‘Our Differences Are Our Strength’: Muslim Volunteers Help to Rebuild Church in Mosul

We all know that Muslims are extremely welcoming of others. After all, accepting other religions is entrenched into our faith as it’s one of the foundations that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) promoted.

But you wouldn’t always realise this when you’re reading news online or watching TV. Which is why we were more than happy this week, when we found a widely shared story which demonstrates the true nature of our faith. More of this please and thanks.

What was it? Well, a Christian church, in an Iraqi district that was once under the control of the so-called ‘Islamic State’, has been rebuilt with the help of Muslim neighbours.

Following reports that Christian families were facing abuse in Mosul, volunteers from the Muslim community wanted to restore the church to show that Iraq welcomes both Muslims and Christians.

“Mosul is yours as it’s ours. Our differences are our strength,” one of the volunteers explained as they were completing the work.

Iraq is an interesting place when it comes to religion; it has one of the smallest but one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.

But when ISIS occupied the territory, they set about destroying the churches, historical books and Christian spaces. Thankfully, Mosul is set to be completely liberated soon, following three whole years of ISIS control.

Al-Arabi in Mosul, which is where the Mar Georges monastery is located, was one of the areas occupied by the terror sect. During their occupation, ISIS terrorists shot up the Chaldean church in the area.

When Kurdish and allied forces managed to push ISIS out of the district, the fight damaged the church even further. It was pretty much totally ruined by that point.

But, thanks to the local Muslim community efforts, the rebuild of the historical church were soon underway. Following false reports that local Christians were being harassed by their neighbours, they wanted to act quickly to prove that – as any true Muslim would – they welcome people of any religion into their community.

It’s about time we had more stories like this, you know? Especially given recent terrorist attacks committed by people who have tried to hijack Islam and twist it to fit their murderous actions. It’s not fair that these people, despite representing a miniscule amount of those who identify as Muslim, get all the air time and true Muslims seem to get less and less.

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