Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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Sir William Muir, referring to Muḥammad’s reception of the Banū Ḥanīfah and other Christian tribes, A.H. 9, says, “On the departure of the embassy the Prophet gave them a vessel with some water in it running over from his own ablutions, and said to them, ‘When ye reach your country break down your church, sprinkle its site with this water, and build a Masjid in its place.’ These commands they carried into effect, and abandoned Christianity without compunction. To another Christian tribe he prohibited the practice of baptism; so that although the adults continued to be nominally Christian, their children grew up with no provision but that of the Qurʾān.… It is no wonder that Christianity, thus insulted and trampled under foot, languished and soon disappeared from the peninsula.” (Life of Mahomet, vol. iv. 219.)

CHURCHES. Arabic Bīaʾh and Kanīsah, which terms include equally churches and synagogues. The construction of churches or synagogues in Muslim territory is unlawful, this being forbidden in the Traditions; but as for places of worship which belonged to the Jews or Christians before the country was conquered by the Muḥammadan power, they are at liberty to repair them, because the buildings cannot endure for ever, and, as the Imām of the Muslim army has left these people to the exercise of their own religion, it is a necessary inference that he has engaged not to prevent them from building or repairing their churches or synagogues. If, however, they attempt to remove these, and to build them in a place different from their former situation, the Imām must prevent them, since this is an actual construction. Monasteries and hermitages are under the same law. Places of prayer within their dwellings are allowed to be constructed, because they are merely an appurtenance to a private habitation. What is here said is held to be the rule with regard to cities, but not with respect to villages, because as the “tokens of Islām” (i.e. prayer, festivals, &c.) appear in cities, ẕimmīs (i.e. those paying tax for protection) should not be permitted to exhibit the tokens of their infidelity in the face of Islām. But as the tokens of Islām do not appear in villages, the erection of churches and synagogues is not prohibited there. But the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah held that this exemption merely applied to the village of Kusa, where the greater part of the inhabitants were ẕimmīs. He adds that in the country of Arabia, Jews and Christians are prohibited from constructing synagogues and churches, either in cities or villages, according to the saying of the Prophet, “Two religions cannot exist in the country of Arabia.” (Hidāyah, book ix. c. viii.)