Why Did They Become Muslims

“Herein is the letter of immunity granted by ’Umar ul-Fârûq
‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, the Emîr of Muslims, to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and has been written so as to comprehend their existence,
their lives, churches, children, the invalid ones as well as the healthy
ones, and all other people; as follows:
“Muslims shall not intrude into their churches, demolish any part
of their churches, appropriate even a tiniest piece of their property, or
use any sort of enforcement to make them change their religion or
modes of worship or convert to Islam. No Muslim shall give them the
smallest harm. If they want to leave their hometown by their own
accord, their lives, property and chastity shall be protected till they
have reached their destination. If they want to stay here they shall be
in total security. Only they shall pay the jizya [income tax] which is
incumbent upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. If some of the people of
Jerusalem and Byzantines want to leave here together with their
families and portable property and evacuate their churches and other
places of worship, their lives, churches, travel expenses and
possessions shall be protected till they reach their destinations: The
aliens shall not be taxed at all till harvest, no matter whether they stay
here or go away.”
Signature:
Muslims’ Khalîfa ’Umar bin Hattâb
Witnesses:
Khâlid bin Welîd
’Abd-ur-Rahmân bin ’Awf
’Amr ibn-il ’Âs
Mu’âwiya bin Ebî Sufyân
’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ attended the siege of Jerusalem with his
blessed presence. Christians accepted to pay the jizya and went under
the protection of Muslims. They handed the keys of Jerusalem to
’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ himself. Thus they were freed from the
heavy taxations, persecutions, torments, oppressions and cruelties of
their own state, Byzantium. Soon they saw the justice and mercy in
Muslims, whom they had been looking on as enemies. They realized
that Islam was a religion commanding goodness and beauty and
guiding people to happiness pertaining to this world and the next.
Without the least compulsion or threatening, they accepted Islam in
large groups which were mostly the size of a quarter of a town.
A close examination of the two documents provided above will
show you once again that the true Muslims, the true religious guides
showed great toleration towards all the other religions, helped
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