Devout Muslims thrown in hell at death; saved by Jesus to return to life

[amor]

https://youtu.be/Kx9MpwDY82U

even those of us who consider ourselves good Christians should pay attention to the death experiences of these Muslims, as we can suffer the same fate if our lives are so choked by the troubles and difficulties of life that we relegate "The Christ" to a catholic fairy tale.

The reason that Dolores Cannon, in her hypnotic regressions claims not to have met anyone who was sent to Hell, is (1) those people are least likely to have come to her, and (2) the people who were sent back to life, and came to see her, were told that it was not yet their time to die (and be judged). Those people who died and went to hell did not return to life to be regressed by her. Those Muslims and others who received the grace and mercy of "The Christ," I believe were sent back to Life to warn others of their path.

Personally, I have met "The Christ," and also have met the "Demons" guarding the gate of hell, and so I do not have to depend upon anyone else, however holy, to convince me otherwise. Love all creatures and creations.

[Flash]

Amor, please tell us how you met Christ, because I have a real tendency, as an ex catholic, to relegate any such talk to religious viruses. Although I do think that the "christic" energies are of love and do exist.

Posted by amor (here)
https://youtu.be/Kx9MpwDY82U

even those of us who consider ourselves good Christians should pay attention to the death experiences of these Muslims, as we can suffer the same fate if our lives are so choked by the troubles and difficulties of life that we relegate "The Christ" to a catholic fairy tale.

The reason that Dolores Cannon, in her hypnotic regressions claims not to have met anyone who was sent to Hell, is (1) those people are least likely to have come to her, and (2) the people who were sent back to life, and came to see her, were told that it was not yet their time to die (and be judged). Those people who died and went to hell did not return to life to be regressed by her. Those Muslims and others who received the grace and mercy of "The Christ," I believe were sent back to Life to warn others of their path.

Personally, I have met "The Christ," and also have met the "Demons" guarding the gate of hell, and so I do not have to depend upon anyone else, however holy, to convince me otherwise. Love all creatures and creations.

[Akasha]

Posted by amor (here)
https://youtu.be/Kx9MpwDY82U.....Personally, I have met "The Christ," and also have met the "Demons" guarding the gate of hell, and so I do not have to depend upon anyone else, however holy, to convince me otherwise......

I'm right behind Flash on this one. Please elaborate if you can. Was your meeting with Jesus and the demons part of a death experience too?

[Magnus]

Posted by amor (here)
https://youtu.be/Kx9MpwDY82U

even those of us who consider ourselves good Christians should pay attention to the death experiences of these Muslims, as we can suffer the same fate if our lives are so choked by the troubles and difficulties of life that we relegate "The Christ" to a catholic fairy tale.

The reason that Dolores Cannon, in her hypnotic regressions claims not to have met anyone who was sent to Hell, is (1) those people are least likely to have come to her, and (2) the people who were sent back to life, and came to see her, were told that it was not yet their time to die (and be judged). Those people who died and went to hell did not return to life to be regressed by her. Those Muslims and others who received the grace and mercy of "The Christ," I believe were sent back to Life to warn others of their path.

Personally, I have met "The Christ," and also have met the "Demons" guarding the gate of hell, and so I do not have to depend upon anyone else, however holy, to convince me otherwise. Love all creatures and creations.

When you say "I have met "The Christ," and also have met the "Demons" guarding the gate of hell", are you referring to the biblical idea or rather the figurative version?
I'm genuinley interested to hear what you have to say.

[Atlas]

Chinese NDE: "I saw Buddha"

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=9YOA_hHPVFQ

[wondering]

Amor, This seems to me, IMO, an example of "us vs. them" i.e., Christianity vs the Muslim religion. I can't believe that someone who lives according to his inner guidance, which may be the tenets of Mohammad, will be thrown into hell.....but then, I don't believe hell itself exists, for that matter. I am not referring to the beliefs and actions of Muslim extremists, just as I was not in support of Catholic and Protestant extremists and the mayhem that resulted in Ireland.

