Kindly read without skipping.
It is possible my brethren. Generally speaking, history testifies that particularly under Muslim rule, Christians, Jews and Muslims were able to peacefully live side by side in mutual respect and tolerance. Admittedly, several Muslim nations nowadays are not as Islamic as they claim to be.
A respectable contemporary Muslim thinker, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer writes:
If one goes by the Qur'anic pronouncements Islam not only accepts the legitimacy of religious pluralism but considers it quite central to its system of beliefs. There are very clear statements to this effect. First we will refer to the verse 5:48 in this respect. The verse goes as follows:" Unto every one of you We have appointed a (different) law and way of life. And if Allah had so willed, He could surely have made you all one single community: but (He willed it otherwise) in order to test you by means of what He has given you. Vie, then, with one another in doing good works! Unto Allah you all must return; and then He will make you truly understand all that on which you were to differ." This is very seminal statement in favour of religious and legal pluralism which Muslims, specially the Muslim regimes, have not considered seriously. Many classical as well as modern commentators have commented on this significant verse...It is unfortunate that most of the Muslim countries do not adhere to this spirit of pluralism and diversity in the Qur'an and sunnah (prophetic traditions). The extremists and fundamentalists among the Muslims in these countries attack the spirit of pluralism and want to create a monolithic society.
Nonetheless, the blame isn't really all on our (i.e. Muslims) shoulders for islamophobia, sweeping generalisation, ignorance and bigotry against Islam which are prevalent in the West these days need to be rectified as well.
"The West, whether Christian or dechristianised, has never really known Islam..."
(Unveiling Islam by Roger Du Pasquier)
"The use of false evidence to attack Islam was all but universal..." (Norman Daniel: Islam and the West)
"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Prophet Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
(Thomas Carlyle in 'Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,' 1840)
"History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated."
(De Lacy O'Leary in 'Islam at the Crossroads,' London, 1923.)
"We have never heard about any attempt to compel Non-Muslim parties to adopt Islam or about any organized persecution aiming at exterminating Christianity. If the Caliphs had chosen one of these plans, they would have wiped out Christianity as easily as what happened to Islam during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain; by the same method which Louis XIV followed to make Protestantism a creed whose followers were to be sentenced to death; or with the same ease of keeping the Jews away from Britain for a period of three hundred fifty years."
(Thomas Arnold in 'The Call to Islam.')
"Despite the growth of antagonism, Moslem (Muslim) rulers seldom made their Christian subjects suffer for the Crusades. When the Saracens finally resumed the full control of Palestine the Christians were given their former status as dhimmis. The Coptic Church, too had little cause for complaint under Saladin's (Salahuddin) strong government, and during the time of the earlier Memluk sultans who succeeded him the Copts experienced more enlightened justice than they had hitherto known. The only effect of the Crusaders upon Egyptian Christians was to keep them for a while from pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for as long as the Frank were in charge heretics were forbidden access to the shrines. Not until the Moslem victories could they enjoy their rights as Christians."
(James Addison in 'The Christian Approach to the Moslem,' p. 35.)
"It was not until the Western nations broke away from their religious law that they became more tolerant, and it was only when the Muslims fell away from their religious law that they declined in tolerance and other evidences of the highest culture. The various sects of Christians were represented in the Council of the Empire by their patriarchs, on the provincial and district council by their bishops, in the village council by their priests, whose word was always taken without question on things which were the sole concern of their community..."
(Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall in his 1927 Lecture on 'Tolerance in Islam,' Madras, India.)
"The Islamic teachings have left great traditions for equitable and gentle dealings and behavior, and inspire people with nobility and tolerance. These are human teachings of the highest order and at the same time practicable...Islam is replete with gentleness, courtesy, and fraternity."
(H.G. Wells)
"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically....the teachings of the Prophet, the Qur'an has invariably kept its place as the fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with a grandeur a majesty, an invariable purity and with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam....A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of winning its way into the consciences of men."
(Edward Montet, 'La Propagande Chretienne et ses Adversaries Musulmans,' Paris 1890. Also in T.W. Arnold in 'The Preaching of Islam,' London 1913.)
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In 628 Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai:
This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
No compulsion is to be on them.
Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.
No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.
Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight.
The Muslims are to fight for them.
If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.
Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.
No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).
Thus, let's collectively pray and contribute positively so that God will again bestow upon us a peaceful and harmonious world where people can all live in mutual respect and tolerance.
Peace and Love.