I will start this
piece by quoting
Pope Benedict
the 16th,
from his politically motivated
lecture he gave on the 12 September
2006, at the University
of Regensburg in Germany. The
Pope had previously served as
a Professor of Theology at the
same University. The lecture
was titled “Faith, Reason and
the University – Memories and
Reflections”.
To be reasonable and fair to
the ‘pontiff ’, I made it a point to
read and carefully psycho-analyse
his whole lecture, both as
a Muslim and a professionally
trained psychologist.
The Pope
quoted a personal view held by
a Byzantine emperor Manuel II
Paleologous, a dogmatic quote
that was apparently made in a
dialogue with an un-named
and un-quoted learned Persian
Muslim, I suppose. The closeminded
quote which was reportedly
made in 1391 reads as follows:
“Show me just what Muhammad 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”.
You see, I am hereby alleging that the Pope consciously and
deliberately did not give the answer of the un-named learned
Persian scholar, because he firmly believes that the answer to
the question is in the questionable quote.
This is partly the
reason why the whole Muslim and reasonable world was
incensed by that glaring omission. Why? Because the Pope
decided to ‘lecture’ as a political head of the Vatican, under
the guise of a former learned professor of theology, hence the
presumed political motivation and the gut reaction from the
Muslim world, some of it, was clearly wrong.
This is what many people have conveniently missed when
they accuse Muslims of overreaction;
the Pope called it
a ‘misunderstanding’ of his
quoting, for which he said he
was sorry for causing, hence
the papal decision to essentially
stand by the quote of
the Emperor. I am aware that
since Muslims strongly reacted
- he reckoned - he will have to
slightly distance himself from
the quote, just ‘to pacify’ the
Muslim world, I gathered.
This Pope is quite smart.
In
his efforts to pacify the Muslims,
he offered a couple of
half-hearted ‘sorry-s’ and then
later invited some Muslims
leaders to the Vatican for a
‘dialogue’. Some of those who
went there came complaining
that the Pope mostly talked to
himself in their presence, since
they were his guests at any rate,
this is what is called a monologue.
This Pope does not give
an impression of a man capable
of holding a rational dialogue.
I have my doubts. Back to the quote, the quote contains three
words that directly challenge Islam and Muslims - going to
the very heart of what Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him) brought to the world. The quote makes the following
charges about the Prophet Muhammad (p) that:
1. He did not bring anything “new”?
2. And if things were new, they could only be “evil and inhuman”,
such as holy war, forced conversion, Unseen God and
irrationality, in the spread of Islam?
Those are serious charges! You see, this is where the Pope
really made life difficult for the world to dialogue, by allowing
himself to be unfair and unjust in his assessment of the
history of Islam and the life ideology of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH).
However, what is not new is that - these are ancient charges
and were made against all Prophets and Messengers of God,
at the beginning of their prophetic missions. This had happened
to all the big five such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus
and of course, Muhammad (May the peace and blessings of
God be upon them all).
In the past, they were mostly made by people who were ignorantly
and arrogantly opposed to the Will of God, in all its
forms. People who had something or a lot to lose by acknowledging
the Supremacy of God in all human affairs and thus
the corollary requirement to totally submit ‘their whims and
fancies’ to His Will, voluntarily.
The biggest advantage for the Muslims, in terms of raising
to the papal challenge, is that
Islam still has the Holy Book
100% preserved in the original
language of its Revelation. The
Book is also translated in various
languages of the world, i.e.
the Book is universally available
for study and critical scrutiny.
Answers to false charges
and half-truths made against
God, His Prophet and His Way are revealed and documented
in the Holy Quran.
Any sincere reader and objective researcher of the Holy
Quran will discover a lot of old and new truths, commands
to righteous conduct, perfect ethics and a balanced view of
human nature. I am almost sure that the Pope and his fans
may not agree, but God and His Prophets are never in the
business of seeking for popularity contests. God always expects
His Prophets to deliver the Truth as it is and always be,
without fear or favour.
For example, the Prophet Muhammad (p) explicated the
concept of fulfilling God’s rights before humans can expects
to get their full human rights fulfilled. The right of God is
His exclusive prerogative to Infallibility and Worship. That is
- none can claim infallibility except God. This is a very good
teaching of Prophet Muhammad (p).
I challenge anyone to find it old, evil or repugnant to human
reason. All humans are fallible.
The Prophet Muhammad
explicitly prohibited Muslims to force anyone to become
a Muslim. Islamic law does not accept forced conversion as
sincere and lawful. Islam only allows the use of non-peaceful
means in response to naked military aggression, in defence
of peace and justice and in the struggle against corruption on
earth. God gave these rights to the Prophet and his followers
because Islam was meant to eventually become the universal
way of life: completed and perfected (Quran 5:3).
The historical questions then become, did the Prophet
Muhammad use military means in the defence of Islam and
Muslims? The answer is: Yes.
Did the Prophet Muhammad use military means as a primary
method of spreading Islam?
The answer is: No.
Let me explain, what happened was that the Prophet Muhammad
was commanded by God to, first of all, peacefully
invite the whole world to the Oneness of God and His Way
of doing things and as the Head of the Islamic State and the
Commander in Chief, to be ever ready to use military means
as a last resort to enforce the Laws of God.
This is even the legal rights of heads of secular states and
governments. Why do secular states and governments have
armies and military establishments, including the use weapons
of mass destruction? This the Pope did not address in his
lecture, at all? Mind you, this
includes ‘Christian majority’
states, though they were not
supposed to have standing
armies in the first place, if the
principle of turning the other
cheek were applicable to real
life situations!
The point is:
Islam is meant only to open
hearts, minds and nations to
the peace of God, inviting them to the worship of the one
true God.
What about the charges of ‘Islamic’ terrorism and ‘Muslim’
violence? This is largely dirty politics and empty rhetoric by
the hostile detractors of Islam.
Truth be spoken: Terrorism and violence are not religions or
religious in and of themselves, they are simply military tactics
and violent means that people with no religion, with false religion
and sometimes, even by people with a true ‘religion’ use,
to achieve their political goals and aspirations. Sometimes, it
is justified but sometimes it is just not justifiable.
However,
what is mind-boggling is that even a born again Christian
President - does it - only that he claims that he does it to protect
his sacred civilisation and to spread secular democracy,
freedom and human rights, most especially in some selected
Muslim countries.
Does the Pope condone this type of forced
conversion?
The Quran says that: There is no compulsion to be used in
religious conversion. Forced religious conversion is always
invalid, whether done through economic or military means.
The Quran states the rationale: Truth is crystal clear from all
falsehood.
Muslims believe that their duty is only to convey the Islamic
Message. God guides whom He wills. I personally embraced
the fastest growing Way of Life in the world today, purely for
its rationality. No Muslim army was involved in my reversion
to Islam!
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