When J. W. McGarvey toured the Holy Lands, one of the places he visited was Damascus, which had a large population of Mohammedans (Muslims). The following are a couple of interesting observations he noted:
Damascus still contains an intensely bigoted Mohammedan population. As we were stepping over the countless dogs that lay asleep in the streets, and occasionally kicking one to make him get out of the way, with no other result than to have him look up at us, merely to see who was disturbing him, I asked Michael, our guide, why the authorities did not have these dogs thinned out by killing some of them. He answered: “That would be a great sin. It is all right to kill a Christian, but a great sin to kill a dog.” I asked him what would be done if I should kill one of them, and he said I would be arrested and brought before the city courts. The lives of both dogs and cats are held sacred by the Moslem. (Lands of the Bible, p. 451)
Another proof of the bigotry prevalent here was given me by Mr. Phillips, an Irish Presbyterian missionary in the city. He said that if a Mohammedan deserts his religion and becomes a Christian, it is held to be the duty of other Mohammedans to kill him. A few years ago one of them became a convert to the Protestant faith, and after fleeing from the city twice to escape plots that were laid to assassinate him, and making preparations to flee a third time, he was found, one morning, hung in the mosque, near the tomb of John the Baptist’s head. When the guardians of the mosque were called upon to give an account of the hanging, they answered that the man was hung by John the Baptist, and this answer was so satisfactory to the city authorities that no further effort was made to detect the murderers. From this the reader can form some idea of the obstacles in the way of missionary work in Mohammedan countries. (Lands of the Bible, p. 452)
Sadly, this type of prejudice against those who claim to be Christians is still common in many Muslim-majority countries today.