The Seal of Prophets - His Personality and Character — Page 21
The Seal of Prophets 21 Once a delegation of Christian leaders from Najraan came to Medina for debating issues of difference between Islam and Christianity. They stayed there for three days. While engaged in a dialogue in the Holy Prophet’s sa mosque, the time for their prayers arrived. They asked permission from the Holy Prophet sa to go out to offer their prayers. The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said that the mosque was also a place of worship and they were welcome to pray there, and they did. In the meantime, some companions reached the mosque and saw the Christians worshipping facing the opposite direction from the Qiblah in that Mosque. They moved forward to object to this, but he firmly prohibited them from interfering and said: “I have permitted them because this is the house of God, and no man has the right to object to anyone who worships God in a place devoted for the sake of worship”. On another occasion, a delegation from the monastery of St Catherine begged him to write a pronouncement to the effect that their monastery should be protected when Islam would become victorious in that part of the world. The Holy Prophet sa immediately accepted the request and wrote orders to that effect. To my knowledge, the parchment on which this order was written is still preserved in Turkey. It reads: ‘No one should ever interfere with the property of the Monastery, nor with the figure of the cross or any other article which represents their faith. They should not be molested in any manner whatsoever. Anyone ignoring this will not be one of us’. So much is said about the prevailing hatred between Muslims and Jews but it was just one-sided during the time of the Holy Prophet sa. Although the Jewish clans in and around Medina vehemently opposed Prophet Muhammad sa , his conduct to them