There is a tremendous amount of violence against Christians committed by Muslims, and according to various Christian watch groups, make up approximately 75% of all violence against Christians.
However, this should not be a call to brute violence, inciting hatred, or unbalanced responses. While fighting is sometimes necessary, it must be looked at as a last resort because ultimately the intention is to convert them for their sake and ours, as God does not desire the death of the sinner, but his salvation. This is why the Catholic Church will justly and persistently criticize Judaism, not out of “Jew hatred” that so many will speak of, but because it is uncharitable to support a man in holding to a philosophy that will destroy him and cause the same to happen to others.
One must make sure not to submit to erroneous beliefs, but at the same time, one must also seek to build harmony with other in order to realize the words of scriptures, that “they would see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Doing what is right for people who are not Christians also sets a good example for them, and being inspired by this, they might begin to conduct themselves in a way that leads them on the path towards their conversion and salvation.
Such an example of this took place recently in Indonesia where the local Muslim community allowed Christians to use their mosque for a Christian funeral according to a report:
Amid reports of intolerance between ethnic groups and religious communities, pictures showing a Christian funeral service in the courtyard of a mosque has attracted people’s attention on the internet.
The pictures were uploaded on Monday on the Facebook account of Jeferson Goeltom, who wrote in his post that they were the pictures from the funeral of his nephew’s wife. The post has been shared almost 10,000 times on Facebook and received more than 38,000 likes as of Saturday afternoon.
Three pictures in the Facebook post show a white-robed priest standing in front of a casket decorated with a floral cross, while the people attending the ceremony are sitting on plastic chairs.
Some Muslim men wearing their kufi skullcaps can also be seen in the pictures.
“Our house is located in a narrow alley, which the coffin was too big to pass through. It was a great blessing that we felt to be allowed to do the ceremony in front of the mosque,” Jeferson wrote.
“This is a form of super high tolerance. Thank you, the mosque caretakers and my local folks.”
The mosque turned out to be the Darussalam Mosque located on Jl. Cempaka Baru Tengah, Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
Agus, 45, one of the caretakers of the mosque, said the service was also held on Monday, the same day as when the pictures were posted.
“[Jeferson] represented the family to talk to the mosque head to ask for permission to use the courtyard, because of the narrow alley situation,” Agus said on Thursday, as quoted by kompas.com.
As observed, the path to the family’s home is indeed narrow. The entrances to the alley are not even 1 meter wide. There is no other choice other than to use the mosque’s courtyard.
After the mosque head allowed them to use the mosque’s courtyard for the funeral, the service began at around 12:30 p.m. and lasted for 30 minutes before the coffin was closed and taken to the cemetery, Agus recalled.
Agus said the mosque had to postpone its Quran study so as not to disturb the service happening in the courtyard.
“We have a weekly Quran study every Monday taking place after shalat dzuhur (midday prayer) and lasting until shalat ashar (afternoon prayer). The study was postponed until 2:30 p.m.,” said Agus.
Shalat dzuhur, which is performed at around noon, and shalat ashar, which is performed at around 3 to 4 p.m., are two of the five obligatory prayers for Muslims.
“Alhamdulillah [thank God], I have lived here for 30 years. It is safe here for everybody. Those who celebrate Christmas, they are allowed. Those who celebrate Idul Fitri, they are also welcome,” Agus said.
“People here have a high sense of tolerance and have never clashed with each other just for differences. The whole country should learn, we cannot disturb the value of Bhineka Tunggal Ika [Unity in Diversity].”
The story has also spread on Twitter and sparked discussion on the beauty of diversity.
Comedian and filmmaker Ernest Prakarsa on his Twitter account @ErnestPrakasa said “[We] really need news like this.”
“Many acts of tolerance happen around us from all religions, both minority and majority, unfortunately we often only see the intolerance stories.”
This story is probably what the capital needs the most right now amid the rising intolerance in Jakarta.
In 2017, human rights group Setara Institute revealed that Jakarta was at the bottom of a list of 94 cities studied from November 2016 to October 2017.
The study, called “The 2017 Index of Tolerant Cities,” measured cities’ medium-term regional development plans, government actions and statements, discriminatory policies, intolerant acts and demographic composition based on the harmony among people of different groups.
In 2018, rights group Wahid Foundation also named Jakarta the most intolerant province in the country, as it found that most violations related to religious freedom throughout 2017 occurred in the capital. (source, source)
Why is the “counter jihad” movement not discussing this?
Easy- because discussing peace between Muslims and Christians, or at least attempts of some kind at a type of peace, even if it is small, does not serve the end of promoting division that can be leveraged into support of nationalism, militarism, and eugenicist policies with their roots in the infamous Darwinian philosophy of the 19th century and the previous materialistic philosophies throughout history that value power over the humanity of one’s fellow man.
This is why the “counter-jihad” movement, if one has not noticed, actually seems to be in decline. I do not say this to say that Islam is irrelevant, or that one should not discuss it, or as a personal criticism of those who are in the movement, but as an observation that the fervor of the past is not as strong as it was, and the answer is simple- because it was never meant to last. It was meant to promote a certain view, and that is nationalism, and now that nationalism is rising, barring another major Muslim terrorist attack, it naturally is declining from its previous level of esteem that it once enjoyed.
It is also one of the reasons Shoebat.com, while still covering Islam as before, it discussing more than just this topic, rather taking to monitoring major trends around the world, because the purpose of being a Christian is to combat all evils and recognize the good when it happens, not to subscribe to particular partisan ideologies which value power over morality.
God desires the conversion of the Muslims, and while many people rightly criticize the issues caused by many Muslims, especially the “refugees” in Europe, what is to say that such people, if they are evangelized, will not become a major force for good, and such a force that they might bring back the peoples of Europe who abandoned Christianity centuries ago for nationalistic forms of paganism? God does not care about race, nor does He care about culture, save for only those who love Him and desire to do His will, which is always for the good of all His creation regardless of place, time, or appearance.