Islam and the Freedom of Conscience — Page 49
~ 49 ~ Do not give me preference over Moses. 21 Thus was his standard of freedom, religious freedom and freedom of conscience, during his reign. After the migration to Medina, the Holy Prophet sa entered into a pact with the Jews and other tribes to maintain peace. Due to the Muslims being in the majority, either by themselves or by including those who although were not Muslim but had joined them, the government was in the hands of the Holy Prophet sa. However, this did not entail that the feelings of others were not looked after. Despite the Quranic testimony that he indeed had excellence over all the other Prophets, he did not tolerate a contest over Prophets that could have polluted the atmosphere. After hearing what the Jew had said, he only reproached the Muslim not to involve Prophets in their quarrels. His stance being that it was well and good that the Muslim considered him most excellent among all Prophets, that God too gave testimony to this. Yet the feelings of a person in their realm could not be hurt because of something that was said about his Prophet. He would not allow this. If one was to hold him in respect one had to hold other Prophets in respect as well. So, these were the standards of justice and freedom of expression of the 21 S a hih Bukh a r i , Kit a bul ‐ Khu su m a t b a bo m a yudhkaru fil ‐ ashkh as wal ‐ kha su m a t ‐ e ‐ bainal ‐ muslim ‐ e ‐ wal ‐ yah u d i