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Abdul Haq Compier ‘Let the Muslim be my Master in Outward Things’

Al-Islam eGazette, January 2010

1

‘Let the Muslim be my Master in Outward Things’.

References to Islam in the Promotion of Religious

Tolerance in Christian Europe

ABDUL HAQ COMPIER 1

SUMMARY...................................................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................................2

TOLERANCE IN ISLAM................................................................................................................................................4

CHRISTIAN REFERENCES TO MUSLIM POLICY..........................................................................................................6

From Jerusalem to Constantinople.....................................................................................................................6

Eastern Europe and early writings on tolerance................................................................................................6

France....................................................................................................................................................................9

The Netherlands..................................................................................................................................................11

Great Britain.......................................................................................................................................................14

Towards the Enlightenment...............................................................................................................................15

CONCLUSIONS...........................................................................................................................................................17

Summary

Islam presents a policy of religious tolerance, rooted in teachings on the universal nature

of man, his free relationship to God, and the divine origins of other religions. The

prophet Muhammadsa separated his authority as a religious leader from his position as a

governor, creating a religiously diverse society from the very start. This contrasted to

the Christian world, where men were regarded to be born in original sin, only to be

redeemed by Christ through the one true Church. Ever since the Byzantine Empire,

Christian rulers had governed by the motto ‘One State, One Law, One Faith’, leading to

horrendous persecutions of heretics. Throughout history, persecuted Christians have

noticed the contrast to the tolerance within Islam. When, in the 16th century,

persecutions in Europe became unbearable, Christian advocates of tolerance referred to

the Ottoman Empire as the model to adopt. The example of the empire was offered in

debates on tolerance from Hungary to Germany, France, the Netherlands and Great

Britain, up until the 18th century, by tolerance advocates such as Sebastian Castellio,

Francis Junius, John Locke and Voltaire. The Netherlands became a junction, adopting

not only the Ottoman model of religious diversity, but also receiving political and

military support from Ottoman sultans.

1

B.A., MSc., editor of Al-Islaam, magazine of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Netherlands. I wish to thank

Gerald MacLean for the opportunity to present an early version of this paper at the conference Britain and the

Muslim World, Exeter University, April 17-19, 2009.

Abdul Haq Compier ‘Let the Muslim be my Master in Outward Things’

Al-Islam eGazette, January 2010

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Old Ottoman mosque in Pécs, Hungary.

Introduction

Religious tolerance may seem self-evident to the modern reader, who is educated to believe

that it is one of the basic values upon which Europe was built. However, up until the 16th

century, religious tolerance was not seen anywhere in the Christian world. Ever since the

Byzantine Empire, rulers had governed by the motto ‘One Empire, One Law, One Faith’.2

Christian theology saw Christ as the only way to salvation, and the Church as the only way to

Christ. Those with other faiths were regarded to be exempted from salvation, and hence

criminals, ‘children of Satan’. The Church argued that it was the responsibility of the ruler to

cleanse the community of corruption, or he would be held responsible to God. The burning

alive of heretics has been pushed into the sphere of Medieval anecdotes, but was very real

well into Renaissance times. The Catholic inability to rule tolerantly resulted in the

transformation of what was once the paradise of Al-Andalus into the site of one the most

horrendous events of ethnic and religious cleansing in history. 3

Among Christians in Western Europe, this policy became the more and more painful as more

people joined reformist movements in the 15th to 16th centuries. Despite the horror

experienced by the persecutions, it took Christians great effort to understand the possibility of

2

Alexander A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453, vol. 1. Wisconsin: The University of

Wisconsin Press 1952; p. 148

3

See Gerrit Willem Drost, De morisco’s in de publicaties van Staat en Kerk; een bijdrage tot het historisch

discriminatie onderzoek. PhD Dissertation, University of Leiden, 1984

Abdul Haq Compier ‘Let the Muslim be my Master in Outward Things’

Al-Islam eGazette, January 2010

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a religiously diverse state. Indeed how far off the idea of tolerance was, can be witnessed in

the examples of the reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin. Themselves persecuted, they

did not defend their case by an appeal to freedom of conscience. Rather, they became more

ambitious in proving that indeed theirs was the only true sect. Luther and Calvin themselves

supported the execution of heretics.4 This irony is referred to by one of the few voices for

universal tolerance in those days, the Dutch mystic Jan Volkertsz Coornhert, who in 1582

concluded that ‘the Catholics do not want freedom of conscience in matters of religion; the

Protestants condemn them for it, but they imitate them just the same’.5

Another example of how religious diversity was incomprehensible to the Christian mind even

in the 16th century, was the Peace of Augsburg of 1555. In order to save the community from

the vast killings that would occur when a new king would adopt Protestantism, the credo

‘cuius regio, eius et religio’ (‘to whom belongs the region, also belongs the religion’) gave the

king the right to determine the faith of his nation, while giving subjects who did not want to

adopt his religion, the ‘jus emigrandi’, or the ‘right to move’, circumventing execution.6 This

shows that even if the problems of religious intolerance were experienced, the solution of

religious diversity was not within easy reach, and practising the religion of one’s choice was

far from regarded as a fundamental human right.

