The coordination between

Murjea and the Christian Church

It is written in the book ‘Az Zerfehaye Fitne’ that:

“Amongst those who nurtured the ideology of Murjea and propagated it, was Yuhanna of Damascus who was widely renowned in the capital city of Umayyad Dynasty. At a time when people talked about ‘Irjaa’, he conducted religious discussions.[1]

          Many have said that there is a coordination between the principles of Murjea and the teachings of the Eastern Church; to which Yuhanna of Damascus was associated.[2] These are the powers who were secretly aiding the case of Murjea. Regarding the causes and reasons behind the emergence of this case, Dr. Khaleef writes: ‘ The inclination towards Murjea grew strongly during the time span between the martyrdom of Imam Hussein A.S. and the caliphate of Umar bin Abdul Aziz; which covers the duration of the caliphate of Yazid, Marwan, Abdul Malik, Walid and SulaImaan bin Abdul Malik; and it was natural that this inclination strengthened in this duration because it was a time of chaos and spiritual restlessness and people were interrogated and punished with slight skepticism and blame.[3]

          It is famous that after the death of Imam Hussein A.S., life in Kufah became difficult and strong uprisings were seen, and the Umayyad rulers understood that if they do not oppose their enemies with absolute brutality and cruelty, they will lose this city from their hands. Therefore, they placed their most brutal and inhuman governers on this city, like Abdullah bin Ziyad and Hajjaj bin Yusuf e Thaqafi, resulting in the domination of a terrifying dictatorship on the city of Kufa.[4] [5]

          It is evident that Yazid was the most corrupt ruler amongst the Umayyad rulers and the oppression and tyranny committed by him was not committed by any other Umayyad ruler.

          After the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s.), setting the Holy Kabah on fire and the incident of Harrah, it became evident for most of the Muslims that it wasn’t just this that the Umayyad rulers were not the successors of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.), but also that they were the enemies of Islam and the Holy Progeny of Prophet (p.b.u.h.).

          The movements and statements that became common between the people threatened the Umayyad dynasty and deeply disturbed them.

          Therefore, they laid down conspiracies to bring the people to rest and Kufah was the center of such movements and changes. In order to depress the changes that occurred in Kufah, they appointed brutal men like Ibn e Ziyad and Hajjaj as the Governor of this city.

          Another strategy of silencing the allegations of the people was the propagation of Murjea, which was preached in different regions, and made the people follow the beliefs of Murjea.