[Pam]

Posted by wondering (here)
Amor, This seems to me, IMO, an example of "us vs. them" i.e., Christianity vs the Muslim religion. I can't believe that someone who lives according to his inner guidance, which may be the tenets of Mohammad, will be thrown into hell.....but then, I don't believe hell itself exists, for that matter. I am not referring to the beliefs and actions of Muslim extremists, just as I was not in support of Catholic and Protestant extremists and the mayhem that resulted in Ireland.

I appreciate your response. I also find it a little hard to visualize Jesus waiting in a big chair for humans to die so he can judge us for not worshiping him, for not believing in him, for falling short of his commandments, for accidentally being raised in the wrong religion. What kind of a creator would make our planet and then just hang around waiting for us to fall short so we can burn eternally?? Hey it's your lucky day, you were in the wrong religion but I'm giving you a second chance (NDE) to go back and get it right this time.

Actually the whole idea of worshiping seems really off too me. Would a magnificent creator, who could create our planet and all the wonderful creatures on it and in it really want a bunch of humans grovelling or going through meaningless rituals over and over, does a creator really need that, or want that? I picture the creator coming up with new creations, immersed in the joy of the creative process, not mandating that very flawed humans live up to a list (commandments) that most will fail at abysmally while going through the motions of worship which few will be really sincere about. Also, all you have to do is believe in Jesus??? That lets you gain entry to heaven,,,,that concept is just loaded with issues.

I am not trying to be flip or disrespectful, I am really sincere about what I am saying.

[amor]

I had written out and saved the experience of meeting God while fully conscious in 1960; the experience of seeing him at the foot of my bed in 1974, full sized on the cross crying tears of blood with the crown of thorns on his head (one of those supermarket papers, some days later reported the same image appeared in the communion chalice of wine in France). I saw this on Good Friday as I was awakening, between sleep and wake before I remembered it was Good Friday. At this time in my life I was also undergoing a crucifixion of circumstances. Later that same year, I asked the Lord, "I have not seen you for a long time." That night, I had a dream so vivid that I can only call it a vision. The Lord appeared to me in a picture frame. The Image of his face then came alive; it was beautiful beyond description because I also experienced his soul and he was both masculine and tender. Suddenly, I received the the most wonderful HUG which encapsulated me into his mind where I saw his wonderful creativeness. I really needed a hug at that point in my life and a confirmation that he cared.

I believe, in 1983, I had experienced a series of dreams which were actually foreseeing future events in the world and in my life. Some were only obvious after they occurred. One showed me that my father would die in six years, and other personal things. The most outstanding was the long-lasting eruption of the volcano in Hawaii. I stood near the crater in the dream and was terrified by the eruption. Two weeks later, those were the exact words spoken by a scientist on the mountain.

Around that time, I asked the Lord to show me whether there was such a place as HELL. One week later, as I slept, a mentally depressed man who had previously tried to kill himself twice before, jumped from the seventh floor of a public building. I had never met him and did not know of his existence. During my sleep, this man's spirit came to me. He said, "This woman (his wife?) took 70 years of my life and now she wants the other 70." I understood this to mean the Devil. As I stood at the edge of a huge crack in the earth with no bottom, I was going to fight the Devil for this poor man. He was of average height, bald and wore thick glasses. Many people confirmed this to be the description of the jumper.

Suddenly, I was hurled without hand into this deep, dark place where I floated in nothingness. Three EVIL demons approached me intending to murder me. Their spirits were malignant, foul, and terrifying beyond description or experience on earth. Had the Lord not intervened, my heart would have stopped immediately. Within this instant, I experienced something even more terrifying. The presence and grace of God which we take so much for granted in this world that we do not recognize it, DEPARTED from me and I felt the abandonment by God which Jesus experienced on the cross when he said, "Father, why hast thou forsaken me?" I cried out, "Lord Jesus help me!" I was immediately snatched back from the chasm where the Lord stood looking down at those Demons, very displeased. In my terror, I completely forgot about the poor man I had tried to help.

