Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem

On April 23rd I went to a program on "Christian-Islamic Coexistence in Jerusalem at Al Quds University in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was sponsored by the Center for Jerusalem Studies (www.jerusalem-studies.org) and featured comments by three scholars.

Rev. Professor Maroun Lahham

Professor Lahham spoke from the Christian perspective. He described Palestine as a land of dialogue, both of necessity and because this is God’s will. "Relations between Christians and Muslims are generally good," he said, "especially between intellectuals and within the leadership of the Palestinian Authority." And he gave four reasons for these good relations.

First, the relationship has existed for 15 centuries. There have certainly been times of conflict, but nonetheless for both Christians and Muslims in Palestine "the other" is part of their own history and culture.

Second, both Christians and Muslims in Palestine are Palestinians. Christians here are fully "Arabized," to use Professor Lahham’s word. He contrasted this with Coptic Christians in Egypt, who do not see themselves as Egyptians. Palestinian Christians see themselves as Arabs.

Third, the Palestinian Christians are indigenous. Their church is not the result of colonial missionary activities, although some Christians are now in charge of Christian institutions that only date back to the colonial period. He suggested that Islamic fundamentalism has less appeal in Palestine, because of the indigenous Christian population.

Fourth, Christians and Muslims in Palestine suffer together. They are both victims of invaders, of the colonial powers, and now the Jewish State. The Crusaders did not distinguish between the indigenous Christians, Jews and Muslims. When these Franks, for this is what the historians then called them, took Jerusalem, they killed everyone they could catch.

On the Palestinian "street," however, Professor Lahham said there are certainly issues that put a strain on the relationship between Christians and Muslims. Western influence is associated with the Christian culture of the West, so some Muslims wonder if Palestinian Christians are really Palestinian. The experience of children in families and in school may raise this question, as more Palestinian Christian families have contacts with the West than Muslims families.

Also, Christians have been a minority among Palestinians for 13 of the past 15 centuries, and there are always tensions between a minority people and the majority population. The recent resurgence of Islam may appear to some to threaten Christians in general, but there is no evidence that this is the case for Palestinian Christians.

"There is no crisis in Christian-Muslim relations," Professor Lahham said. Wise men on both sides are providing effective leadership in both religious and political circles. But Christian preachers must continue to teach that the long relationship between Palestinian Christians and Muslims is God’s will. Similarly, Muslim sheiks should teach their people that good relations with Christians are necessary for a successful Palestinian state.

Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway

A Muslim perspective was presented by Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway. He made three points.

First, Muslims see Christians as part of the history of the prophets, which begins with Adam and ends with Muhammad (peace be upon all of them). For Muslims, Christians and Jews are not completely "other" or "alien," because many of the prophets named in the scriptures of each of these religious traditions are also named in the Qur’an, the final revelation of the one God. (In Arabic the word for "the one God" is Allah).

Moreover, the intimate nature of the Arabic word used in the Qur’an to refer to the relations between Muslims and Christians is also used to refer to the relationships between children and their parents. This suggests that these different communities of believers are like members of one family.

Second, when Saladin drove the Crusaders from Jerusalem, he returned its holy sites to the Christians who had been treated by the Crusaders in the same way that Muslims had been treated. This is why the Orthodox and Armenian Quarters of the Old City are so large, for during their rule the Franks had persecuted these Christians just like they persecuted Muslims.

When Saladin entered the city the Orthodox Bishop invited him to worship in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but he respectfully declined in order to avoid setting a precedent that would have brought many Muslims into the Church. Saladin knew it was best to protect the right of Christians to worship in their own holy places, and also to have holy places for Muslims where Christians did not regularly come to worship.

Third, Dr. Sway said, it should be noted that the present dialogue between Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem is very recent. But this fact should not be taken to mean that Christians and Muslims have been separated in the past. He mentioned that his mother took him to a Christian friend to be breast fed, not because she had inadequate milk for her son, but as a manifestation of the "sisterhood" between the two women. And his mother also nursed the daughter of her Christian friend, which made the Christian girl his "sister."