In a previous article, I have attempted to point out traces of Islamic influence in various

factors contributing to religious tolerance in Europe.7 Islamic mysticism influenced the

development of spiritualist movements in Christianity, which were essential in understanding

the exclusive relationship of the conscience to God.8 The Islamic teaching of all religions

containing divine truth likely influenced the ‘Docta Ignorantia’ movement, with authors like

Raymond Lull, John of Segovia, Nicolas Cusanus and Guillome Postel.9 In the field of

scholarship and intellectualism, Islam had brought the movements of Humanism and

Scholasticism, including notions of tolerance such as academic freedom.10 Islamic law,

4

John Calvin collaborated with the Spanish Inquisition to execute Michael Servet for the denial of the Trinity.

Auguste Hollard, Michel Servet et Jean Calvin, Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, (6) 1945, 171-209.

For the intolerance of Martin Luther, see Johannes Janssen, History of the German People From the Close of the

Middle Ages, vol. X. St. Louis: B. Herder, 1910; pp. 222-223.

5

Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert, Synode over Gewetensvrijheid. Amsterdam University Press 2008; p. 237

6

Henry J. Cohn, Government in Reformation Europe, 1520-1560. London: McMillan 1971; p. 155

7

‘De ingrediënten van godsdienstvrijheid’. Al-Islaam (The Hague: Mobarak Mosque) 2007:9, pp. 5-21. The

different factors contributing to the development of religious tolerance are summed up in the introduction to

Coornhert by Hendrik Bonger, in De motivering van de godsdienstvrijheid bij Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert. Van

Loghum, Arnhem 1954.

8

Influences of Islam have been described on St. Francis of Assisi, Meister Eckhart, St. Theresa of Avila, St.

John of the Cross and Ignatius of Loyola, all of whom became important in Christian mysticism. On St. Francis,

see Idries Shah, The Sufis, New York: Doubleday & Co. 1964; pp. 228-230; on St. Theresa: Miguel Asín

Palacios, ‘El símil de los castillos y moradas del alma en la mística Islamica y en Santa Teresa’. In Idem,

Sadilies y Alumbrados. Madrid: Ediciones Hiperion 1989, pp. 179-190; on St. John of the Cross: Miguel Asín

Palacios, Saint John of the Cross and Islam, New York: Vantage 1981; on St. Ignatius: Hermann Mueller, Les

Origines de la Compagnie de Jesus. Paris: Librairie Fischbacher 1898. A reference to Meister Eckhart’s

adoption of Islamic mysticism is made in Karen Armstrong, A History of God: the 4000-year quest of Judaism,

Christianity, and Islam. New York: Random House 2004.

9

The connection of this movement to Islam is recognised (but not fully understood) in Hendrik Bonger, De

motivering van de godsdienstvrijheid bij Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert. Van Loghum, Arnhem 1954; xx-xxi. For

Raymond Lull, Segovia and Cusanus, see Richard Fletcher, The Cross and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam

from Muhammad to the Reformation. Viking/Penguin, New York 2003. For Postel: Marion Kuntz, Guillaume

Postel: Prophet of the Restitution of All Things, His Life and Thought, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff 1981.

10

George Makdisi, The Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West, with Special Reference to

Scholasticism. Edinburgh University Press 1991 (sold out but available on questia.com). Academic freedom is

Abdul Haq Compier ‘Let the Muslim be my Master in Outward Things’

Al-Islam eGazette, January 2010

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reaching Europe through Norman Sicily in the 12th century, introduced equality of citizens

before the law, and offered judicial tools to preserve their rights.11 Lastly, the Islamic model

of religious diversity could be seen to have influenced early writings on tolerance. This last

factor of influence, the idea of the religiously diverse state, is further elaborated upon in the

present article.

Tolerance in Islam

In the 7th century, Islam offered a different starting point. It did not teach a single way to

salvation (2:212),12 nor the persecution of those lacking it. From the moment the Prophetsa

started preaching, it was clear that ‘whoever follows guidance, follows it only for the good of

his own soul’. To those going astray, the Muslims were advised to say: ‘I am only a warner’

(27:93). The Qur’an abounds in verses proscribing compulsion, which need not be spelled out

to the full here (2:257, 10:100, 50:46, 109:7, etc).13

In addition to the verbal teaching, the practical example of the prophet Muhammadsa showed

how he, as governer of the city of Medina and later master of Mecca, separated his position as

a ruler from his authority as a religious leader. In Medina, Jews and Christians lived side by

side with Muslims, and were not obliged to follow Muhammadsa in his religious teachings. As

they possessed their own jurisdiction, based on their respective religions, they were even

allowed to have their own courts. After taking Mecca, idols were removed from the Ka’ba,

but idol worshippers were not persecuted.

The early wars waged by the Muslims are explained in the Qur’an to liberate peoples from

religious persecution and protect ‘Mosques, Churches and Synagoges’ from destruction

(22:41). The verse ‘fight them until ... the religion is only for Allah’ (2:194) is often quoted to

suggest a war of conversion, but in fact means quite the reverse: the Muslims fought the

persecution until people could choose to serve God out of their own free will. As the

remaining of the verse points out, ‘no hostility is allowed except against the aggressors’.

