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With
the establishment of the first community of Christians in Jerusalem,
which dates back
to
apostolic times (Act 2.4), the first Christian Church was
established. Jerusalem is the
source of Christianity. The history and doctrine of the Church began
there. It is from
Jerusalem that Christianity spread to various parts of the Middle
East and to the rest of the
world (Wilkinson 1989). The roots of Arab Christians in the Holy
Land go back to the early
communities of Christians in the area. By the 5th
century, Arab kingdoms in Syria, Jordan,
Iraq, and Palestine adopted Christianity (Acts 2:11;
Issa 1984: 108; Samir 1986: 26).
During the first half of the 7th century, Islam conquered
the whole Middle East, and dealt with
the
Christians in the area with all tolerance. In the Qur’an, the
Christians were mentioned
quite favourably in several verses (Sura al-Ma’ida
vv.85-88). Verse 85 reads:
And nearest among them in love
To the Believers wilt thou
Find those who say,
“We are Christians”;
Because amongst these are
Men devoted to learning
And men who have renounced
Are not arrogant.
In
addition, when Muslims conquered the Holy Land, they gave the
Christians, the “People
of
the Book”, in 636 AD, a covenant of protection for their persons and
their possessions,
known as the “Covenant of ‘Umar’ (El Aref 1961: 91; Mansour 1991:
80). Since the arrival
of
Islam in the Holy Land right up to the present time, the
relationship between Arab
Christians and Arab Muslims has been one of mutual respect. What
binds Christians and
Muslims in the Holy Land is that they are both Arabs. Both have a
common culture, a
common history, a common language, and a common land. Though
different religion, they
share a common heritage (Mansour 1991: 76). Together they have
participated society.
Moreover, the contributions of Arab Christians to the Arab culture
as a whole have been
acknowledged (Samir 1986).
From the book Christians in the Holy Land. Edited by Michael Prior
and William Taylor.
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