How do Christians treat Muslims?

Answer 1

Some Christians treat Muslims with mutual respect and mutual kindness; as required by both religions and as instructed by both Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them); and some Christians treat Muslims with racism, hatred, and violence. Refer to question below on how Muslims treat non Muslims according to their religion requirements.

Answer 2

Answer

Muslims treat Christians as people of the book as they are holders of the holy book The Bible that Muslims believe in its divinity.

As the Qur'an teaches us, we as Muslims do have sympathy toward all humanity, animals, plants, nature without any discrimination of faith, race, country color or anything else. We are taught to have love for every creature and the universe since all are created by Almighty God. If one is not a believer we might show mercy to help him or her see the facts of the intelligent creation of God.

Those who think that Muslims hate Christians can refer to the Quran sayings (English translation):

".... You will find the nearest in love to Muslims those who say "we are Christians'. That is because amongst them are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world and they are not arrogant. And when they listen to the Quran's revelation received by the Messenger (Muhammad), you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognized. ... So because of what they said, Allah (God) rewarded them ...."

[Quran, chapter 5, verses 82-86]

God explains in the Quran that he caused the different nations with different beliefs only for them to compete in doing good deeds that bring them closer to God, but not to stay in conflict or hatred. The Quran says:

"... If Allah had willed, He would have made you one nation (one belief), but that may test you in what He has given you; so compete in good deeds; then God will inform you about that in which you used to differ" [Quran, chapter 5, verse 48]

In addition, the Quran's Golden Rule says (Meaning English translation):

"There is no compulsion in religion..."[Quran, Chapter 2, Verse 256]

Also, God commands Muslims to maintain friendly and cooperative relations with people of other beliefs. In the Quran, the Holy book of Islam, God has said:

" God does not forbid you from showing kindness and dealing justly with those who have not fought you about religion and have not driven you out of your homes. God loves just dealers." [Quran, chapter 60/ verse 8]

ََQuran says:

"And indeed, among the People of the Scripture (Christians and Jews) are those who believe in Allah and what was revealed to you and what was revealed to them, [being] humbly submissive to Allah. They do not exchange the verses of Allah for a small price. Those will have their reward with their Lord. Indeed, Allah is swift in account." (3:199)

Refer to western Historians' writings to compare what Muslims did when they took control of Spain (the spread of advanced sciences and civilization, they never killed a woman, child, or old man, no tree was cut or house is destroyed or set in fire, no church was destroyed,...) with what was done on the other hand when Christians took control of Spain.

Refutation of Prioktan918's Expert Answer

• It is important to mention that the so called Arab Spring is a plan plotted and controlled by the west to allow the Muslim radicals (mainly the International Sunni Muslim Brotherhood) to be in power as good allies to the west. This plan is done for three reasons: first to allow the west to carry out their plans in dividing Arab countries in minor states to be easily controlled. Second to initiate clashes with Iran as Shiites. Third to allow Israel to be the dominant Jewish State. The same is valid in Pakistan. The west created "Al Qaeda" to resist the Russians and expel them from Afghanistan and then they are working now against Pakistan to get the Islamic radical in power.
• It should be differentiated between country policies and individual single terrorist behaviors that could happen in all countries of the world. In Egypt, you find currently many Christian Institutions invite Muslims on a common breakfast day during Ramadan fasting. Many official Muslims go to the Cathedral to congratulate Christians on many Christian occasions. During to 30 June 2013 revolution, you find Muslims together with Christians during the revolution. You hear the sounds of the church Bells in the same time with the Muslims calling for prayers. Egyptians feel that Muslims and Christians are one entity. There may be exceptions due to some individual terrorist attitudes to bomb churches to invite the west to interfere and invade Egypt just for them to remain in power. The military never bombed a church. It is the opposite; the military guards the churces the same way guarding mosques and governmental institutions. However, the terrorist attacks and their plots are going to be terminated soon.
• Muslims in all Muslim majority countries believe that no compulsion in religion. You find; e.g. in Egypt one may easily convert to Christianity however if one Christian convert to Islam he/she should be; by common law; returned to the church to decide what to do with him/her either to accept his/her convert to Islam or convince him/her to remain as Christian.
• All Christians are enjoying equal rights with Muslims in education, jobs, military service, promotions, judge cases, ... etc. e.g. One of the leaders of the Egyptian three armies during the 1973 war with Israel was Christian. In many faculties; especially in Egypt; the majority of teaching staff are Christians and no one feel wrong about it. The same in pharmacies and shopping stores.
• Building new churches is allowed with permission of the governor not the country president; the same as building Mosques.
• Islamic law is not applied on Christians or non Muslims. They apply their own church or religious laws.
• The biggest Cathedral in Cairo was built by the Egyptian government with governmental fund and financing during the ruling of Nasser to Egypt and without any Christian request.
• It needs revision the saying above that many legislative mechanisms are used as way to punish Christians living in Muslim-majority countries even though the law is not necessarily written so as to preclude their rights. This never happens especially that even the Judge could be Muslim or Christian. The legislative mechanisms are as in any European or American country. The accused person has the right to refuse the specific court and has the right to go to higher court levels for new cycle judgment.
• Neither in European nor Muslim majority countries is allowed to use flyers to invite Christians to convert to Islam or to invite Muslims to convert to Christianity. This is may be done in some countries (including Egypt) by inviting Muslims to church but never done through inviting Christians to mosques.
• It is never applied the death penalty to any Muslim converting to Christianity or any other religion. This was just applied in the early days of Islam as some polytheists converted to Islam and reconverted again out of Islam just to create doubts about Islam religion. So, this death penalty was imposed to oblige the polytheists to think deliberately before converting to Islam.
• Refer to links below on some Muslim mistreatment in some Muslim minority countries (listed at the bottom of Prioktan918's Expert Answer).