A more subtle difference in the atmosphere created by Islam with regard to religious

diversity, is that all men, irrespective their religion, are regarded to have a ‘nature’ able to

perceive truth (30:31). It can reach to an awareness of God, extend mercy to other creatures

(3:314, 5:83), can be forgiven, and can attain salvation (2:63, 3:114-115). Islam claimed to

appeal to this nature. Contrary to the Christian teaching, which regards all newborns to be

‘children of wrath’ (Ephesians 2:3), born in original sin only to be redeemed by faith in Christ

– the prophet Muhammadsa taught that all children, and consequently all humans, are born

sinless. To this universal nature of man, Islam added the teaching that God had sent prophets

to all nations on earth (35:25), which all were to be treated equally true (3:85). Followers of

discussed on pp. 26-28, 177. See also Makdisi’s speech Humanism and Scholasticism in Classical Islam and the

Christian West. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1989:2, pp. 175-182.

11

John A. Makdisi, The Islamic Origins of the Common Law. North Carolina Law Review, 1999:5, pp. 1635-

1739. Jona Lendering concludes the principle of equality before the law was adopted from Islamic Sharia:

Vergeten Erfenis. Oosterse wortels van de westerse cultuur. Amsterdam: Polak & Van Gennip 2009

12

I use the Ahmadiyya numbering, which includes the tasmiyah (‘In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the

Merciful’) as part of the Surah. As a consequence, my verse 2:212 may be numbered 2:211 in other editions,

verse 27:93 as 27:92, etc.

13

I will not here enter into an apology of the many allegations against Islam. For a pervasive analysis of the

teachings of Islam on religious freedom and of the contemporary intolerance of Muslim clergy, see Mirza Tahir

Ahmad, Murder in the Name of Allah. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press 1989.

Abdul Haq Compier ‘Let the Muslim be my Master in Outward Things’

Al-Islam eGazette, January 2010

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other faiths had to be respected in their religious practice (5:49). In contrast to Medieval

Christianity, the Qur’an granted no power to Satan without the permission from God (34:22,

17:62-64). People unsensitive to the message of Islam were not seen as essentially Satanic,

but primarily as people whom God did not want to guide for the moment (18:18). All these

teachings created an acceptance of diversity in religious convictions and practices, so created

by God in His eternal wisdom (10:100).

Islam granted Muslims a vision which allowed them to rule, in many ways, secularly14 over

different religions and peoples, maintaining a basic respect for their rights qua human beings.

So when after an attack by the Byzantines, the Muslims took Jerusalem, the Caliph Umarra

was at pains to secure the rights of the subjected Christian inhabitants.15 There were no forced

conversions, no expropriations, religious places were to be left untouched. Umarra went so far

as to pray by the side of the road, in order to prevent Muslims from erroneously turning the

church where he visited into a mosque, out of sentiment for their Caliph. Taxes were not to be

collected harshly, and when the Muslims were unable to guarantee safety to the people, they

returned the taxes.16 The rights of the Christian inhabitants were laid down in a treaty, which

breathes an atmosphere of safety and mercy for the subjected people.

The Byzantines had many years before expelled the Jews from Jerusalem. Some time after

taking the city, Umarra invited Jewish families to live in the city once again. Umarra himself

took the initiative in the restoration of the Temple of Solomon, which was destroyed by the

Romans and had been used by the Christians as a dump ever since. The new legislation of the

Muslims caused an upsurge in the building of churches by different communities, which had

heretofore been persecuted under Byzantine rule.

The Qur’an laid down the rights of human beings in general, encouraged fair treaties and

contracts with others, and so functioned, de facto, as a secular constitution which was upheld

by Umarra with all his might. Umarra is thus praised by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as

expressing perfectly the spirit of a Constitutional State, when he said:

By God, he that is weakest among you shall be in my eye the strongest, until I have vindicated

for him his rights; he that is strongest I will treat as the weakest, until he complies with the

law.17

Among these fundamental rights was the right to practice the religion of your choice and not

to be compelled to accept any faith.

14

William Montgomery Watt asks whether in Al-Andalus, ‘the Islamic religion [was] merely the framework of a

largely secular way of life’ (Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Edinburgh University Press 1962; p. 133). In this

context, we should also consider Mirza Tahir Ahmad’s contemporary stress on the necessary secularism of

Islamic politics: ‘Islam pleads for the secular type of government more than any religion and more than any

political system’. Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Shariah Relationship Between Religion and Politics in Islam. Tilford:

Islam International Publications Ltd. 1992. This should be interpreted as freedom of religion, and not as a

repression of it, as in the French laïcité.

15

For the account of Umar’s rule here summarised, see Karen Armstrong, Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths.

New York: Ballantine Books, 1996; pp. 228-232

16

Mirza Bashir Ahmad, Seerat Khatam-un-Nabiyyeen (Urdu). Qadian 1920, pp. 654-655

17

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Cambridge University Press 1910, vol. 5; p. 24

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