Posted on 08/20/2005 11:56:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
JEDDAH, 21 August 2005 — The funeral of King Fahd, which was conducted in a simple manner in Riyadh earlier this month, has encouraged a well-known Christian priest in Italy to embrace Islam, press reports said.
The priest, who watched the late king’s funeral on satellite television, was impressed by the lack of pomp and pageantry in the royal funeral, Al-Riyadh Arabic daily reported without mentioning his name.
King Fahd was buried in Al-Oud graveyard the next day of his death after a solemn funeral ceremony attended by world leaders.
Islamic preacher Dr. Abdullah Al-Malik said the simple funeral of the king had a dramatic effect on the priest’s mind, which led him to Islam. “Although he had read several Islamic books before, they didn’t have the same impact.”
This is the second high-profile reversion to Islam by an Italian involving Saudi Arabia. Four years ago, Italian Ambassador to Riyadh Torquato Cardilli embraced Islam.
“The priest watched the funeral of King Fahd and another person on television and did not find any difference,” Malik said. “There was only a single funeral prayer for the two and both were buried in similar graves. This great example of equality influenced the priest and prompted him to embrace Islam,” Malik said.
Muslim preachers in Italy had given the priest Islamic books and cassettes in the past 15 years, but what moved him was the simplicity of the royal funeral.
“I had read several Islamic books and heard many Islamic cassettes over the past years, they never moved me. But the simple royal funeral shook me and changed my mind,” Malik quoted the priest as saying.
He said he believed the king’s funeral would change the mind of many others. He urged Muslim media to focus on stories related to Islam’s tolerance and equality in order to attract more people to the religion.
“I will work the rest of my life for the propagation of Islam,” the 62-year-old former priest said.
Badr Al-Olayan, director of the Islamic Education Foundation in Jeddah, said the priest’s reversion to Islam was “very good news.” He narrated the story of another Italian who came to IEF office to embrace Islam after being impressed by the large and orderly congregation of Muslims at the Grand Mosque in Makkah to perform prayers.
“How can you assemble such a large number of people by just making a call. It’s impossible. Only God can do that,” he quoted the Italian as saying.
Olayan urged Muslims to do more in order to take the message of Islam to other people.
Ambassador Cardilli, 60, embraced Islam on Nov. 15, 2001. “I am fully convinced of the truth of Islam through my regular reading of God’s final revelation, the Holy Qur’an,” Cardilli was quoted as saying at the time.
"Al-Riyadh Arabic daily reported ...."
Bwahahaha
you guys all r saying such BS, it amazes me. I'm a Muslim girl from Kazakstan, for those who don't know it's a country in Central Asia and I have never read so much lie in my life abt my religion. first of all, it struck me that one of you said pederasty is allowed in Islam. It is a complete lie. it is totally forbidden which is specifically indicated in Holy Quran. so before saying such things, first read our Book. in Iran recently they even sentenced two teenagers to death penalty for being homosexual. well maybe it's too severe but I think it's better than gay Christian priests or regular people who wed and that fact is advertised everywhere.
some other ignoramus wrote: "Personally, I think the attraction of Islam is that it is a very authoritarian, legalistic cult, and therefore the commandments are fairly easy to keep. Fulfill the ritual prescriptions, obey the mullahs, and this qualifies you as perfect and justifies anything else you do. Islam doesn't really have a "moral code" in the sense that Christianity does, and therefore it's a lot easier to follow." as a Muslim myself although not a perfect one at all, I can tell you with full honesty that it's not easy to follow all Islamic prescriptions. we have many commandments as don't kill, don't commit adultery, do not look at other men's wife/husband, do not steal, do not be jealous, be honest, don't ever lie, do not have pride, help the needy always, if you r rich, don't be proud and arrogant, do namaz (prayers) 5 times a day, fast during Ramadan, and many-many other do and don'ts. Islam doesn't require us to obey the Mullahs at all, all they do they may lead people in prayer, and if you personally want, you can ask them for advice or get some information abt Quran or religion as they r supposed to be more knowledgeable people. it's not like in Christianity where common priests can forgive your sins if you just come and make a confession in that special room. in Islam only God can forgive us, no human on Earth, even the Prophet. well I can see I wrote a lot already and I'm not sure your moderator will publish my posting as I could see he didn't publish another Muslim's posting. it's just for ur information, so that next time you think twice before saying some ridiculous things or before believing in sites that were written abt Islam by biased non-Muslims. just use ur brain provided you have any and ask urselves: is that true what they wrote?
Alma,
Sorry to say that you have been indoctrinated into an evil cult of death. Your so-called "prophet" had sex with a child (aisha), killed women and children and was a thief. Everywhere your religion has spread, it has brought suffering, poverty, death and opression.
Islam is Naziism without the snappy uniforms?
Dunno ... what are you trying to convert me to? The Church of the Holy Pint?
And death is the big promotion.
Antoninus,
answer 1: provided there is a big number of Christians in a city in Saudi Arabi, you could build a church there with no much problem.
answer 2: if I decided to change my religion and convert to Christianity, which is never going to happen, I know my parents and my whole family would judge me and would be very upset and surprised. that is all. I know some poor Kazakhs that were misled and converted to Jehova's witnesses or some other Christian sects and they r still alive and kicking:-). hope I answered ur q-s.
I just wrote such a long posting to Dr.Luv, why is it not here? only my answer to Antoninius is published for some reason
Maybe he converted, thinking he will do better with the young boys under islam.
