The Prophet Allowed Christians To Pray In Masjid al-Nabawi ??

First of all I must qualify that the following is what I have extracted from various sites on the Net. The links are provided. 

Ini bukan apa yang saya cakap ok. Ini orang lain yang cakap. Ini ostat yang cakap. Bukan saya yang cakap. The ostat guys will not refute this because this is in their sources of reference. I have even located one such source of reference.  

First of all here is one link :  Interactions between Prophet Muhammad and Christians by Ismail Acar  (Please do click on it).  Here is a brief extract :

The Delegation of Najran Christians

No doubt the most important interaction between the Christians and the Prophet was the visit of the Najran delegation to Madina. Makka and Madina had a very small Christian population (Waraqa ibn Nawfal was one of them). The majority of Christian residents lived in Najran. The Prophet’s first important encounter with Christian clergies was in the 9th year of Hijra (AD 631), one or two years before his death. 

Prophet Muhammad had been sending official letters to different countries and their rulers, inviting them to Islam. Among these were two different invitations that had been sent to Najran with Khaled ibn al-Walid and Ali ibn Abi Talib.13 At that time the Najran Christians had a highly organized religious life. Before Islam, foreign teachers had even visited the town, such as the Italian priest Gregentius, which had deepen-ed their religious knowledge.14 

Few of the Najran Christians converted to Islam; the majority of them did not change their religion after these invitations. Prophet Muhammad sent a representative to them, Mughira ibn Shu’ba, who was sent to explain the invitations and the religion of Islam. After discussions with Mughira, the Christians of Najran decided to send a group of people to visit the Prophet. The delegation was made up of about 60 well-educated Christians: A bishop, his 45 scholars, and 15 men. Their intention was to learn the nature of the revelations Prophet Muhammad was receiving.15 

When the Najran delegation reached Madina, they debated with the Prophet in an investigatory dialogue for two or three days in the mosque (Masjid) of Madina. Prophet Muhammad allow-ed them to pray in the mosque (Masjid al-Nabawi) where the Muslims prayed. The whole incident was the first occurrence of peaceful dialogue between Christians and Muslims; it was the first time that Christians prayed in a mosque.16  (Ibn Hisham, I, 575-577.)

Prophet Muhammad warmly welcomed the Najran delegation and provided them with a place to stay in Madina, in a secure place close to his mosque. He even ordered that their tent be pitched for them by the Muslims. However, the Najran delegation and Prophet Muhammad were not able to reach a solution in theological terms. 

I wish to repeat - ini bukan saya yang cakap. This is what the religious people say. Ini geng ostat yang cakap. I have no comments about this source of reference. This is NOT from the Quran.  

I am just quoting what the religious people themselves say. The reference is also provided - Ibn Isham, I, 575-577 - so whoever is interested can go and double check. Jangan marah saya ok.

Now here is a YouTUbe video featuring some Pakistani ostat fellow talking about this same subject of the Prophet allowing Christians to pray in the Masjid Nabawi :

So I repeat again - ini bukan saya cakap. Ini geng ostat yang cakap. You can see in the video for yourself.

There is only one point which I dont agree with the Pakistani ostat. 

It is NOT true that the Christians do not allow Muslims to use the Church for prayers. If you have studied overseas, especially in the US BEFORE 9-11, then you will know that many Churches across the US allowed Muslims to conduct their Friday prayers inside Church buildings. 

In Indiana in the 1980s the Saint Thomas Aquinas Centre (a Catholic Church) allowed us to use their basement hall for Friday prayers.   Old churches have also been bought over by Muslims and converted into mosques.

However in Malaysia pula, the owner of a resort in Johor has been arrested and charged in Court for allowing some Buddhists to have a meditation session in a small surau which was located INSIDE his resort. Here are two reports from The Star :

1. Resort operator allowed a group of Buddhists to hold meditation in his surau

• KOTA TINGGI: Police arrested operator of a resort in Tanjung Sedili Besar who allowed Buddhists to meditate in a surau.
• 45-year-old Ahmad a Singaporean with PR status, arrested at Tanjung Sutera Resort
• Section 295 of the Penal Code for injuring or defiling a place of worship 
• Khaled Nordin said incident should not have happened and “insensitive”.
• Malaysian Consultative Council said should not be seen as an insult to Islam.
• president Jagir Singh said people should study circumstances surrounding  incident
• resort manager said the group had wanted to use a hall to meditate, but none was available, causing the management to allow them to use the surau.
• Jagir said Buddhists merely prayed  no offence against Islam was even intended
• Jagir also exhorted all to look at uplifting happenings, such as the one in India last August when Muslim residents of Joshimath performed Aidilfitri prayers in a Sikh temple after being invited there by its head priest.
• The Sikh’s made the offer – one that was graciously accepted – after seeing that the normal Muslim prayer ground was soggy after days of heavy rain.

2.  Resort owner who let Buddhists use surau remanded for 4 days

• KOTA TINGGI: The owner of the resort in Tanjung Sedili Besar here, who had allowed a group of Buddhists to meditate in a surau, has been remanded for four days.
• He was brought to the Session's Court here at about 9.30am Tuesday before court registrar Hairul Azhar Mohamad who approved the remand order until Friday.
• The 45-year-old, who is a Singaporean with Malaysian PR status, was arrested Sunday afternoon at the Tanjung Sutera Resort, 40km from here.
• Police said the incident is being investigated under Section 295 of the Penal Code for injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class.

Now here is a question for Muslims who can think. (For those Muslims who cannot think, you dont have to answer this question. Please do not torture yourselves ok.) The question is : "What do you think the Prophet would have have done with the Buddhists?"  This is a hypothetical question only lah.  Jangan marah tak tentu pasal.

According to the ostat stories and the YouTube video I have quoted above, the Prophet allowed the Najran Christians to pray inside the Masjid al Nabawi. 

So if these Buddhists in Kota Tinggi had met  the Prophet and asked for a space where they could "meditate" what do you think the Prophet would have done?

Our Nabi Ya Kareem Rasulullah taught us the following in the Quran :

61:2 O you who believe, why do you say what you do not do?

61:3 Most abominable in the sight of Allah is that you say what you do not do.

In other words 'jangan cakap tak serupa bikin'.  Say one thing today and then do something else tomorrow.  The Prophet was not a person who would indulge in "cakap tak serupa bikin"

According to the ostat stories I quoted above the Prophet had already allowed the Christians of Najran to pray inside the Masjid al Nabawi. 

So what do you think will be or should be the Prophet's response if some Buddhists had requested for space just to "meditate"?  Bukan di Masjid Nabawi pun. Di surau Tanjong Sutera Resort?

What do you think?