I have left the first experience where I saw and met God the father for last, because it is lengthy. At 21, I had returned to the land of my birth and felt lost and displaced in the world, not even belonging to a church. I felt too insignificant to approach him in holy communion and said to him, "Father, how can I love you. I do not know you and have never seen you?" One week later, very early in the morning, having forgotten all about that, I sat on a cliff overlooking the sea as the sun peeped over the horizon. Suddenly, a dart from the sun went through my eyes and hit my pineal gland. Immediately, I was unaware of being in this world any longer, and was standing facing forward with two shoulder high orbs of light on my left and the most loving being peeping over a floor high above me. He had a dimple in his left cheek. Telepathically he asked, "What do you want?" I replied, "I want a home." He responded, "I am your home, when you leave there you will return to me." Suddenly, he was standing on the same floor I was standing on looking toward me but about 25 ft. tall. He said to me, "I am a God of Love, I am a God of Holiness, I am a God of JUDGMENT!" and he was very serious when he said that word. Suddenly, I was transported off to his right in a flash in a reclining position where I was given the ultimate experience of the Beatific Vision or experience which I believe is God's state of being. I felt JOY, PEACE, LOVE and ETERNAL LIFE where all that ever were or will be co-existed in awareness of each other's existence in this state. When the experience ended, I did not immediately realize what had happened to me as it happened seemingly in a moment outside of time. For many months, I found myself existing in a cocoon of the Holy Spirit in which I loved everyone and everything and the memory of this blessing and baptism from God the Father has remained with me for 56 years.

The FOOL in his heart says there is no God.

[littleOne]

Amor, those are very beautiful experiences, but what I don't understand is the title of the thread, why would devout Muslims be thrown into hell at death? What part of your experiences indicate that only those that believe in Jesus are loved by God? How can Love hate?

[Flash]

We will most probably see those we prayed to or those who are within our beliefs when we die, as told numerous times by many who had NDE.

What many Christians do not know is that for the Muslims, Jesus is a very respected prophet, called Isis or Yesus in the Kuran.

therefore asking Jesus for help is not anti Muslim and pro Christian, it is literallly possible for a Muslim. Like some who see Buddha when they die. Great beings are great beings, whatever the religion that promoted them is not important.

Thanks Amor for the description of your experience.

[Akasha]

Posted by amor (here)
I had written out and saved the experience of meeting God while fully conscious in 1960; the experience of seeing him at the foot of my bed in 1974, full sized on the cross crying tears of blood with the crown of thorns on his head (one of those supermarket papers, some days later reported the same image appeared in the communion chalice of wine in France). I saw this on Good Friday as I was awakening, between sleep and wake before I remembered it was Good Friday. At this time in my life I was also undergoing a crucifixion of circumstances. Later that same year, I asked the Lord, "I have not seen you for a long time." That night, I had a dream so vivid that I can only call it a vision. The Lord appeared to me in a picture frame. The Image of his face then came alive; it was beautiful beyond description because I also experienced his soul and he was both masculine and tender. Suddenly, I received the the most wonderful HUG which encapsulated me into his mind where I saw his wonderful creativeness. I really needed a hug at that point in my life and a confirmation that he cared.

I believe, in 1983, I had experienced a series of dreams which were actually foreseeing future events in the world and in my life. Some were only obvious after they occurred. One showed me that my father would die in six years, and other personal things. The most outstanding was the long-lasting eruption of the volcano in Hawaii. I stood near the crater in the dream and was terrified by the eruption. Two weeks later, those were the exact words spoken by a scientist on the mountain.

Around that time, I asked the Lord to show me whether there was such a place as HELL. One week later, as I slept, a mentally depressed man who had previously tried to kill himself twice before, jumped from the seventh floor of a public building. I had never met him and did not know of his existence. During my sleep, this man's spirit came to me. He said, "This woman (his wife?) took 70 years of my life and now she wants the other 70." I understood this to mean the Devil. As I stood at the edge of a huge crack in the earth with no bottom, I was going to fight the Devil for this poor man. He was of average height, bald and wore thick glasses. Many people confirmed this to be the description of the jumper.

