At this time of the year when the Christian world is celebrating the Feast of Easter, it is opportune that we pause and think about this. Christians believe that Jesus is the King of Peace. Muslims believe that Islam is the religion of peace. The two fought one another for centuries over Jerusalem, the city of Peace. Much life was lost and many terrible things were done in the Holy Land, and after much fighting and bloodshed not much had really changed in the region when the dust finally settled. In fact, for all they achieved, the Crusades need never really have been fought at all! Cairo - It is worth remembering that Christians and Muslims have lived together in this region for fourteen hundred years. It is true, though, that there are hands at work trying to cause division between these groups. It is only natural that those who do not want Egypt and other Arab countries to be strong should do their best to weaken them. What better way of doing this than to stir up religious strife. There are even some Arabs who travel abroad and appear on Western TV channels talking of religious oppression, and even religious persecution. It is time that these voices stopped their mischief, since the only ones to gain by it are people with no faith at all. Let us return to the Easter festival. According to tradition, Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, is alleged to have discovered, in the early fourth century, many sites associated with the life of Jesus Christ, including what was claimed to be the True Cross on which he died. The emperor ordered churches to be built on many of these sites. A church was built in Bethlehem over the spot alleged to be the place where Jesus was born, and another in Jerusalem over the spot where he is said, according to Christian tradition, to have died. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is said to stand on the very place where the Hill of Calvary stood. It is, of course, on Calvary that Christians believe Jesus was crucified. The church was actually built as three separate churches, to mark three separate events. One was for the hill of Calvary. Another was for the place where Jesus was buried, and the third was where he was said to have risen from the dead. When Constantine ordered that the churches be built, the spot was little more than a mound of rubble. When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70 a temple of the Roman god Venus had been built on the spot. This, too, was leveled in 135 AD when the emperor Hadrian began the work on his new Roman city of Aelia Capitolina. Constantine's building encompassed all three, but it was damaged by fire in 614 when the Persians invaded Jerusalem. Sixteen years later, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius recaptured Jerusalem and what was believed to be the True Cross and restored it to a newly rebuilt church. It was this church, among others, which the Crusaders came to liberate. The story of how the Muslim Caliph Umar refused to pray in the church out of respect for Christian believers is now famous. The prayer time was called, but Umar said that if he prayed inside the church it would set a precedent that future Muslims might use to turn it into a mosque. He prayed instead at a place nearby, where the Mosque of Umar now stands. Unfortunately, to the eternal shame of all Muslims, the church was completely destroyed in 1009 on the orders of the Egyptian Sultan Al-Hakim. Not renowned as the most reasoned of decision makers, “mad Hakim” is said to have been enraged at the numbers of Christian pilgrims visiting the church in Jerusalem, so he ordered its destruction. Many suggest that this action was one of the events that spurred the Crusades to begin later in the century. A new church was begun in 1048. Because of the different Christian groupings worshipping within it, a strict regime of checks and balances began at this time, added to over the centuries, which detailed to the Christians who could do what and at what times in the church. So it is today that the Greek Orthodox are responsible for certain functions, the Roman Catholics for others and the Armenian Apostolic Church for others. In addition, the Syriac, Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox communities have access to parts of the roof. Nothing can be done to make repairs to the church unless all of the involved authorities give their permission to do so. Getting so many diverse traditions to agree has meant that repairs are usually left undone. There is the famous case of the ladder, placed on a window ledge over the main entrance sometime before 1852, which still remains there to this day. None of the involved parties can agree on whether it should be moved or not! Major repairs and renovations had been done to the church by the Franciscan Friars in 1555. Another fire in 1808 meant that the church saw more rebuilding, eventually taking its current Ottoman form. The current dome over the place of the tomb dates to 1870. The last major renovations took place in 1959 and were finished in 1997. More important than buildings, though, are the people who worship in them. Mosques and churches are built so that Muslims and Christians may go there to pray. They don't exist to cause strife or to encourage violence. They exist for worship. Islam and Christianity both respect the rights of others to worship as they choose. In neither religion do we find the instruction to harm people of faith. At this time, then, when Christians celebrate what they believe was the death and resurrection of Jesus, let all people of faith allow them to do just that. No-one's faith is compromised because someone else believes differently. In fact, when we have become close to people of other faiths it is quite possible to tell them how wrong their belief is, whilst still being able to have a friendly lunch together! People of faith most certainly don't kill one another or destroy one another's places of worship. Opposing tribes do that. Believers don't. As we tell our Christian and friends and neighbours, then, to enjoy their holiday and, inshallah, come closer to God by doing so, let us silence the voices of those who would divide our world. Here in Egypt (and some others close to her border), there are those who wish to cause trouble. They don't want the revolution to succeed. They don't want to see Egypt strong and united. They prefer to drive a wedge between Egyptians by causing enmity between them. This Easter time, whether we have religious faith or no faith at all, let us all say no to the wreckers and, instead, let us make a small pray that we will come even closer, whatever we believe. British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, is a lecturer at Al-Azhar University . The author of eight books about Islam, he divides his time between Egypt and the UK as a speaker, writer and broadcaster. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com.
