59.  They say: "Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses."

 رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّاھِدِینَ  Whose prayer is this?

بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِٱلرَّحِيمِ

Answer: This dua is from those Christians (in Arabic Nasara) who found and accepted Islam as Truth from Allah.

Said bin Jubayr, As-Suddi and others said that this ayath was revealed when delegates from Najashi (the King of Ethiopia/Abyssinia) came to the Prophet .ﷺ  When the delegation met with the Prophet ﷺ  he recited the Quran to them, they cried, humbled and  were embraced Islam. At that time Allah revealed this ayath:

"And when they (Christians) listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ  ) you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognised. They say: "Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses." (Al-Maeda, 5:83). Then they returned to An-Najashi and told him what happened.

Of all the religions the Prophet  ﷺ found Christianity with certain serious reservations, as the most sympathetic. Even Allah has pointed out in Quran that the Christians are: "....... the nearest in love to the believers those who say: "We are Christians." That is because amongst them are priests and monks, they are not proud." (5:82). Allah further says: "And We ordained in the hearts of those who followed Isa (AS) the son of Maryam (AS), and his book the Injeel, compassion and mercy. (Al-Hadid,  57:27). "Those to whom We gave the Scripture before it, - they believe in it. And when it is recited to them, they say: "We believe in it. Verily, it is the truth from our Lord. Indeed, even before it we have been from those who submit themselves to Allah in Islam as Muslims." (28:52 & 53).

To such good Christians Allah has doubled the reward: "These will be given their reward twice over, because they are patient, and repel evil with good, and spend (in charity) out of what We have provided them. (28:54). Except the "trinity" concept the Christians and Muslims have many things in common. They always strictly follow their religion. That is why Allah allows the food from "the people of the Book" as Halal and chaste women from them with due Mahr is permissible. (5:5).

During the life time of the Prophet ﷺ   very few Christians lived in Mecca and Madina. He had encounte- rs with some Christians on a personal basis as a pious merchant of Mecca.

Few Christians who believed our Prophet ﷺ  and Quran are:

Bahira-2:

When our Prophetﷺ  was a boy, he was travelling along with his uncle Abu Thalib to Syria. On their way they halted in a place called Bostra.  A Christian monk called Bahira-2 was living there. From their Scripture he knew that a final Prophet has been coming in Arabian Penninsula. He was very anxious to meet him. He was always communicating with the Arabian merchants travelling to Syria.

One day he was amazed to notice a cloud shading a small caravan.The cloud moved as the caravan mo- ved and it stopped moving as the caravan halted in his place. He also noticed that a tree lowered its branches to provide them a good shade! He thought this group was special. He invited them all to a meal to see whether it contain any extra-ordinary person. He found that the little boy Mohammed carried all the signs of the awaited Prophet especially a mark on his back. He told his uncle to protect him and guard him against potential enemies. This was the first Christian who informed about his Prophet hood.

Waraka ibn Nawfal:

The second Christian convert was the Waraka ibn Nawfal. He was an old blind Hebrew scholar. When our Prophet ﷺ   received the first revelation his wife Katheeja (RA) took him to this well known scholar, who was also her cousin. He understood the features of the revelation and announced him as the awaited Prophet and the angel he saw was Jibreel (AS). He became the first Muslim man to be converted to Islam and told if he lived long enough, he will support strongly Mohammed ﷺ . But unfotunately he died shortly after that.

Salman Al- Farsi:

He was a Persian, born as  the only son of rich Zorastrian. Once, he happened to hear the prayers of Christians in their church, become attracted by it and converted to Christianity. His father chained him but he escaped from his home and joined to a Christian priest in Syria. He found him as a corrupt and revealed his false nature to his people upon his death. Then he learnt Christianity from different priests and from the last one he learnt that a Prophet is going to come soon in Arabia.

He travelled to Arabia along with a Caravan, with some money, but betrayed by them and sold to a Jew of Yathrib (old name of Madina). He experianced a very hard slavery and came to know the day, when the Prophet ﷺ   arrived to Madina after his hijra. He met the Prophet   ﷺ gave few dates as Sadaqah. He never ate that but distributed to his Campanions. The next day he gave dates as gift to Prophet ﷺ. He shared them and ate few along with his Campanians. He was told that the Prophets never take Sadaqah but only gifts.

He was anxious to see the mark on his back, as he was told by the Christian monks. Knowing his inten- sion the Prophet   ﷺ removed his shirt slightly to show his mark, when he was at his back. He embraced Islam at once and remained as the learned Campanian of the Prophet ﷺ. . He gave idea of Trench during the battle of Kandhaq. He was the first one to translate part of Quran in Persia. He served Islam for 35 years and died during the Caliphet of Uthman (RA).

Najashi:

Another Christian was the King Negas of Abyssinia. He gave protection and supported the Muslim immi- grants to his land. Seeing their peaceful life in Abyssinia the Quraish sent a delegation with gifts to the king requesting him to send the Muslims back. The king, the Muslims and the Quraish had long debate. He asked to recite some revelations of the Prophet ﷺ . Jafar ibn Abi Thalib (RA) recited surah Marium with his melodious voice. During the recitation the king cried himself and rejected the Quraish request and also return their gifts. He found the truth in the recited verses of Al- Quran regarding Isa (AS) and said that these verses have been revealed from the single source. He conducted the marriage of the Prophet   ﷺ in his absence with Ummae Habiba, the Abu Sufian's daughter in Abyssinia and gave a grand Valima feast. When the news arrived informing the death of Negus, the Nabi  ﷺperformed the funeral prayer for him and asked forgiveness for him! Subhanallah!

Christian delegates from Najran:

Lastly sixty well educated Christian delegates from Najran came to Madina to interacte with the Prophet ﷺ . The Prophet  ﷺ arranged a place near the Maje- ed-a-Nabuvi for their stay and looked after them nicely. He allowed them in the same Masjeed to pray. There were many discussions. Even though they were satisfied with many concepts they cannot give out their concept of "Trinity"

They told: "O Abu al-Qasim, we decided to leave you as you are and you leave as we are. But send a man with us who can protect our properties because we accept you." And they promised to pay Jizya.

At the same time there are also some enemies and evil doers among the Christians and Allah warned the believers as: "O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as protectors, they are but protectors to one another. If any amongst you takes them as protectors, then surely he is one of them." (5:5).

Even though many Jews and Christians hate the Prophet ﷺ  and Muslims, Allah has been asking to all Muslims in Quran to believe all the Prophets not differetiating between any one of them (2:136)

الحمدلله