Seems to be a shared cultural thing, priests and arabs.
the reason why the non-enducated Arabs or Pakistanis or smb (somebody) else migrate to other countries is that their own country is not rich enough for them or doesn't provide enough jobs or any other reason. I don't think that highly educated Arabs drive cabs in western countries, it's mostly the poor ones and the non-educated or low-educated ones that do. if you look at Arabs in the US, for example you'll see that the educated ones either run their own business or work as doctors or lawers etc. it's the fault of us Muslims and non-Muslims too that live in those countries that their country is not prospering and not rich. however, instead of trying to make their country better and richer, it's in human nature to just find the easy way and go to where they will have more material values such as money or cars or houses etc. I can say from my own example, I too would love of course to live in a prosperous country rather than in a poor one. but, I would not want to live in the States no matter how big the US is or how powerful because if you hear of maniacs or high crime rate or gay festivals, juvenile abortions, high divorce rates, children disobeying to their parents or beating them up or sending them to old age homes instead of taking care of them as they do in Muslim countries, it all comes either from that country or another modern and advanced western country. you know there is only one thing I would love to live in an Arabic country for is that they r soooo safe. I've been to several and everywhere I was able to walk alone at night time and nobody would try to rape me or rob me or kill me or beat me. in my own country because it's not a really strong Muslim country and it is spoilt first by Soviet reginme and now by western impact I couldn't do that. I couldn't walk alone at night, I'm afraid, smb may rob me or I may meet a maniac, I;m afriad to leave my car unlocked. when in the Emirates or Egypt, you don't have to worry abt it at all.
it looks like I have to re-write my reply to u since it has not got published for some reason.
per different sources, Aisha was from 9 to 17 y.o. when she married our Prophet (sas). so I'm not exactly sure she was a "child" when she married. He didn't start sexual relationships with her until she started having her period. you shouldn't forget that in Oriental countries women grow up and mature very early. even these days Turkish women, Kurdish women etc. get married at 15 y.o. or older, sometimes younger. if you look at these irls when they r 14, you would think they r at least 17. my own grandmother got married when she was 15 and it was perfectly natural. I read and heard from natives of Scandinavian countries and US that girls there start having sex at 12-13 y.o. so what difference does it make? why does this fact not terrify you? if a girl is not too young to have sex at 12, why is she too young to marry?
abt our Prophet's (sas) killing women and kids- not sure, maybe it's true , maybe it's a lie, so I can't comment on that, would need to find out the truth.
as for him being a thief, I'm not even going to comment on that as it's such a ridiculous lie that only makes me laugh. if I started telling you abt all the wonderful features in his character that he had, that would take several pages. some of them include- he was very honest, very truthful, fair, respected women, treated kids nicely, helped his wives around the house, did his own laundry etc.
as for Islam bringing poverty, suffering and death to other countries- untrue again. first, when Islam came to other countries, it very much promoted gaining knowledge, education so science started to flourish there. when Muslim religion was dominant in Spain, Muslim rulers never forbade other religions and never tried to convert Christians to Islam as Holy Quran states:"There is no compulsion in religion" so Christians were allowed to practise their religion freely. also, when Christians and Christian missioners came to forcefully implant Christianity to Africa and other continents, do you think that all the aborigines were awfully happy to see them and the whole conversion process went smootly and easily, without a single death or suffering? I do not think so. so before judging another religion, better take a closer look at ur own and dig in ur history deeper to know the truth. I myself don't consider myself as being an expert in history at all but I know some elementary facts.
It is illegal to build a Christian church of any kind in Saudi Arabia. It is illegal in Saudi Arabia for Christians to worship anywhere. A special permission has recently been given to long term guest-workers to engage in Christian worship in their homes, but this is not honored by the Saudi religious police. If you engage in Christian worship in Saudi Arabia, you go to jail.
You do need to learn more about the way in which your Muslim religion advanced through the power of the sword and not through persuasion. This estimation of the way in which your religion has spread has nothing to do with the Christians. Your religion is responsible for the slaughter of countless men, women, and children who would not accept your prophet. You would need to focus especially on the history of north Africa as well as the history of Asia Minor and the Balkans in Europe.
Alma - first of all your devotion to the maniac Mohamed is devotion to evil. Islam is not even a religion! It was founded as a political operation to conquer and kill opponents of the madman himself. He preyed on the inferiority complexes of the natives and since then this evil ideology has preyed upon the most primitive and hate filled people on the planet.
Religion does not preach violence against others. Therefore Islam is not a religion. Think about it and get back to me but opnly if you really put on that thinking cap!
Alma,
In fact Aisha was six when she married your "prophet" and he deflowered her at nine. Nine! Having sex with children is wrong today, yesterday and a thousand years ago. Why would you venerate a child-molestor?
The real question of course is why would a fifty year old man (mohammad's age when he married his child-bride)want to have sex with a child?
Islam is an imperialist religion, more so than Christianity has ever been, and in stark contrast to Judaism. The Koran, Sura 5, verse 85, describes the inevitable enmity between Moslems and non-Moslems: "Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans." Sura 9, verse 5, adds: "Then fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them. And seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them, in every strategem [of war]." Then nations, however mighty, the Koran insists, must be fought "until they embrace Islam."
If you want to find out the truth abouut the abomination known as islam, read The Flanstein: http://flanstein.blogspot.com
"was impressed by the lack of pomp and pageantry in the royal funeral"
What this "priest" don't realize is that all of Islam is "a lack of pomp and pageantry", kind of like living in the 7th century.
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