“Let me share with you something most Christians don’t know about and most Muslims don’t care about. But our world would have been so much a better place if both these groups had known and cared about what I am about to say.
From 001 AD to 600 AD, Christians had a huge problem on their hands: An unwed young woman of noble birth and great beauty disappears from public view and then shows up later with a baby in her arms.
The words of the Jewish Elders of the day sum up the situation as perhaps nothing else could.
“Mary, dear child, what abomination have you done?” They all say with one voice.
The young woman says in response that when she was out in the wilderness an angel came to her in human shape and gave her the baby as a gift from God.
A likely story, anyone would say.
You can imagine how the story went for the next 500 years or more and how most of the world reacted to it.
Then, over 600 years later, there comes this man out of a mountain cave in Arabia, claiming to be God’s last messenger and final prophet on earth: Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
And he brings with him a book, called the Qur’an, that claims to be God’s word on earth.
And the Qur’an proclaims: This young woman, Mary, whose purity and morality her tribe’s elders had questioned so pointedly was indeed a Virgin.
And she was indeed pure and untouched by any man, just as she claimed she was.
And that her son, Jesus, was a special gift to humanity from God Almighty.
May God bless Mary and her son Jesus both!
Islam and Muslims – and Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, and the Noble Qur’an – thus totally and unconditionally absolved Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of Jesus, may God bless them both, from the false charge of immorality.
And Islam and Muslims – and Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, and the Noble Qur’an – validated, verified and confirmed Mary’s version of events at a time when her own Tribal Elders had refused to believe her story and when much of the world for the next several hundred years will have trouble believing it.
May God bless Mary and her son Jesus both!
But the Muslims never went to the Christians to claim any credit for what they did.
Nor did the Christians offer Muslims and the world of Islam any token of gratitude or appreciation.
Not even a word of thanks or appreciation did the Muslims demand or receive from the Christians.
But it is not too late for Christians to give Muslims and the World of Islam that credit.
Nor is it too late for Muslims to claim that credit even now – after the passage of 1400 years to the event – for all their continued and unwavering support to Jesus and his Blessed Virgin Mother, Mary, may God bless them both, for over nearly a millennium and a half, without the break of even a nanosecond.
What could be a greater miracle than the fact that nearly a billion and a half Muslims (1,500,000,000) around the world offer this support and this love and respect to Jesus and his Blessed Virgin Mother, Mary, may God bless them both – without the Christians ever having lifted a finger to make it happen.
Nor has there been a greater Public Relations feat in the history of humanity, on such a global and epochal scale, without a single professional source doing a single thing about it.
The only people who don’t seem to know anything about this ongoing Public Relations marvel and ever-living miracle seem to be the Christians – and of course the Muslims.
I wish – and I propose –someone somewhere will take up this issue with the right Ecclesiastical Authorities, as they say – the Pope for example.
Or the Archbishop of Canterbury for that matter, who seems to be a fairly open and broad-minded man at the time of writing in 2010.
Or the Queen of England in her capacity as Head of the Church of England – the Anglican Church.
Or the Patriarchs of the Eastern and Greek Orthodox churches in Russia and other places.
And I wish – and I propose – the Pope and all these other leaders of the Christian Church themselves will take the initiative and issue an Encyclical or some other appropriate communiqué or equivalent document giving Islam and Muslims that credit and that recognition – even at this late hour.
And I wish – and I propose – someone somewhere will take up this issue, not just with the right Ecclesiastical Authorities, but also with the various Secular Authorities of the world.
And I wish – and I propose – the British Parliament will pass a formal resolution of praise and appreciation giving Islam and Muslims that credit and that recognition.
And I wish – and I propose – the American Congress will pass a similar formal resolution of praise and appreciation giving Islam and Muslims that credit and that recognition.
And I wish – and I propose – the United Nations will pass a similar formal resolution of praise and appreciation giving Islam and Muslims that credit and that recognition.
And I wish – and I propose – the UN will go beyond mere expression of appreciation or support of the great favour Islam and Muslims had done to Christians and Christianity, and set aside a special day called World Day of Muslim-Christian Unity and Understanding.
No, I am not oblivious to all the obstacles and challenges that may stand in the way of an idea like this being accepted and a resolution like this being passed by the United Nations or the British Parliament or the American Congress. But what we all need to think about is the incalculable service to the cause of peace around the world passing of such a resolution and celebration of such a day will do.
How much of a better world it would be if they all did that.
And how much closer to Islam and to the real world Muslims would be if they understood all this and laid claim to such credit from their Christian brothers and sisters.
And here is what the Muslims can do. Muslims can go about doing what they must do in several ways:
- Muslims can do that formally, by appealing to the Christian Church leaders and authorities.
- Muslims can do that informally by educating the Christian masses – and the media, such as they are, generally corporate-owned and often agenda-driven – about this most incredible loving and respectful relationship that Islam and Muslims have had with Jesus, God Bless Him, and his Virgin Mother, Mary, God Bless Her, for over 1400 years!
- Muslims can lobby the UN, the British Parliament and the US Congress.
- Muslims can lobby some of the Muslim governments such as those of Malaysia or Turkey to join forces with them in initiating such efforts.
Is that too much to ask – in these modern, enlightened and civilized times?
And what a worthwhile project it would be for Muslims to undertake." (Dr. Pasha)