Suddenly, I was hurled without hand into this deep, dark place where I floated in nothingness. Three EVIL demons approached me intending to murder me. Their spirits were malignant, foul, and terrifying beyond description or experience on earth. Had the Lord not intervened, my heart would have stopped immediately. Within this instant, I experienced something even more terrifying. The presence and grace of God which we take so much for granted in this world that we do not recognize it, DEPARTED from me and I felt the abandonment by God which Jesus experienced on the cross when he said, "Father, why hast thou forsaken me?" I cried out, "Lord Jesus help me!" I was immediately snatched back from the chasm where the Lord stood looking down at those Demons, very displeased. In my terror, I completely forgot about the poor man I had tried to help.

I have left the first experience where I saw and met God the father for last, because it is lengthy. At 21, I had returned to the land of my birth and felt lost and displaced in the world, not even belonging to a church. I felt too insignificant to approach him in holy communion and said to him, "Father, how can I love you. I do not know you and have never seen you?" One week later, very early in the morning, having forgotten all about that, I sat on a cliff overlooking the sea as the sun peeped over the horizon. Suddenly, a dart from the sun went through my eyes and hit my pineal gland. Immediately, I was unaware of being in this world any longer, and was standing facing forward with two shoulder high orbs of light on my left and the most loving being peeping over a floor high above me. He had a dimple in his left cheek. Telepathically he asked, "What do you want?" I replied, "I want a home." He responded, "I am your home, when you leave there you will return to me." Suddenly, he was standing on the same floor I was standing on looking toward me but about 25 ft. tall. He said to me, "I am a God of Love, I am a God of Holiness, I am a God of JUDGMENT!" and he was very serious when he said that word. Suddenly, I was transported off to his right in a flash in a reclining position where I was given the ultimate experience of the Beatific Vision or experience which I believe is God's state of being. I felt JOY, PEACE, LOVE and ETERNAL LIFE where all that ever were or will be co-existed in awareness of each other's existence in this state. When the experience ended, I did not immediately realize what had happened to me as it happened seemingly in a moment outside of time. For many months, I found myself existing in a cocoon of the Holy Spirit in which I loved everyone and everything and the memory of this blessing and baptism from God the Father has remained with me for 56 years.

The FOOL in his heart says there is no God.

Thanks for the detailed description of your experiences, Amor, although I’m not sure the ad hominem attack towards those not "blessed" with your crystallising experiences at the end is entirely appropriate.

Interesting that you mention stimulation of your pineal gland in the description of your first experience (at the very tender age of 21), particularly in light of Dr. Rick Strassman’s studies into dimethyl tryptamine, the most powerful hallucinogen currently known to science, and alleged by Strassman to be secreted by the pineal gland in most cases just prior to death. This is his thesis as to why NDE’s normally follow the same patterns although ketamine has also been shown to replicate NDEs.

I was recently lucky enough to take an active dose of DMT and as someone subjected to what I can only describe as rampant evangelical christianity by my parents during my formative years, I can certainly vouch for the way in which it (DMT) amplifies preconceived / preprogrammed ideas and dogmas whilst under its influence. The beauty of the experience was that, because I knew this was a synthetic experience, I was able to put to bed for the last time many religious ghosts through the recognition the they had only ever been figments of a very malleable and naive imagination coupled with hopelessly deluded confirmation bias. That’s not meant as an ad hominem attack on you - I’m speaking solely about myself.

Because I waited until I was the age I am now before taking DMT I had already extensively cleared out my spiritual closet as it were and had come to a more comprehensive understanding of the true dynamics of spirit, a process a 21 year old mind is insufficiently developed to complete, IMO. The fact that you were from the age of 21 referencing a patriarchal deity indicates the naivety of your mind at the time, either through religious programming (were you brought up in a christian environment?) or social programming since everyone simply living in a christian, muslim or jewish society will be subject to such low-level patriarchal deity conditioning even if they don’t turn into believers.