The children of these two families grew up almost as one family, and Dr. Sway learned that he could not marry his "Christian sister" although by blood she was unrelated to him. He also knows of at least once case in Jerusalem prior to 1948, where there was the same "sisterhood" and shared breast-feeding between two mothers, who were Muslim and Jewish.

Dr. Yousef Al-Natsheh

Speaking from the perspective of an art historian, who is also a Muslim, Dr. Natsheh said he thought that the relationship between Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem was quite remarkable. He noted that it was normal a thousand years ago for Christian and Muslim theologians to talk about God together.

Of course, there have been conflicts. It is a fact that the Fatimid Muslim ruler Hakim destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but Hakim also treated Egyptian Muslims very badly.

Then Dr. Natsheh took us on a brief tour in the Old City. We stopped first at the Al-Quds University building along the Via Dolorosa, between the fifth and sixth Stations of the Cross. The University is housed in an old Crusader building, although you would not know the historic character of the structure by its façade facing the street.

We then walked back along the Via Dolorosa to the Ecco Homo Arch, which is only partially visible, as buildings were constructed around more than half of it. The emperor Hadrian built this Arch in 135, after he crushed the second Jewish revolt. After rebuilding Jerusalem, Hadrian renamed it Aelia Capitolina, a name combining his family name with a tribute to the pagan gods.

Beyond the Ecco Homo Arch we stopped in front of the Church of St. Anne. Beside the church are the ruins of bathing pools, which were used by pagans before the Christian era, because they believed the god Serapis (Asclepius) was present there and would provide healing. In the first century CE, Jews called these pools Bethsaida (or Bethesda), and John 5:1-13 relates a story of Jesus healing there.

After 135 CE a pagan temple was built beside these pools, but by the middle of the fifth century a church had taken the temple’s place. The present Church of St. Anne was built around 1135, in the middle of the Crusader rule over Jerusalem. When Saladin took the city in 1192, he transformed the church into a Muslim theological school, and his inscription for this school is still over the door.

We left the Church of St. Anne and walked west through the Lion’s Gate. Dr. Natsheh told us that Muslims often called this Mary’s Gate, because they associate the Church of St. Anne with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Christians know this as St. Stephen’s Gate, for it commemorates the first Christian martyr. The current Hebrew name, the Lion’s Gate, is derived from the lions on either side of the outer wall, which the Muslim sultan Suliman had carved above the gate.

Then we walked down into the Kidron Valley to what is known as "The Tomb of the Virgin." There is nothing in the New Testament about the death of the mother of Jesus, but a memorial has been at this site at least since the sixth century. The descent into this tomb requires going down a long, dark stone staircase. The tombs of Baldwin II and Queen Melisande, from the Crusader era, are on the left and the right, as you descend. At the bottom, when you turn to the right you face the tomb where legend says that Mary’s remains are buried.

Dr. Natsheh pointed out to us that there is a niche on the right side of the tomb, which is in the southern wall. It is a "mihrab" and gives the direction of Mecca, for Muslims have for centuries come here to pray. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a central figure in the Qur’an, and legend also says that Muhammad saw a light over the tomb on his night journey to Jerusalem.

In remembering Mary, all three religious traditions come together. A Jewish mother, her son now revered by all Christians as God’s chosen one, and both the mother and son remembered for their holiness in the Qur’an, which is read by all Muslims. In these common memories, may we may find hope for a just peace in Jerusalem.

Bob Traer, 24 April 2005

The views expressed above are personal and do not necessarily represent the World Council of Churches. If you wish to publish or disseminate this letter beyond personal friends, please contact the EAPPI Communications Officer (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission to do so. Thank you.

Photos from this lecture and walk in Al Quds are at http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.mosaic.htm. 

For other Letters from Jerusalem, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/lj.letters.2005.htm. 

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