Christian Monk Bahira Essay

The encounter between Christians and Muslims in the land formerly known as Sham and presently marked the country of Syria. One of the most noted early contact was the meeting of the then a young merchant boy by the name Muhammad and the Christian hermit Bahira on a trading journey he had made with his uncle Abi Talib. This encounter between Muslims and Christians could be seen as predating the coming of Islam, but as soon as the Christian Monk Bahira saw prophet the young Muhammad, he had felt some and seen some greatness in the boy, he felt an experience that kind of impressed him about the young Muhammad and even to the extent of seeing Muhammad as possessing the signs and qualities of greatness and prophet hood that were said in the gospel

This encounter then serves as a symbolic representation of positive encounter between Muslims and Christians and that religious discrimination was not that effective even though Islam was yet to be revealed to Muhammad. During Mu’awiya Bin Abi Sufyan’s time, the Muslim capital was located at Damascus, and during this time, the entire greater Syria came under Muslim rule, the Christian population learned to survive under Muslim government and abide by the laws, pay taxes, and were given the freedom to contribute in the community and outside the community as they wish without total restriction on rights to choose and live as long as they continue to live peacefully with each other. Soon after this encounter, the Christian byzantine community began to assimilate into the linguistic and cultural influence of their rulers. It is said that the Christian and Muslim encounters and interaction in the greater Syrian community, when it comes to the intellectual interdependence between the two, and the sharing of each other’s literature. It even made the relationship between Christians and Muslims during this