Interesting that you talk about demons. It’s my opinion that real demons are those strings of bad code in our psyche, those beliefs based on misinterpreted data when we were too young to know better, which go on to undermine and destabilise our lives through the decisions we make while possessed by them.

In light of all that, I’d highly recommend DMT as the ultimate exorcist, once one is in a sufficiently spiritual place of awareness rather than belief………..and I didn’t even mention the visuals ; )

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LtT6Xkk-kzk

[BMJ]

Hi Amor,
Thank you for your post #8, I found that very uplifting.

I wanted to add with your battle with the three demons I find that interesting in comparison to a experience someone I knew had. This person almost died on two seperate occassions and in both occassions he had three shadow beings grabbing his soul and trying to pull him into hell. He said he felt himself sinking.

[Akasha]

Posted by Flash (here)
.....What many Christians do not know is that for the Muslims, Jesus is a very respected prophet, called Isis or Yesus in the Kuran.

therefore asking Jesus for help is not anti Muslim and pro Christian, it is literallly possible for a Muslim......

With regard to the video in the OP, there are a few things to bear in mind. Firstly, as Flash mentioned in her previous post, Jesus is well referenced in the Koran so most if not all Muslims have great reverence for him and his principles. When that knowledge is coupled with the penalty for apostasy of their own religion, namely death, in turn coupled with what I mentioned in my previous post regarding DMT being secreted by the pineal gland around the time of death, one can start to build up a speculative picture of what is going on in these poor Muslims’ heads during their NDEs. They are so heavily indoctrinated that it’s only when they are already at the point of death that the penalty for apostasy is no longer a threat to them, thus allowing them to plump for the only other option they are aware of, namely Jesus.....and so their psyche, with the aid of this very powerful hallucinogen enacts their core beliefs.

However, this is in my opinion, out of the fire and into the frying pan (yes that way round) - Christianity obviously being a far less threatening dogma but nonetheless still a far cry from true spiritual liberation or moksha.

[raff]

Anyone with a little experience in Buddhism would know that much of their prayer services relate to saving spirits in hell even right to the lowest hell. A glance at many of the old Buddhist texts will tell you of this. This is a common and regular practice. If you've done it "religiously" over the years you get to see more than one cares to speak of. And I for one have and even though I can't speak about this video much all i can say is there must be a heaven (now that I haven't seen so much of but I'm guessing it's got to exist seeing as I know there's a hell) but I'm not sure I fancy going there myself. After all you will probably have to come back to this world or another like it and do whatever it is we've come here to do. I think that I'll cash my chips in and and call it quits. This world is no fun and personally I don't think whatever it is we're here for is worth it.
But then again it's that kind of slanderous speech that gets you into trouble in the first place lol.

[ozmirage]

[SUBJECTIVE FLAG ON] An explanation for Muslims being in "Hell" may be found in the metaphysical concept of like attracts like. And that disharmonious spirits would not congregate together.

What does that have to do with "Hell"?

Though there are peaceful and loving sections of the Koran (Meccan), they are abrogated (replaced) by the later sections (Medinan). This is why Muslims can embrace peace -and- bloody thirsty jihad, while keeping a straight face. Not to forget, their prophet "the perfect man" was a kidnapper, rapist, pedophile, warlord, and slaver. That is why "good" Muslims would not be likely to congregate with those that are deemed 'infidels.'

If I were a loving and forgiving Deity, that could only be approached by those who were also loving and forgiving, it would also mean that those who were hateful, unforgiving, intolerant, and violent would not endure the discord from their own innate natures. Thus they would be exiled to a compatible environment of like minded spirits. Depending on your interpretation, that could be Islamic heaven or Christian hell.

I believe that it is wise to be the kind of person one would like to spend eternity with, expressing compassion, kindness, charity, generosity and concern for the well being of others. Which would also make one a pleasant companion in this world as well.

Either way, you make your own heaven or hell.

