ISLAM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE

24 THE CHRISTIAN CONTRIBUTION TO THE ARAB CIVILIZATION Popoli - 05/1994 Treated as foreigners at home, discrimi- nated against in their rights, Christian mi- norities in Muslim countries are regaining awareness of their rich contribution to the construction of Arab civilization, which cannot be identified with Islam at all. According to the Koran, men are divided into three categories: Muslims, people of the book ( both Jews and Christians), and others. In the Middle East, Christian Arabs have often been wrongly assimilated to the West by their Muslim fellow citizens. The harmful consequences to which this erroneous iden- tification between Christianity and the West in the Arab countries are obvious. One of the causes of this phenomenon can be found in the fact that in these are- as, in the last 150 years, a large part of the economy has been in the hands of local Christian and Jewish minorities, and during this period foreigners emigrated to the Middle East from the West. "With the advent of independence, the indigenous middle class moved to neigh- borhoods that were previously inhabited mainly by Europeans, and immigrants from the countryside headed for those neighborhoods that they left free, or in new neighborhoods. In both cases There was a change in habits and ways of life: the middle class began to live in a way that was formerly typical of foreign resi- dents, and rural immigrants adopted the way of life of the urban poorer classes. they lived mostly as Europeans did, in houses of the same type and dressed in clothes of the same type ... "(Albert Hou- rani, History of the Arab peoples, Arnoldo Mondadori, 1991, p. 383). Likewise, it is interesting to note that the struggles between European states se- eking to increase their influence in the Middle East has had serious repercussions on the lives of Christians in that part of the world.. Thus it was easy for Muslims to identify minorities with the colonial powers and in their view within a few years the Christian minorities would have increase their influence to the point of eclipsing the dominance of the Ottoman Empire, that was then on its way to a rapid decline. Discrimination in history The discriminations put in place against Chri- stians are of different types, depending on the countries in which it takes place and the policies of their respective rulers at the time. And this despite the fact that in principle all citizens are equal under the law. The first cause of this discriminatory attitude must certainly be sought in the way of teaching the Koran and the Sharia, the Islamic law it deals with. This problem is compounded by the fact that the theme of Friday sermons in mosques and appeals for prayer that are broadcast five times every 24 hours during the day and night, are discriminatory against non-Muslims. This is stemmed from the fact that over the centuries from an early age Muslims religious education is aime at inculcating the idea that Islam is the best and most pleasing religion to God. Urbanization, with the rise of large cities, has caused many discriminatory customs to fall. Even today, however, some of the- se customs have remained in a predomi- nantly Muslim country. Christians are forbidden, with certain exceptions, the construction of new chur-