From the book Christians in the Holy Land. Edited by Michael Prior and William Taylor
With the establishment of the first community of Christians in Jerusalem, which dates back to apostolic times (Act 2.4), the first Christian Church was established.
Jerusalem is the source of Christianity. The history and doctrine of the Church began there. It is from Jerusalem that Christianity spread to various parts of the Middle East and to the rest of the world (Wilkinson 1989). The roots of Arab Christians in the Holy Land go back to the early communities of Christians in the area. By the 5th century, Arab kingdoms in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Palestine adopted Christianity (Acts 2:11; Issa 1984: 108; Samir 1986: 26).
During the first half of the 7th century, Islam conquered the whole Middle East, and dealt with the Christians in the area with all tolerance. In the Qur’an, the Christians were mentioned quite favourably in several verses (Sura al-Ma’ida vv.85-88). Verse 85 reads:
And nearest among them in love
To the Believers wilt thou
Find those who say,
“We are Christians”;
Because amongst these are
Men devoted to learning
And men who have renounced
Are not arrogant.
In addition, when Muslims conquered the Holy Land, they gave the Christians, the “People of the Book”, in 636 AD, a covenant of protection for their persons and their possessions, known as the “Covenant of ‘Umar’ (El Aref 1961: 91; Mansour 1991: 80). Since the arrival of Islam in the Holy Land right up to the present time, the relationship between Arab Christians and Arab Muslims has been one of mutual respect. What binds Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land is that they are both Arabs. Both have a common culture, a common history, a common language, and a common land. Though different religion, they share a common heritage (Mansour 1991: 76). Together they have participated society. Moreover, the contributions of Arab Christians to the Arab culture as a whole have been acknowledged (Samir 1986).
