Arab Op-ed: Pope’s Remarks May Lead to War(The sooner, the better)

ynetnews.com ^ | 9/16/2006 | Roee Nahmias

[kellynla]

The recent remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI on Islam are threatening to ignite the entire Muslim world.

Op-Eds published in the Arab newspapers slammed the pope even after the Vatican’s apology.

The most extreme opinion was voiced by Hani Pahas in the London-based Arabic-language daily newspaper Al-Hayat, who wrote “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.

Hussein Shabakshy wrote in an article published by the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat “It is clear that such remarks only contribute to the fueling of the fire raging between Islam and the West. There is no difference between Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri speaking from their caves in Tora Bora and the stage of an important Christian saint. Both parties contribute to the world verbal weapons for mass destruction.”

“The pope’s latest statement cannot be considered a slip of the tongue or a comic bit from a TV show; the situatio0n here is different, and his remarks are indicative of an important and highly symbolic stance toward the religion (Islam) and the prophet of about a billion and-a-half Muslims,” he said.

“These are ignorant comments previously made by Adolf Hitler, who spoke of a supreme white race against all the other races, especially the African race.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said a Vatican statement on Saturday saying Pope Benedict was sorry for upsetting Muslims with his comments on Islam did not go far enough.

"We want a personal apology (from the Pope). We feel that he has committed a grave error against us and that this mistake will only be removed through a personal apology," Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Leader Mohammed Habib told Reuters.

[kellynla]

ping

[JLS]

I agree with your prenthetical remark. Better now before Iran has a nuke.

[reluctantwarrior]

Iwant an apology for Nick Berg and the Blackwater contractors, and the 2800 dead and 20,000 wounded. I want war now while I'm able to fight, and before my daughters must.

[madprof98]

You understand that if these remarks led to war, only the Swiss Guard would be out there fighting it. The elites in this country would line up behind the elites of Europe to surrender ASAP.

[pillut48]

I'm not Catholic, but God bless the Pope and keep him safe from the Islamofascist fanatics!! They have been looking for any excuse to riot since the Mohammed cartoons fiasco, and I'm afraid this might be it. I hate that he even apologized (or his representatives did, not sure)--he should have stuck to his guns on his opinions that radical Islamic jihad is a bad thing!

[monkapotamus]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1702824/posts

[kellynla]

You don't many Catholics do you. LOL

[kellynla]

make that "You don't know many Catholics do you."

[FarRockaway]

Of course we must return to the original statements if we are going to find the truth about the furor. The Pope, in his comments which have given mobs of people looking for an excuse to rage…excuse to rage, said things which haven’t been widely published by the press and which are, no doubt, the real cause of the difficulty. While the press has zeroed in on The Pope quoting a Christian emperor under the stress of a Muslim siege of Constantinople, those words may actually be far less a difficulty to Islam than a larger idea which cannot be expressed in just a few words.

The idea which the Pope points out in his text is that, according to Islamist scholars, Allah is not bound by his word whereas the Christian understanding of God certainly is bound by His Word. Quoting from Muslim scholars the Pope clearly establishes that Muslim belief holds that Allah is above all things, even the very words of Allah himself. Anything that Allah may say, written or spoken, can, according to Muslim belief, be overturned by a later utterance. Further, Allah may choose, according to Islamic belief, to mislead man.

The Pope contrasts this with Christian belief which holds that anything God says or writes is something He will stand by no matter what. Christian belief holds that God chooses to be bound by His Word and is utterly faithful to his own statements with absolute perfection. Hence, reason may proceed from the statements of God where those statmeents are held as axioms. The Christian religion becomes testable and verifyable due to the reliability of things told to man.

The general idea working its way through the Pope’s argument is that coercive force and raging threats of violence are not necessary to convert someone to a religion which is presented in reason, with thoughtful attention to good supporting information. But it is noticeable that Islam, if it is as is represented by the quoted scholars, cannot be dealt with via rigorous reasoning capacity because the very statements of its doctrines, they being assumed to be from God, cannot be known to any certainty because the doctrines themselves insist that God can and does utterly change his word without telling you, or if desired, with telling you. And so there cannot be reasoned conclusions from axioms which are suddenly fungible. As a result the path to knowledge under Islamist thought cannot hold to a strict logic the way logical arguement is held in Christianity or Western thought.

The article of difficulty which makes the Pope’s speech perhaps so problematic to accept is that this presents a crisis to Islam and a potential explanation for the pervasive violence we see perpetrated in the name of that religion today. If an open and reasonable people cannot rationally calculate their way to Islam’s conclusions along the path of its axioms, due to the abrogation or changes in the doctrinal utterances which are institutional and frequent, then what methods remain open in order to win over converts? The inference is that many Islamists choose violence because their positions do not allow them to win over people by reason, by logic referencing doctrines, or by rhetorical practice in structured argument.

This would appear to the be the deep problem which cannot be mentioned. The reaction – open violence and threats thereof – would appear not to refute the point. The logic and the reaction place a burden on the thoughtful Muslim scholar to assemble a response which is both cogent and peaceful. But if the headlines are dominanted by riots, are we to expect a forthcoming thoughtful argument?

[Earthdweller]

"Arab Op-ed: Pope’s Remarks May Lead to War(The sooner, the better)"

Oh give me a break.

[chuckr]

The only thing these Muslims want is war and the western countries should give them war...NUCLEAR WAR....finish them before they do the same to us.....let them try to sell radioactive oil! And the rest of the world will be the better for it....look at how China pollutes their cities and the citizens suffer from lung disease....all in the name of more growth.....the world will make due without Muslim oil....

[claudiustg]

---"We want a personal apology (from the Pope). We feel that he has committed a grave error against us and that this mistake will only be removed through a personal apology," Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Leader Mohammed Habib told Reuters.---

Why should anyone apologize to someone whose mother smells like pig urine?

[doc1019]

And there is a downside to this?

[netmilsmom]

They take out the Pope, all bets are off.

[SkyPilot]

The West and Islam are already at war.

Only Britain, Australia, Israel, and the United States have recognized this fact.

Canada, Spain, France, Germany, and the EU pretend it isn't a war. The UN is full of tin horn dictatorships (many of them Muslim) who work against the West.

I would prefer a war that we fight on the battlefield with these Islamic cowards - but they prefer beheading people who are bound hand and foot and have been tortured with power drills first. Or they will blow up women and children in a marketplace.

Islamic cowards cannot fight on the battlefield - that takes too much courage.

[Partisan Hack]

Look for more than an apology tomorrow. I predict an appearance with the Pope and a prominent Imam. This thing will be over by Monday morning....

Nothing here guys....move on.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

Ditto here, *that*, r. I got your back....

[madprof98]

john kerry, ted kennedy, joe biden . . . my lord, even bill keller!

[butternut_squash_bisque]

Ding, ding, ding, ding... we have The All-Time Winner!. right here FR.com!