The Ashtename – or Contract of Peace.
This document was signed by Muhammed the Prophet with the monks of St Catherines. I have seen a certified copy of it with the exact handprint of the man himself. It is an eternal agreement between the Islamic and the Christian world. This contract is genuine and was ratified by the Pascha of Egypt during Ottoman times. It holds the hope of the relationship between the two civilisations and if it had been applied… there would not have been any crusades… in fact we wouldnt be where we are today if every Christian and every Muslim learned and memorised its words. In this day and age this contract of PEACE is really a message of HOPE for us all. It is said that the Prophet was indebted to the monks for giving him sanctuary in the early days of Islam. When he himself was being persecuted and his disciples ( some of whom received sanctuary from the Ethiopian Christian King).
If we this document was ratified again we might have a new era of peace in the Middle East and elsewhere where Muslims and Christian communities are becoming more and more polarised.
THIS IS WHAT IT SAYS: ( LAST 7 POINTS ARE TO ALL CHRISTIANS)
The ASHTEH- NAMEH - ( Persian words for the Name of Peace/Contract of PEACE)
Muhammad the son of ‘Abd Allah, the Messenger of Allah, and careful guardian of the whole world; has written the present instrument to all those who are in his national people, and of his own religion, as a secure and positive promise to be accomplished to the Christian nation, and relations of the Nazarene, whosoever they may be, whether they be the noble or the vulgar, the honorable or otherwise, saying thus.
I. Whosoever of my nation shall presume to break my promise and oath, which is contained in this present agreement, destroys the promise of God, acts contrary to the oath, and will be a resister of the faith, (which God forbid) for he becomes worthy of the curse, whether he be the King himself, or a poor man, or whatever person he may be.
2.That whenever any of the monks in his travels shall happen to settle upon any mountain, hill, village, or other habitable place, on the sea, or in deserts, or in any convent, church, or house of prayer, I shall be in the midst of them, as the preserver and protector of them, their goods and effects, with my soul, aid, and protection, jointly with all my national people; because they are a part of my own people, and an honor to me.
3.Moreover, I command all officers not to require any poll-tax on them, or any other tribute, because they shall not be forced or compelled to anything of this kind.
4.None shall presume to change their judges or governors, but they shall remain in their office, without being deported.
5.No one shall molest them when they are travelling on the road.
6.Whatever churches they are possessed of, no one is to deprive them of them.
7.Whosoever shall annul any of one of these my decrees, let him know positively that he annuls the ordinance of God.
8.Moreover, neither their judges, governors, monks, servants, disciples, or any others depending on them, shall pay any poll-tax, or be molested on that account, because I am their protector, wherever they shall be, either by land or sea, east or west, north or south; because both they and all that belong to them are included in this my promissory oath and patent.
9. And of those that live quietly and solitary upon the mountains, they shall exact neither poll-tax nor tithes from their incomes, neither shall any Muslim partake of what they have; for they labor only to maintain themselves.
10.Whenever the crop of the earth shall be plentiful in its due time, the inhabitants shall be obliged out of every bushel to give them a certain measure.
11.Neither in time of war shall they take them out of their habitations, nor compel them to go to the wars, nor even then shall they require of them any poll-tax.
12.In these eleven chapters is to be found whatever relates to the monks, as to the remaining seven chapters, they direct what relates to every Christian.
13.Those Christians who are inhabitants, and with their riches and traffic are able to pay the poll-tax, shall pay no more than twelve drachms.
14.Excepting this, nothing shall be required of them, according to the express order of God, that says, “Do not molest those that have a veneration for the books that are sent from God, but rather in a kind manner” [29:46]. Give of your good things to them, and converse with them, and hinder everyone from molesting them.
15.If a Christian woman shall happen to marry a Muslim man, the Muslim shall not cross the inclination of his wife, to keep her from her church and prayers, and the practice of her religion.
16.That no person hinder them from repairing their churches.
17.Whosoever acts contrary to my grant, or gives credit to anything contrary to it, becomes truly an apostate to God, and to his divine apostle, because this protection I have granted to them according to this promise.
18.No one shall bear arms against them, but, on the contrary, the Muslims shall wage war for them.
19.And by this I ordain, that none of my nation shall presume to do or act contrary to this my promise, until the end of the world
Here are some useful links to read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtiname_of_Muhammad
here are some islamic ref:
http://www.lastprophet.info/covenant-of-the-prophet-muhammad-with-the-monks-of-mt-sinai
THIS IS THE COPY I SAW:
http://thewanderingmusulman.uk/2015/03/01/muhammad-christians-and-the-ashtiname-book-of-peace/
It was translated by Richard Pococke
Here are some of the sources of the Q'ran and the ASHTINAME:
http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Sources/sarh.html
Is it a fraud invented by the monks to save their asses form obliteration?
Its a good motive for creating an elaborate fraud or hoax… but theres enough cross references to prove otherwise… for example ..the size of his hand matched the one in the contract. Secondly there arnt just one or two witnesses signing it...there are 22...including some of his official scribes who helped him write the Quran… ( 45 in total)…
The handwriting is the same… - could the monks have copied all signatures of his scribes?
Could they have got an exact copy of his handprint?
Unlikely.
And not withstanding the use of Arabic – and its language… and the parchment used originally… could it have fooled the Pashas of Egypt for more than two hundred years...as a fake?
I have met many of these monks… and they do not fear death… in fact to die as a martyr in to them a baptism worthy of only a few. They were not afraid of the Muslims coming to kill them. But they were prudent. They wanted to continue as they were ..praying and in solitude- left alone to carry on… and pray in peace.
And it is a documented fact that Muslims did take refuge with Christians when they needed help…
So- it is quite likely that this was an act of gratitude from the prophet…
So unless the monks were able to find the signatures of all the scribes and copy them … it would have been very difficult to know them all- or to have a copy of their handwriting. There's probably more ways to check it …
Ones I've not thought about.
And here is the ASHTINAME … sung in ARABIC!- for the illiterate…
http://www.ovguide.com/achtiname-of-muhammad-9202a8c04000641f80000000009c3964
and here dr john morrow explains it in his video- he is pretty good by the way…
http://johnandrewmorrow.com/tag/ashtiname/
and this is a forum discussion on extremism- and the ashtiname… ( its not that good – but it gives some explanations)
why people would want to debunk the document...especially extremists.
I hope this gives an overall picture of what the ashtiname is and why it could be used to bring peace between Muslims and Christians… or at least… get them to sit round a table and talk about it.
Thanks
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