Using the words, "Jihad" and "Holy War," the pontiff quoted
criticism of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) by Christian emperor
Manuel II. (Reuters)
EGENSBURG, Germany — In what some immediately saw as a
serious diversion from the rapprochement approach of his
predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, September 12,
said the Islamic concepts of "Jihad" was unreasonable and
against God's nature.
Using the words, "Jihad" and "Holy War" in lecture at the
University of Regensburg, the pontiff quoted criticism of
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) by a 14th
Century Byzantine Christian emperor, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
"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,"
Benedict quoted Manuel II.
Quoting the Byzantine Christian emperor, Benedict said
spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable and
that acting without reason was against God's nature.
"Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the
nature of the soul," added the pontiff in his own words.
British Karen Armstrong, a famed prolific writer on all
three monotheistic religions, has criticized stereotyping
the Arabic word "jihad" as merely meaning holy war.
She stressed that "jihad is a cherished spiritual value
that, for most Muslims, has no connection with violence."
At a giant open-air mass earlier Tuesday, Pope Benedict
urged more than 250,000 pilgrims to stand up for their
beliefs in the face of the "hatred and fanaticism"
tarnishing religion.
"Such an atmosphere made it important to state clearly the
God in whom we believe," the pope said.
Strongest criticism
"This is maybe the strongest criticism because he doesn’t
speak of fundamentalist Islam but of Islam generally," said
Guolo.
Pope's criticism of Islam made his address the most
political of his six-day visit to Germany, which had
previously dealt exclusively with spiritual matters,
commented AFP.
"This is maybe the strongest criticism because he doesn’t
speak of fundamentalist Islam but of Islam generally,"
Renzo Guolo, a professor of the sociology of religion at
the University of Padua, told The New York Times on
Wednesday, September 13.
"Not all Islam, thank God, is fundamentalist."
Marco Politi, the Vatican expert for the Italian daily La
Repubblica, said the pontiff's speech revealed "deep
mistrust regarding the aggressive side of Islam."
"Certainly he closes the door to an idea which was very
dear to John Paul II — the idea that Christians, Jews and
Muslims have the same God and have to pray together to the
same God," he asserted.
Daniel A. Madigan, rector of the Institute for the Study of
Religions and Cultures at the Pontifical Gregorian
University in Rome, agreed.
"If we are really going into a serious dialogue with
Muslims we need to take faith seriously."
But papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi sought to ease
the severity of the Pope's rebukes of Islam.
He argued that the pontiff used Manuel's views of Islam
only to help explain the issue and not to condemn all of
the Muslim religion as violent.
"This is just an example. We know that inside Islam there
are many different positions, violent and non-violent," he
said.
"The Pope does not want to give an interpretation of Islam
that is violent."
Unlike late pope John Paul, Cardinal Ratzinger, who took
the name of Benedict after his election, does not approve
of joint prayers with Muslims.
He is also skeptical of the value of inter-religious
dialogue.
In the summer of 2005, Pope Benedict devoted an annual
weekend of study with former graduate students to Islam.
During the meeting, and since, he has reportedly expressed
skepticism about Islam’s openness to change given the
conviction that the Noble Quran is the unchangeable word of
God.
In 2004, Pope Benedict also caused a stir by opposing
Turkey's accession into the European Union.
He said Turkey should seek its future in an association of
Islamic nations, not with the EU, which has Christian
roots.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-09/13/04.shtml
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