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September 17, 2006
Arab op-ed: Pope's Remarks May Lead To War ?
Topics: Understanding Islam... Pointing to the unreasonableness and irrationality of violence in the name of God and the unreasonableness of spreading faith by the sword, so offends Muslim "sensitivities" that it can "lead to war" ? Does this not confirm the Pope's point for him?
As we wrote in our piece on September 15, "From Cartoon Jihad To Pope Jihad: Religion Of Perpetual Outrage Is Again - Outraged," the entire world is now aware of Pope Benedict's speech at the University of Regensburg in which he quoted criticism of Islam and the Prophet Mohammed by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Mohammed brought was evil and inhuman, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". Now we are hearing commentary from the Muslim world such as that of Hani Pahas, who in the London-based Arabic-language daily newspaper Al-Hayat has written that "the pope's comments may lead to war; we fear that the pope's statements may lead to a war that we, Muslims and Christians alike, are trying to prevent through dialogue between East and West." If this seems bizarre and irrational to you, it should.
We pointed out at the time that although the Pope's quote was perhaps not very big on tact, in his defense, spreading faith by the sword is indeed evil and inhuman, and unreasonable. And, as the Pope said in his speech - referring to the argument of Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus':
... "the decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: Not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident (as it should be to any rational and reasonable human being). But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality (as is so powerfully verified by the irrationality and lack of proportionality of the Muslim response to the Pope's quote of Emperor Manuel II). Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazn went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God's will, we would even have to practice idolatry.The spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunnis, the Grand Mufti Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, said the pope's remarks emanated either from "Ignorance and lack of knowledge or were deliberately intended to distort Islam."
However, anyone looking at the perpetual outrage and constant state of ready-reaction that we've all witnessed in the Muslim world, completely rebuts the argument of Muslim leaders such as Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, especially when he makes comments like: "Reason is the substance of Islam and its teachings ... Islam prohibited violence in human life, and that anyone who wants the truth (about Islam) must take it from Islam's holy book, the Koran, rather than from a dialogue or excerpts." After all, it is the Koran that is quoted word for word by the Muslim clerics around the world now inflaming their followers to follow violent jihad, conversion by the sword, suicide bombings of innocent "infidels", shooting nuns in the back who work in hospitals, kidnappings, beheadings, ad nauseam.
If remarks by the Pope can be so misinterpreted as to "offend Muslim sensitivities", perhaps much of the Muslim world is far too sensitive because their positions relative to faith without reason, violence in the name of God, violence in the name of their religion, conversion by the sword, and other such examples of unreasonableness, is in fact - unreasonable?
My personal opinion is that there is indeed a Muslim majority that believes as the Grand Mufti Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani suggests, that Islam prohibits violence, includes reason, and that violent jihad and forced conversion is wrong. However, unless these "rational and reasonable" Muslims speak out more strongly than their radical brethren, the view of Islam by the non-Muslim world will continue to be one of unreasonable, irrational, violence. For now, all we are seeing from the Muslim world, every single hour of every single day, is violence and one outrage after another. If one is so sensitive about their faith and remain in a constant state of anxiety and anger, one would think that sooner or later a rational and reasonable person would act to reform and modernize their faith, or leave it. To do otherwise is, irrational.
Posted by Richard at September 17, 2006 8:05 AM
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