The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kaduna State yesterday condemned comments credited to Islamic scholar Dr. Ahmad Gumi, that the President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oristejafor and other Christian leaders live flamboyant lives.
The Kaduna State Secretary of CAN, Rev. Sunday Ibrahim, who addressed a press conference yesterday, said for Gumi to make Christianity as an object of Ramadan preaching and castigating the leaders for alleged corruption, is unacceptable.
Reacting to Gumi’s Ramadan lecture aired on state-owned Capital Television, state secretary of CAN Reverend Sunday Ibrahim said at a news conference that Gumi made derogatory comments on Christians.
“Sheikh Gumi, during his Tafsir, said that Christians claim that Jesus is a son of God and that he is God and saviour, and that it is a wrong conception. This to us is a degrading comment on our saviour, Jesus Christ,” Ibrahim (of CAN) said.
According to the CAN scribe in the state, “he (Gumi) went further to say that the more archbishops, bishops, pastors and general overseers, the more iniquities in the society and he also went further to make some degrading comments on the personality of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”.
On the pictures of the jet and limousine car, which were said to belong to Oristejafor and his wife, and also the objects of Gumi’s teachings, Rev. Ibrahim queried: “How is that Gumi’s concern?”
Ibrahim added that “Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) never fought any Christian. In fact the prophet invited the Nazran Christians for a visit in Yathrib (Medina). And when it was time for their prayers, he offered them his Mosque.
“Secondly, when the prophet was facing persecution, he sent his followers to Abysinia, which is a Christian country for safety, believing that with the Christians they are secured.
“Thirdly, when the prophet was about to die, he came on a white horse to Mecca. After addressing his followers to love one another which he Gumi is not doing, and of the non Muslims.”
-Vanguard, DailyTrust
The Delegation of Najran Christians
Saint Arethas of Najran
No doubt the most important interaction between the Christians and the Prophet was the visit of the Najran delegation to Madina. Makka and Madina had a very small Christian population (Waraqa ibn Nawfal was one of them). The majority of Christian residents lived in Najran. The Prophet’s first important encounter with Christian clergies was in the 9th year of Hijra (AD 631), one or two years before his death.
Prophet Muhammad had been sending official letters to different countries and their rulers, inviting them to Islam. Among these were two different invitations that had been sent to Najran with Khaled ibn al-Walid and Ali ibn Abi Talib.13 At that time the Najran Christians had a highly organized religious life. Before Islam, foreign teachers had even visited the town, such as the Italian priest Gregentius, which had deepen-ed their religious knowledge.14 Few of the Najran Christians converted to Islam; the majority of them did not change their religion after these invitations. Prophet Muhammad sent a representative to them, Mughira ibn Shu’ba, who was sent to explain the invitations and the religion of Islam. After discussions with Mughira, the Christians of Najran decided to send a group of people to visit the Prophet. The delegation was made up of about 60 well-educated Christians: A bishop, his 45 scholars, and 15 men. Their intention was to learn the nature of the revelations Prophet Muhammad was receiving.15
When the Najran delegation reached Madina, they debated with the Prophet in an investigatory dialogue for two or three days in the mosque (Masjid) of Madina. Prophet Muhammad allow-ed them to pray in the mosque (Masjid al-Nabawi) where the Muslims prayed. The whole incident was the first occurrence of peaceful dialogue between Christians and Muslims; it was the first time that Christians prayed in a mosque.16
Prophet Muhammad warmly welcomed the Najran delegation and provided them with a place to stay in Madina, in a secure place close to his mosque. He even ordered that their tent be pitched for them by the Muslims. However, the Najran delegation and Prophet Muhammad were not able to reach a solution in theological terms. At the end of these exchanges, the Najran Christians told the Prophet: “O, Abu al-Qasim, we decided to leave you as you are and you leave us as we are. But send with us a man who can adjudicate things on our properties, because we accept you.” The delegation was granted their request and a written assurance was provided by the Prophet that their lives, property, and religion would be protected. He made witnesses sign this undertaking.17 The Najran Christians were the first Christian community with whom the Prophet had a jizyah 18 agreement. At the beginning of the meeting, they had disagreements with the Prophet about the concept of the Trinity, but later on they were able to make a social pact.19 This contract was an initial step that would lead to further developments. -Source
Najran Comunity, Saudi ArabiaNajran Dweller, BuildingsThe Christians of Najran appealed for help to Abraha al-Ashram, the Christian king of Abyssinia. An Abyssinian army under Aryat descended on Yemen, defeated and killed Dhu Nuwas, and occupied the land. Under orders from Abraha al-Ashram, a third of Yemeni women and children were captured and sent to Abyssinia to be sold as slaves. The Arabs who had embraced Judaism were massacred. In due course, Abraha succeeded Aryat as the Abyssinian Governor of Yemen. http://ethnikoi.org/paganarabs.html
Text of the treaty between Najran Christians and Mohammed(S) of Islam
“In the name of lenient and miséricordieux God.”
“Charter of protection given by God and his Apostle to those which received the Book, with the Christians who belong to the religion of Najran or any other sect Christian. It was written to them by Mohammad, envoy of God close to all the men, in pledge of protection on behalf of God and his Apostle, and so that this is for the Moslems who will come after him a pact which will engage them, that they will have to admit, to recognize for authentic and to observe in their favor. It is defended with any man, was it governor or holder of authority, the enfreindre or to modify it. The Believers will not have to be the responsibility of the Christians, in their imposing of other conditions that those which are carried in this writing. That which will preserve it, which will respect it, which will conform to what is contained there, will discharge its duties and will observe the pact of the Apostle of God. That which, on the contrary, will violate it, which will be opposed to it, which will change it, will relate its crime to its head; because it will have betrayed the pact of God, will have violated his faith, will have resisted its authority and contravened the will of its Apostle: he will be thus impostor with the eyes of God. Because the religion that God imposed, and the pact whom it made, make protection obligatory. That which will not observe this pact, will violate its sacred duties, and that which violates its sacred duties does not have fidelity and will be disavowed by God and all the sincere Believers. The reason for which the Christians deserved to obtain this pact of protection of God, his Envoy and the Believers, is a right which they were acquired, and which engages whoever is Moslem, to obtain this charter established in their favor by the men of this Religion and which forces any Moslem to have regard there, to lend to him hand-strong, to preserve it, keep it perpetually and to respect it accurately. ”
The protection of God and the guarantee of the Prophet Muhammad, extend on Najran and neighborhood, that is to say on their goods, their people, the practice of their worship, their absent and present, their families and their sanctuaries, and all that large and small, is in their possession
No bishop will be moved of his episcopal seat,
Nor no monk of his monastery,
Nor no priest of his cure,
No humiliation will weigh on them,
Nor the blood of a revenge former to the tender,
They will be neither assemble nor assujetis with the dime,
No troop will press their ground
and when one of them claims its,
equity will be of setting parmis them
they will be neither oppressed oppressors nor
and quiquonque of them in the future wear will practice, will be put out of my protection.
No man among them them will be held for person in charge of the fault of another “T el is the contents of the “Pact of Najran” after the tender of the Christians to the authority of the prophet of the Islam”
The above Information is acquired from
http://www.speedylook.com/Pact_of_Najran.html