[Michael Moewes]

It's very cotroversial. As a Buddhist I have trouble, to accept anything that devides me and my enlightened self. Any God figure puts an abyss there. due to this dualism.
There is you on the one side and God on the otherside. The message though is all the same. Love everyone, even your enemy. And if you can't help someone, at least don't hurt him. But there is no doubt for me about what they said about Allah. If I'd be put to chose only between them two, my choice would definitely be Jesus. His message resoonates with my inner self, but I can't accept this dualistic beleive system. We all have this spark of enlightenment in us, more or less well hiden underneath layers of obscurations and mislead educations. The only thing that can save us is Love and Compassion and both unconditionally towards everyone. In this Spirit, I wish everyone an amazing day. Be positive and share this with everyone.

[amor]

Thank you to those who responded with their comments to my post. To "little one," I point out that I know nothing about Muslims and my post was only responding to the video on you-tube as follows:
https://youtu.be/Kx9MpwDY82U. The pictures were very vivid and I pray the Lord not to let me go there.

To the others who responded, I can only say that even as a child I felt close to the being of the Lord, was sent to sunday school and went to church with my parents until we moved to the USA as a teenager. Thereafter, we were involved in the rat race of New York City. Briefly, I went to the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, after which I listened to sermons on the radio, did not attend a church, did what the Lord would expect of me in a too difficult world. I also have philosophical questions and some answers of my own. I have never taken dope of any kind, do not drink, and live a very quiet life, alone. Would that the world were not unkind to animals and all living. Sometimes, I wonder whether we were not dumped into a common pot to discover which souls managed to become purified despite a world of evil.
As I understand the Christian message, "If we believe in Jesus as our Savior, we will be saved from HELL; he is faithful and true to forgive our sins, and this is the only acceptable forgiveness to God our Father." I am not nay saying anyone elses beliefs. At 21, in retrospect, I knew very little about the world's history and philosophy and was an innocent. As for the pineal gland, I felt the zing from the sun's ray reach something in the center of my head. Could this be why the Egyptian Ruler began worshiping the sun? It is, after all, our connection between the material world and the zero field.

[Atlas]

Jesus said: "If You Believed Moses, You Would Believe Me, for He Wrote of Me" (source).

Moses was the great grandson of Levi who knew Isaac, the son of Abraham, who, in turn, knew the son of Noah (Shem) (source).
Now, if you compare Noah and Gilgamesh, you can spot the similarities:

It's like they're talking about the same person here.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fkNTJw5WosE

Jesus said :"If You Believed Moses, You Would Believe Me", Moses being of the lineage of Noah, also known as Gilgamesh, the grandson of Utu, in Sumerian folklore.

Utu is the god of the sun [...] and the lord of truth. [...] Every night, Utu descends into the underworld to decide the fate of the dead. He is also depicted as carrying a mace, and standing with one foot on a mountain. (source). He was the grandson of Enlil, the god of breath, wind, loft and breadth (height and distance), who himself was banished from Ekur in Nippur, home of the gods, to Kur, the underworld for seducing a goddess named Ninlil.

Enlil was known as the inventor of the mattock (a key agricultural pick, hoe, ax or digging tool of the Sumerians) and helped plants to grow. (source)

Enlil was one of Anu's 5 children. Anu (from An, "sky, heaven") was the "King of the Gods", "Lord of the Constellations, Spirits and Demons", and "Supreme Ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven". He was believed to have created the stars as soldiers to destroy the wicked. (source)

[Billy]

The person mentioned in the video was NOT a devout Muslim, through false teachings and indoctrination and by his own admission he admits he was a murderer who decapitated his brothers and maybe sisters, he said he had to relive those actions, only this time him being the victim then given a second chance.

Therefore his actions had nothing to do with Islam or being a Muslim, I was with the Muslims in Bosnia during the war, helping them survive when they were being genocided by so called Catholic Christians from the south in Croatia and Orthodox Christians and communists from the north in Serbia. They were the most beautiful caring people i have ever met, they had nothing but would give you their last, while fathers, brothers and sons were being massacred and dumped into mass graves, mother and daughters were being marched into rape camps by so called Christians.

