In recent years, relations between Muslims and Christians have been described in light of a “clash of civilizations” ([5], p. 22) in which the “Muslim world” (Islamic civilization) and “the West” (Christian civilization) are situated in binaries such as “us versus them”, “good versus evil”, “civilized versus uncivilized”, and “secular versus non-secular”. The “clash of civilizations” gained particular prominence after the events of 11 September 2001 and the West’s subsequent military operations in Muslim-majority countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. The widespread violence caused by these invasions helped fan the flames of “radical Islam” and fostered opposition to the “Western world” and Christianity alike. To further complicate relations between Muslims and Christians, Muslims today might perceive “Christian nations” like the Philippines and the United States as severely oppressing Muslims, whereas Christians may perceive “Muslim nations”, like Pakistan, Iraq, and Sudan, as severely oppressing Christians. Furthermore, Muslim-Christian relations today are negatively shaped by centuries-old fears of “Islamic jihad” and the “Christian crusade”. Daesh—or otherwise known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS or IS)—has taken over a large swath of territory across Mesopotamia. Daesh has declared a Caliphate and professed a plan to establish political and religious hegemony over Muslims and non-Muslims across the Middle East and beyond [6]. Concern over Daesh activities in the United States [7] and the so-called “tide of Muslim migrants” coming into Europe [8] have served to further the suspicion between Muslims and Christians.
All of these political, religious, and cultural developments throughout history have shaped how Muslims and Christians perceive each other today; for example, there is currently a high level of “anti-Muslim world” sentiment in the United States and “anti-Western world” sentiment in Muslim nations across the globe. The United States, a predominantly “Christian” nation that frequently depicts itself as advocating for religious pluralism and civil society, has a “high to very high” level of social hostilities involving religion. A poll taken at the end of 2013 by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life [9] showed that 60 percent of all Republicans exhibited prejudice towards Muslims. American citizens are particularly hostile towards Arab-Americans, many of whom are Muslim. A survey carried out in 2014 by Zogby Analytics [10], an Egyptian research group, found that only 36 percent of American citizens have a “favorable” view of Arab-Americans, a number that fell down from 43 percent in 2010 [11]. Comparatively, states that have a high percentage of Muslims almost uniformly persecute minority religious communities, especially Christians in Middle Eastern states [12]. In Syria and Iraq, Christians have borne the worst of the religious persecution that has inflicted the Middle East in recent years. Daesh—and its extreme practice of Takfirism [13]—has enslaved, killed, and uprooted hundreds of thousands of Christians [14]. Iraqi Christians, who trace their origins back to the period of the first century, have witnessed 125,000 people leave their homes over the course of 2014 and 2015 [15]. Griswold [16] goes so far as to say the rise of Daesh signals the end of Christianity in the Middle East altogether. Considering the persecution of Christians in Middle Eastern states, it becomes imperative to distinguish injurious treatment of Christians to that of Prophet Muhammad and his defense of Christian communities. This article discusses and sheds light on how “Islamic” groups such as Daesh disregard the Prophet’s commandments on how Muslims should treat, incorporate, and interact with Christians in their midst.
Religious persecution in the United States and throughout the Middle East has made theologians, sociologists, and political theorists acutely aware of the need to foster pluralism and civility in religiously diverse nations. One potential source for creating this type of society is to treat the Covenants of Prophet Muhammad as a third foundational source of Islamic scripture that is entirely in line with the Qur’an and hadiths [17]. While the Covenants have been known to scholars for many centuries and accepted as law by Muslim leaders, “traditional” Muslims and “modern” Western scholars have largely neglected these documents ([18], pp. 1–2). Issues of the authenticity of the Covenants are one potential reason as to why these texts have been largely ignored. The Covenants of Prophet Muhammad with Christians have been the subject of much discussion among scholars. An examination of their authenticity is necessary in order to address the legitimacy of these documents