Answer 3

While Islam has high aspirations as to how its followers should treat non-Muslims in Muslim-majority countries, Muslims as individuals and people have not always risen to the occasion. In the Islamic World today, Christians are increasingly under threat from violence perpetrated by Muslims. Whether or not these Muslims are following the Qur'an is certainly disputable since they claim that they are and more moderate Muslims claim that they are not.

Regardless, some such repressive or violent treatment of Christians by Muslims include the following:

1) Church Bombings:Bombing of churches, especially in Egypt. In Egypt, a church is bombed roughly every 8 months like clockwork. According to Egyptian Law, a church can only be built or improved with Presidential Approval, meaning that churches can effectively be demolished without any real Christian recourse (because it is highly unlikely that the President will sign such a statement).
Recently, in Egypt, during Mohammed Morsi's presidency, Coptic Christians were attacked by both the army and general protesters in order to "remind them of their place" in the proper Egyptian scheme and not to "get ideas" about having increased power in any future Egyptian government. This has led to a much higher rate of Coptic Christian exodus from Egypt than is traditionally the rate of exodus in better times.

2) Molestation of Iraqi Christians: Assyrians and Chaldeans (two major Iraqi Christian groups) have reported attacks from neighboring Muslim groups on their persons and their property. A large number of Assyrians fled to Syria before the Syrian Civil War began, some only returning because the Syrian situation is actually worse.

3) Sudanese Muslim Attacks on Christians: The Sudanese Civil War (which involved much raping and pillaging) was an active attempt by northern Arab Muslims to enslave and convert Southern Sudanese Christians. To be fair, the northern Arab Muslims also did the same vile actions to the black Muslims of Darfur, which has been termed a genocide because, unlike the Christians, they had no militia that formed to defend their interests.

4) Islamic Blasphemy Condemnations: Christian Leaders in Muslim countries like Egypt and Lebanon are requested quite strongly by the government to condemn any perceived blasphemies or anti-Islamic remarks by Christians in their congregations. These forced apologies demonstrate that Christians are subservient to the Muslim-lead government. Muslim leaders are not even asked or suggested to make any statement (condemnation or otherwise) when Muslims in Muslim-majority countries make inflammatory statements about Christians or other religions.

5) Ban on New Converts: It is illegal in every Muslim-majority country (with a few exceptions in Southeast Asia) to convert out of Islam (which is the first step to converting to Christianity), and this act of apostasy carries the penalty of death. This death penalty is enforced in some Muslim-majority countries' governments such as those of Iran and Saudi Arabia. In other countries, it is punished informally by gangs who are "permitted" to beat apostates senseless up to the point of death for the crime of wishing to be a non-Muslim (usually a Christian). In Afghanistan, one Christian convert feared for his life so greatly that he sought asylum in Sweden to avoid probably recriminations.

6) Legislation with Intentional Disproportionate Effect:Many legislative mechanisms are used as a way to punish Christians living in Muslim-majority countries even though the law is not necessarily written so as to preclude their rights. For example, the blasphemy laws in Pakistan are not intended to be used except for inflammatory religious materials, but 25% of those accused of blasphemy crimes (overwhelmingly without evidence) are Pakistani Christians who make up 1.6% of the general population. Because of the years of delay between imprisonment and actual trial, Muslims will use this mechanism to steal land from Christians during their imprisonment. (They also use this mechanism to steal land from fellow Muslims as well, but the fact that 25% of the accused are Christians shows a definite bias against Christians.) In Turkey, laws against insulting Turkishness are generally imposed against ethnic Armenians, who are almost always Christian, for asserting that the genocide of their people (where 1.8 million died) actually occurred.

7) Unequal Testimony: Finally, while most Muslim-majority countries officially consider the testimony of Muslims and non-Muslims equal in court, the practice is to value a Muslim's testimony more because he is "necessarily" more truthful. This is more of a problem in rural areas than large metropolises.

8) Censorship of Christian Religious Speech: Christian TV shows based in the Arab World regularly get their content censored because of its "possibly inflammatory" nature. Most Christian programs that now exist in Arab countries are broadcast from abroad to prevent such actions. Additionally, the hosts of these television series often use false names to prevent themselves from coming under attack.

For more information on mistreatment of Christians in Majority-Muslim countries please see the Related Links below:

• Huffington Post: Arab Spring and the Christian Nightmare
• Persecution DOT Org: Christian Persecution in the Islamic World

Additionally, please see the documents suggested by my opponent in the Community Answer

• A1- Persecution of Muslims: Wikipedia: Persecution of Muslims
• A2- Persecution of Muslims: Massacres of Rohingya
• A3- Persecution of Muslims: International Human Rights Council on Myanmar

Finally, take a look at my comments directly discussing the points raised by my opponent in the Community Answer:

• Discussion Section: How do Muslims treat Christians?
• How are Muslims able to co-exist with Non-Muslims?
  
• Are there any rules governing Muslims in relation to Non-Muslims?
  
• Do Muslims hate Jews and Christian?