Melkites were one of the first to embark on this assimilation process. One of the success of the early Christian Muslim relationships within the same land was the freedom to worship as one pleases and have lived peacefully. One of the areas the centralize states of the Byzantine Empire focused on was collecting taxes, maintaining order, suppressing revolts and ensure peaceful environment between Muslims and non-Muslims. The early caliphs who spread the word through pilgrimages during the year 633-637, Muslims took control of the Byzantine Syria and Palestine and seized most of the Mesopotamia from the Sassanid by 640, Muslims conquered Byzantine Egypt and North Africa, and by 651, Muslims controlled the Sassanid dynasty and Persia in 781 Muslims controlled Hindu India, north Africa, and the lberian Peninsula or Muslims allowed conquered people (especially Christians and Jews) to maintain their own religious practices but required those who did not convert to Islam to pay a Jizya (Tax) Most of the Political positions of power and authority were strictly reserved for Muslims. During early Christian-Muslim encounter, a typical Islamic society was comprised of Spoken Arabic, Hierarchy, Muslim Arabs, Non-Arab Muslims, Dhimmis, Christians, and Jews Slaves.