Christians, Muslims and ... Persecution
- M &C Perspectives
- Jul 19, 2019
- 2 min read
A 'Hikmah' study guide produced by The Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies to help Muslims and Christians develop an understanding of complex and potentially controversial issues which Muslims and Christian encounter together.
Introduction
From the martyrs of the Church in the first two centuries killed in the amphitheatres of the Roman Empire to the 2015 beheading of more than 20 Coptic Christians in Libya, and from the torture of Bilal ibn Ribah, an early follower of Muhammad, to the killing of Muslims by Christian militias in the Central African Republic, sadly, religious persecution is nothing new in the world. And both Christians and Muslims experience it. This Hikmah Guide looks at the historical and present realities for both Muslims and Christians, particularly where the persecution is believed to be happening at the hands of the other community. It looks at some of the causes of persecution and recognises that both communities may feel that they are being unjustly accused. A story illustrates this tendency.
At an international Christian-Muslim conference in Pasadena in 2009, when Christians raised the issue of physical violence against Christians in places like Nigeria and the Sudan, the Muslim reply was, “but that’s political, that’s not Islam”. The Christians remained unconvinced as from their reading of Islamic texts and their study of Islamic law, the traditional and most straightforward interpretation appeared to them to support violence and discrimination. This left the Muslims to protest, “but that’s not our interpretation”. On the other hand, the Muslims raised issues to do with the “war on terror”, stop-and-search policies and western support for Israel. From their position it looked to be happening at the hands of Christians. The Christian reply was “but that’s political, that’s not Christianity”. In their turn the Muslims remained unconvinced, pointing out that George Bush and Tony Blair both explicitly identified themselves as Christians. This left the Christians to plead that “they’re not our type of Christian”
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Clearly the question of the persecution of Christians and Muslims in one another’s contexts is highly emotive and not straightforward. It can be a very sensitive topic to talk about. However, it is important that Muslims and Christians do discuss it together and this Hikmah Guide provides a starting point for both communities to understand what persecution might look like for the other. The first part deals with the situation of Christians suffering in some Muslim-majority contexts and the second part deals with Muslims suffering in some Christian-majority contexts. Both sections consider the views of those Muslims and Christians who would not support discrimination, prejudice and violence against the other community and would even deny that the persecutors are members of their faith community at all. It should also be remembered that both Christians and Muslims, especially in the West, live in the presence of a secularism which has not been innocent of violence against religious believers of all persuasions, particularly during the 20th century.
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