So just as the man in the video, his actions had nothing to do with Mohammad, the actions of those Christians in Bosnia had nothing to do with the Christ, Karma can be a bitch and all will have to deal with their actions whether in this life or the next, or the next again. the cycle will continue until the lesson that you do not cause harm and that ALL life is sacred is learned. You have strive to be a good person with a pure heart in this life to be able to move on in the afterlife. It is that simple.

A little history lesson as far as the relationship between Muslims and Christians go, This history has been forgotten by both religions, if they would only remember they may stop killing each other.

The true story of how the tale of Jesus and Mary saved the nascent religion of Islam from annihilation.

http://ethiomedia.com/course/4695.html

Part quote:
And yet despite its primitive state of affairs, something truly remarkable was happening in Arabia at that time. A man named Muhammad had a vision of the Angel Gabriel telling him that God had sent him as a Prophet to lead the Arabs out of darkness into light. That the time had come that the children of Abraham though his son Ishmael rejoin their father's community by worshipping the One God, the God of Moses and Jesus. A God of love and justice, who enjoined charity and mercy among mankind. A God who commanded men to treat women with honor and to protect their children, not bury them alive.

The Prophet's message was met as a new faith always is -- with derision and ridicule. The wealthy oligarchs of his city Mecca found his admonitions to give to the poor offensive, his call for an end to the blood feuds and the cruel traditions of their ancestors an insult to their culture. And more importantly, Muhammad's proclamation of One God was a direct threat to their pocketbooks. Mecca had become the center of trade in the region, as it hosted the Kaaba, an ancient shrine once built by Abraham for his God, but now dedicated to the local tribal deities. The annual pilgrimage when Arabs from all over the peninsula came to worship their gods at the Kaaba brought in huge revenue -- and the Prophet's proclamation that these deities were illusory was a dagger at the heart of Mecca's wealth.

The early followers of Prophet Muhammad were, not surprisingly, from the poor and the weak. Those who had no protection from the ravages of society found hope in the new movement, known as Islam, which meant simply "to surrender oneself to God" -- the essential teaching of all of God's messengers, from Abraham through Jesus Christ. And yet, as persecution worsened, and Meccans began to attack and kill the Muslims ("those who had surrendered to God"), it became clear that the movement had to escape from the clutches of the tribal lords and find safety elsewhere.

In 615 C.E., five years after the prophet's first vision of Gabriel, persecution of the Muslims had become a life-and-death matter. A Muslim woman named Sumaya, the first martyr of Islam, had been publicly murdered by a Meccan tribal chief. The weakest members of the community, such as the African slave Bilal, were subjected to torture. And the Arab chieftains were coming together to proclaim a ban of trade with the Muslims, prohibiting citizens of Mecca from providing food and medicine to members of the new movement.

Facing the very real possibility of extinction, a small group of Muslims led by the Prophet's daughter Ruqayya and his son-in-law Uthman, escaped Meccan patrols and managed to get to the Red Sea, where they fled to Abyssinia by boat. They sought the protection of the Negus, the Christian king who had a reputation for justice.

The Meccan chieftains were outraged when they learned of the Muslim escape to Abyssinia. Trade with Africa was important to their economic power, and the arrival of dissident Arabs in the Abyssinian court could create an embarrassing diplomatic problem. The tribal lords dispatched Amr ibn al-As, a respected merchant who had befriended the Negus, to recover the Muslim refugees before they could harm Mecca's image with its trading partners.

Amr arrived with expensive gifts and honeyed words for the Negus. He advised the king that the Muslim refugees were criminals and asked that they be repatriated to Mecca. The Negus was concerned that he could be harboring troublemakers in his kingdom and summoned the Muslim refugees to his court to answer the allegations.

It was a tense moment, as the Muslims were brought before the Negus and the Meccan delegation. If things went badly, they would be handed over to Amr to be taken back against their will. In reality, they knew that once they were in Amr's hands, they would probably never see Mecca. In all likelihood, they would be killed long before they reached their erstwhile home.

