Pope On Islam : Muslim Communities Up In Arms!
Muslim leaders have accused the Pope of attacking the Islamic faith after a speech earlier this week in which Benedict XVI referred to the concept of jihad, or holy war, says The Times.
A statement issued by the Vatican last night to clarify what was meant and to apologise for causing offence appears only to have made things worse. Religious and political leaders from Turkey to Pakistan, and organisations ranging from international Islamic bodies to militant websites, have accused Pope Benedict of displaying ignorance and bigotry.
In his address at the University of Regensberg in Germany on Tuesday, Benedict quoted from a book recounting a dialogue on the truths of Christianity and Islam between Manuel Paleologos II, a 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor, and an educated Persian.
“The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,” the Pope said.
“He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached’.”
Apparently aware of the delicacy of the issue, Benedict described the phrases on Islam as “brusque”, and pointed out several times that he was quoting – although he neither explicitly agreed with nor repudiated the emperor’s views.
“Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul,” the pontiff said.
But in the Islamic world this has been taken to indicate that the Pope straightforwardly endorsed Manuel Paleologos’s views.
According to India’s NDTV news channel: “The Vatican has clarified that it was just a quote from a Christian Emperor and not the pontiff’s views. However, people in Muslim countries across the world are demanding an apology.
“The already widening gulf between a Christian west and the Muslim world is now openly out on the streets.”
“Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has called the remarks “regrettable” and said that they could encourage violence at a time when governments are seeking an understanding between the world’s religions.
The Pakistani Parliament then unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the pontiff for making what it called “derogatory” comments about Islam.
” ‘We believe that this statement will lead to a clash of two civilisations, because the Pope, despite being a religious leader, has bracketed himself with Bush,’ said Hafez Hussain Ahmed, Leader, MMA.
While the Associated Press report says: Turkey’s ruling Islamic-rooted party joined a wave of criticism of Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, accusing him of trying to revive the spirit of the Crusades with remarks he made about Islam. A party official said the pontiff would go down in history ‘in the same category as leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini’ for his words.”
According to the BBC: “This is not the first time Pope Benedict has been at the centre of criticism for his views on Islam.
“Before becoming Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger, as he was known, was considered a theological conservative.
“He appeared to be uncomfortable with Pope John Paul II’s attempts to improve dialogue with the Islamic world. His predecessor was the first pontiff to step inside a mosque, during a visit to Syria in 2001.
“During his time as a cardinal, Pope Benedict opposed Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, saying it belonged to a different cultural sphere, adding that its admission would be a grave error against the tide of history.
“And in 1996, he wrote that Islam had difficulty in adapting to modern life.”
19 Responses to “Pope On Islam : Muslim Communities Up In Arms!”
What I find hilarious is that Pakistan and the Muslim Brotherhood had the guts to criticize the Pope.
I man… COME ON. What’s that with that rape law, 4 male witnesses, or else adultery?
Muslim Brotherhood… hmmm… Something with terrorism I believe.
I will be slightly less blunt than my predecessor, but I believe that this whole situation highlights differences between the East and the West.
Take the situation recently with Dan Brown’s book, The Davinci Code, there were acts of protest to be sure, yet many christian institutions and churches opened dialogues to debate the issues presented in that book and highlighted why they think they are right and the book is wrong.
Here, you have blanket comparisons to Hitler and images of people burning the Pope in effigy in the streets.
Here’s a hint to people who are angry about this: burning your critics in effigy is not the way to convince them that you are a peaceful religion.
LOL -> so predictable, so predictable.
What was that about peace?
GeorgiaFrawg mentioned The DaVinci Code sparking debate. One thing I’ve yet to understand about it is why Jesus being married and/or having children (or siblings, as posited in the great movie Dogma) should change ANYTHING for a Christian? It doesn’t adjust a single teaching of Jesus, yet many Christians see insanely up-in-arms over it.
Brian: I agree. As I understand it, some people believe that it would make his less ‘Godly’. If that were so, they should also consider Him less Godly because he bled when they put a speer in Him, or because he ate, &c.
Here, another intersting take on this with the Pope from my co-blogger Muslihoon
I thought this was hilarious until I read MvdG’s link about the church bombing…now it’s not funny (it was a clever line though!)
I hope Pope Benedict does NOT apologize – it is not unreasonable for the head of a religion to forcefully criticise other religions. Would you see Protestants in the streets burning the Pope in effigy if he said that Martin Luther was a heretic?
David B. I agree that the Pope should not apologize. Have you read his entire lecture? It’s quite a short, but still very informative / interesting read imho.
The funny part? His quote is taken out of context -> what he tries to do is not to diss Islam, but to ‘prove’ that God is reasonable, that reasonability is in line with God, that not acting reasonable is in breach with God / what God wants, that we should use our reason, but also should be aware of the limitations of a strictly ‘material’ outloook on the world, that inter-faith dialogue is only possible if ‘both parties’ use reason, &c. (Bad summary, but it gives you a general idea).
