Shafaqna English- At the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies of Oxford University, Dr Sobhani presented two speeches. In the first talk, which was about the first encounter between Muslims and Christians at the beginning of Islam, he said:
In the nascent years of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) Divine Mission, as the persecution of Muslims by the polytheists of Mecca intensified, a group of approximately seventeen Muslims, heeding the Prophet’s (PBUH) guidance, sought refuge in Abyssinia. This Christian land, under the just and noble King Najashi, offered them sanctuary and protection from the growing oppression in Mecca (Sira Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, p. 321 and Tarikh al-Tabari, Vol. 2, P. 70). Historians consider this event, which took place in the fifth year of the Prophet’s mission (Bi‘thah), to be the first migration in Islamic history. In the second migration, eighty people migrated to Abyssinia under the supervision of Jafar bin Abi Talib. The Qur’an admires their emigration and states:
وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا فِي اللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُوا لَنُبَوِّئَنَّهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَلَأَجْرُ الْآخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ.
Those who migrate for the sake of Allah (SWT) after they have been wronged, We will surely settle them in a good place in the world, and the reward of the Hereafter is surely greater, had they known (16:41).
Umm Salamah, who would later become one of the Prophet’s (PBUH) wives, recounts the situation in Abyssinia, stating: “Upon our arrival in the land of Abyssinia, we were granted refuge by Najashi, who provided us with generous support. We were able to practice our faith freely and maintain our religious duties without experiencing any harm or encountering anything that caused us distress” (Sira Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, P. 222).
The Quraysh, incensed by the religious freedom the Muslims were experiencing in Abyssinia, sent a delegation to bring them back. During a meeting in which some of the Muslim emigrants were present, the Quraysh representatives petitioned Najashi to repatriate the Muslims to their homeland.
In this assembly, Jafar bin Abi Talib, as a representative of the immigrants, said: “We were a people who lived in times of ignorance, we were idolaters, we ate corpses, [and] we misbehaved with our neighbours until God Almighty selected a prophet from among us. He invited us to one God and asked us to stop worshipping idols and what our fathers worshipped. To be kind to neighbours and help people experiencing poverty. However, the Quraysh, who were upset with our [accepting] Islam, harassed us and prevented us from fulfilling our religious orders until the Prophet (PBUH) ordered us to migrate here and worship God freely.”
Najashi asked Ja’far ibn Abi Talib, “Do you remember anything from the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH)?” Jafar recited a part of the verses of chapter 19 (Maryam). Umm Salmah says that Najashi and the priests in his presence were deeply affected and cried.
Najashi then addressed the emigrants, stating: “The teachings brought by your Prophet and those brought by Jesus (AS), the son of Mary (SA), originate from the same divine source. Rest assured, I swear by God that I will never return you to your homeland” (Ibn Hisham, vol. 1, pp. 207-210).
In the following, Dr Sobhani pointed out the lessons that can be learned from this migration, and said: The first lesson is that believers must migrate in order to preserve their religion and fulfil their religious duties, as the Qur’an points out:
يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ فَإِيَّايَ فَاعْبُدُونِ.
O’ My servants who have faith! My earth is indeed vast. So worship [only] Me (and do not give in to the pressures of the enemies. (29:56)
The second lesson is that adherents to the revealed religions should help each other carry out religious affairs. The third lesson that the immigrants of early Islam teach to Muslims and Christians is that justice has a central role, and it can bring the followers of revealed religions closer together.
In the second session, Sobhani addressed the issue of dialogue. Some maintain that dialogue is a process wherein people with diverse faith backgrounds come together and recognise each other’s confessional identity and integrity, join hands in equality and respect to resolve a common and mutually perceived threat to all.
Moreover, Leonard Swidler holds that it is a “conversation between two or more persons with different views, the primary purpose of which is for each participant to learn from the other so that both can change and grow”. Thus, they enter into dialogue not to make their partner change, but to “learn, change and grow” themselves. Prof. Mahmud Ayoub also states that dialogue is a search to discover “how the others describe themselves”. It helps to understand the beliefs of other religions via their Books and through their theologians.
One prerequisite for dialogue is familiarity with the common teachings of the revealed religions. According to the Qur’an, the revealed religions have twenty-four things in common. For example, 1) the prophets of all those religions were exalted individuals and chosen by God. 2) All nations benefited from the blessing of the presence of the Prophet. 3) All prophets performed miracles. 4) They were all infallible in receiving, preserving, and conveying the divine messages. 5) They all invited people to monotheism. These similarities among the revealed religions shows that the teachings of the revealed prophets must be consistent and coherent.
In the end, Dr Sobhani presented some of the Prophet’s (PBUH) debates with the People of the Book.