When the Muslims responded that they were not criminals but victims of religious persecution, the Negus asked: "What is this religion wherein you have become separate from your people, though you have not entered my religion nor that of any other of the folk that surround us?"

The Prophet's cousin Ja'far, known for his eloquent speech, stepped forward and said:

"O King, we were people steeped in ignorance, worshiping idols, eating unsacrificed carrion, committing abominations, and the strong would devour the weak. Thus we were, until God sent us a Messenger from out of our midst, one whose lineage we knew, and his veracity and his worthiness of trust and his integrity. He called us unto God, that we should testify to His Oneness and worship Him and renounce what we and our fathers had worshiped in the way of stones and idols; and he commanded us to speak truly, to fulfill our promises, to respect the ties of kinship and the rights of our neighbors, and to refrain from crimes and from bloodshed. So we worship God alone, setting naught beside Him, counting as forbidden what He has forbidden and as licit what He has allowed. For these reasons have our people turned against us, and have persecuted us to make us forsake our religion and revert from the worship of God to the worship of idols. That is why we have come to your country, having chosen you above all others; and we have been happy in your protection, and it is our hope, O King, that here with you we shall not suffer wrong."

The Negus, a devout Christian, was intrigued by Ja'far's words and asked him if this Prophet had brought a scripture like the messengers of old. Ja'far nodded, saying that their Scripture was the Qur'an, which means recitation in Arabic. The Negus asked them to recite from their holy book.

And Ja'far recited for them a verse that had been revealed to the Prophet about the birth of Jesus Christ, who was revered as one of God's messenger's by the Muslims.

"And make mention of Mary in the Book, when she withdrew from her people unto a place towards the east, and secluded herself from them; and We sent unto her Our Spirit, and it appeared unto her in the likeness of a perfect man. She said: I take refuge from you in the Infinitely Good, if any piety you have. He said: I am none other than a messenger from your Lord that I may bestow on you a son most pure. She said: How can there be for me a son, when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste? He said: Even so shall it be; your Lord says: It is easy for Me. That We may make him a sign for mankind and a mercy from Us; and it is a thing ordained." (19:16-21)

The Negus was deeply moved to hear the story of Christ's miraculous conception in the Muslim scripture. He said to his guests:

"This has truly come from the same source as that which Jesus brought."

The Meccans became alarmed. The shared love for Jesus and Mary had created a bond between the Christians and Muslims that threatened to disrupt the Meccan scheme. Amr, who knew that the Muslims saw Jesus as a human messenger of God rather than a divine being, quickly tried to create a rift between the two communities.

"O King, they utter an enormous lie about Jesus the son of Mary. They call him a slave!"

The Abyssinian priests gasped at this apparent blasphemy. The Christian king tensed. He turned to the Muslims with a frown.

"What do you say about Jesus?"

Ja'far could only tell the truth.

"We say of him what our Prophet brought unto us, that he is the servant of God and His Messenger and His Spirit and His Word which He cast unto Mary the blessed virgin."

A tense silence fell on the crowd. And then the Negus smiled.

For him, the differences between Christian and Muslim visions of Jesus were just semantics. He had tired of the kind of theological disputes that had torn apart his fellow Christians and had led to never-ending accusations of heresy and warfare between competing Christian groups. Arguments over complicated theologies about the nature of Christ were not what mattered to him as a Christian. What mattered was that God had sent Jesus Christ to teach humanity love. And the Muslims clearly loved Jesus Christ.

"Go your ways, for you are safe in my land. Not for mountains of gold would I harm a single man of you."

And then he sent his attendant to the Meccan envoys.

"Return unto these two men their gifts, for I have no use for them."

And in that moment, Islam found its first refuge. In a Christian land, under the protection of a Christian king who viewed Muslims as his brothers and sisters.
End quote:

Let us work towards breaking down divisions, not creating them by titles such as this thread has.
Peace

[Sierra]

I go with C.S. Lewis, who says G*d knows his own, no matter in what family or faith one was birthed.