I can’t wait for someone to get killed in riots over the issue, like with the cartoons. Hell of a way to prove the Pope wrong. I’ve heard comparisons to the crusades. Except the crusades happened hundreds of years ago and Jihad is a reality TODAY.
What I’ve always found interesting is how damn sensitive all extremists are with their pet issues. Muslims are outraged, OUTRAGED I tell you, by the remarks made by the Pope that would have had ZERO effect if not for their bad reaction. The news media picked up their outrage, just like the cartoons. Instead of a few Danes, millions all over the world saw them. Great job! Wingnuts on the right in the US will descend en masse on a small town for stocking “Heather has two Mommies” in the local library, stealing the copies. Result, the copies growing from 2 to 20 thanks to donations who found out about it in the media. Lefty wingnuts getting all histerical because Schwarzenegger jokes about Latino temperament in a private conversation. Get. A. Life.
Brian the Da Vinci issue had multiple fronts, plain old silliness being the main one. If Jesus married and had children:
a-Celibacy is meaningless, as well as not allowing priests to marry. Also, sex as a generally bad thing wouldn’t work.
b- Presumably Jesus has descendants, opening the can of worms of where they are, who they are, how bloody holy are they?
c-The book also says that the real head of the original church was a woman, not a man, which would be kinda uncomfortable for the church. If any Catholic actually believed a word in the novel, which I doubt.
The Dan Brown analogy was apt… as far as I can remember, no one burned Dan Brown in effigy…
Sure, the quip about burning people in effigy wasn’t the most tame or “politically correct” thing I could say… but when confronted with images of flags and effigies on fire, the media has a hayday. I definately think that images of angry Muslims burning things doesn’t do very much to promote Islam as a “Religion of Peace.”
I had to laugh about the line concerning Islam having difficulty adapting to modern life. It would be nice to ask Galileo how the Church did in adopting to modern views.
Lynx, celibacy is meaningless to Protestants and not terrribly important for Eastern Orthodox priests unless they want to be bishops.
Yes Holly, I know, but as I recall, those protesting were Roman Catholics. The other points still hold and in ANY case I believe that only a couple of very silly and bored people actually protested with any seriousness, but that the media picked it up and ran with it for the wierd-factor. Just like the crazies with Harry Potter promoting witchcraft and other such nonsense.
It is for the people to judge what the head of the Roman Catholic church Pope Benedict XVI had to say about Islam. As also whether he is indirectly confirming the truth behind the theory about the Clash of Civilizations.
But one thing is clear…the Pope is extremely brave in expressing his opinions vis-a-vis Islam as compared with our Protestant friends who hide behind convoluted arguments but have no courage to reveal their minds/real intentions.
Does it prove that the Protestant world is more preoccupied with the Mammon and the “purely materialistic gains in this world”, whereas the Roman Catholic world is really concerned about the “Christian and spiritual values”?
And, yes, I forgot to mention the all mighty WASPs. What is their take on this? LOL
Protestants are do not believe in celebacy, because it simply is not demanded in the Bible for preachers. Paul described what it required for anyone to become a ‘Church leader’ and celebacy is not one of them.
The only thing (St.) Paul says about celebacy, is that he choses to live without a wife and that he thinks it is better for every one to live like that, since it will cause less stress and leave more time to the person to do what God wants him / her to do. In that passage too, (St.) Paul clearly states “this comes from me, not from the Lord” (translated literally from Dutch). He did that every time he had ‘advice’ for people, but when there was not any ‘power’ to it besides just… being advice.
In fact, (St.) Paul says that for the far majority of people it is much wiser to get a wife (or a woman a man of course), since they cannot live without a partner (sex
).
I am a Protestant am I not speaking out?
And if you are strictly talking about ‘Protestant leaders’… who might that be? We do not have that, we do not have a Pope or even something closely comparable.
And FYI: I heard Protestant preachers say something about Islam / terrorism on different occasions. All in line with what the Pope said this time.
The difference is, that the Pope has authority. That hundreds of millions of people consider him to be THE authority. In the Protestant world, we do not have someone like that. Well, Jesus of course, but not a ‘normal person’.
Is someone doing fake comments as Swaraaj? This is the not the first time that the commenter Swaraaj seems to be a completely different person than the blogger Swaraaj. This is a real question.
Why should the pope apologise? He has nothing to apologise for. It is time that muslims grew up and faced the facts. The Koran was written by a demonically inspired, dead false prophet. Allah is a false god, behind which is a vile blood thirsty demonic power. The reaction of the Islamic world to the Pope’s quotation proves the argument of a 14th century Christian emperor!
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