The protection that Christian communities were meant to receive under Islam was enshrined in a letter of protection from Prophet Muhammad to the Christian monks at St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai in the early seventh century. Christianity is the predominant religion in Ukraine, with 85% of the population identifying as Christian according to a 2022 survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). Islam is part of the same Abrahamic tradition as Christianity. A magnet is any object or material that has a magnetic field — that is, a bunch of electrons flowing all around it in the same direction. How could Islamic law, designed for a pre-modern era, remain relevant in a time where subjects became citizens and when religious allegiances were to be replaced with national loyalties? In contrast, there is a closeness about the prophet and his companions that belies fourteen hundred years of the passing of time. There have been many problems and conflicts that have unfortunately existed between Christians and Muslims over the centuries, and will continue to exist, as the close relationship and theological bonds were forgotten under the pressures and priorities of contemporary politics. This argument, however, is an inaccurate and simplistic assessment of the relationship between these two faiths.

Some religious thinkers-including Sudan’s Mahmoud Mohamed Taha and, later, his student Abdullahi an-Na’im-have tried to separate these different prophetic legacies, arguing that the Quran contains two messages. There is a chapter in the Quran about Mary and, within the Quran, Jesus is the only person who can perform miracles. Why would a believing Muslim take a chance on a controversial and heterodox interpretation of scripture when he or she can fall back on safer, mainstream approaches that enjoy the backing of the vast majority of scholars? Folk religion also lacks the organizational structure of mainstream religions and its practice is often limited geographically. The polytheistic conceptions of God were criticized and derided by the monotheistic religions. Far from a civilizational war, we see a situation in which two religions have much in common, but this commonality is too often lost in the turmoil and din of antagonistic voices who push a politics of fear and division.

This commonality is too often lost in the turmoil of antagonistic voices who push politics of fear. There are many people today who argue Islam and Christianity are locked in a civilizational war, a view that has become a rationale for a number of the Trump administration’s policies. For many of the conflicts and challenges across the Muslim world, the Trump administration and politicians around the country should not be working to promote further conflict between Christianity and Islam through the frame of a civilizational war. Quite distinct from the apocalyptic struggle many espouse, an examination of the foundations of the Islamic faith shows respect for Christianity. The respect that Muslims have for Jesus in particular is demonstrated by the verses of Hafez, the most famous and beloved of Muslim poets from the 14th century. They sometimes claim to be returning to “the fundamentals” or to contest the veracity of a particular doctrine. There were the massive bureaucracies, the large weaponized armies, and the technology (and desire) to monitor citizens, all things that the far-flung empires of the past could never claim. There are reasons, though, that these theories have struggled to gain adherents in the Muslim world.

As Fouad Ajami wrote in his first book The Arab Predicament, “In Kishk’s account there is grudging admiration for the clarity with which the Israelis saw the war, for the fact that young Israeli soldiers prayed behind their rabbis at the Wailing Wall after their capture of Jerusalem.” Kishk’s may not have been the most accurate reading of Israeli society, but it was one of the more telling. In February ’76 Navarre escaped from the court and headed into his own territory, raising an army behind him. They should, rather, focus on what is held in common between these two great world faiths in order to work together to solve any seemingly insurmountable issues. The notion that the Quran contains two distinct messages is not straightforward and makes a “simple” religion rather complex. Maulana Mahmood A. Madani, a member of the Rajya Sabha and general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, declared that the Hajj subsidy is a technical violation of Islamic Sharia, since the Quran declares that Hajj should be performed by Muslims using their own resources.