{"id":7446,"date":"2015-01-12T05:20:15","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T05:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/01\/12\/pope-francis-attempt-to-put-a-christian-face-on-islam\/"},"modified":"2015-01-12T05:20:15","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T05:20:15","slug":"pope-francis-attempt-to-put-a-christian-face-on-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/01\/12\/pope-francis-attempt-to-put-a-christian-face-on-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis’ Attempt to Put a Christian Face on Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis is a foolish man, and folly brings danger in its train.  That is my harsh judgment.  For documentation, I refer you to an excellent article by William Kilpatrick, Looking at Islam Through Catholic Eyes<\/a>. Kilpatrick is too politic to draw the harsh conclusion; he prefers to say that the good pope has "clouded the issue."  Excerpts (bolding added):<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Pope Francis\u2019 recent apostolic exhortation seems to be in line with Massignon\u2019s attempt to put a Christian face on Islam. The part that stands out is the following: \u201cFaced with disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism, our respect for true followers of Islam should lead us to avoid hateful generalizations, for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence\u201d<\/em> [my emphasis]. Here, the Pope goes beyond the Vatican II documents and beyond the conciliatory statements of his recent predecessors. Some will call it a step forward, but there are reasons to think it is a step in the wrong direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Koran is replete with admonitions to commit violence and terror.<\/strong> What can Pope Francis possibly mean by saying that a \u201cproper reading\u201d of the Koran shows that it is \u201copposed to every form of violence\u201d? There are many violent passages in the Old Testament as well, but Christians believe that these have to be understood in light of the New Testament. However, there is no New Testament in Islam.<\/strong> Islam\u2019s other \u201csacred\u201d documents such as the S<\/em>ira<\/em> (the life of Muhammad), the Hadith<\/em> (collections of the words and deeds of Muhammad), and the various law manuals confirm the violent teachings of the Koran. These books give us a fuller picture of Islam than does the Koran, but in no way do they soften or reinterpret the violent passages. If anything, they cast doubt on the peaceful passages. The Islamic doctrine of abrogation, which is based on sura 2:106 of the Koran, holds that if two passages in the Koran contradict each other, the later verse cancels or abrogates the earlier verse. Since most of the peaceful Koranic verses come from the early Meccan period, many Muslim authorities hold that they are superseded by the latter violent verses.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Some Sufi and Ahmadiyya sects have come up with more spiritualized interpretations of the Koran but, as noted before of the Sufis, they are far out of the Islamic mainstream and are often persecuted as heretics. Recently, an Ahmadi doctor was arrested in Pakistan for reading from the Koran because, as reported in the Ahmadiyya Times<\/em>, \u201cAccording to the laws of Pakistan it is a criminal act for an Ahmadi to read the Holy Qur\u2019an or act in a manner that may be perceived as the Ahmadi is \u2018posing as a Muslim.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[ . . . ]<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, at the risk of redundancy, it bears repeating that the spiritual tradition of Rumi, al-Hallaj, and the Sufi masters lies at the margins of the Islamic faith.<\/strong> For example, the use of music, poetry, and dance in rituals practiced by Rumi\u2019s followers are considered un-Islamic by many, if not most, Islamic authorities. But, thanks in large part to the work of Massignon, this mystical tradition is looked upon by many influential Catholics as the authentic Islam. Thus, one man\u2019s skewed and partial reading of Islam has come to color the \u201cofficial\u201d Church view of Islam.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As Pope Francis asserts, it is possible to read the Koran as being \u201copposed to every form of violence.\u201d We know it is possible because that it is the way that some have read it. However, to say that this reading is the \u201cproper\u201d or \u201cauthentic\u201d one is debatable, even misleading. At a time when clarity about Islam may be a matter of life or death for many Christians, the Pope\u2019s statement may, unfortunately, only further cloud the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis is a foolish man, and folly brings danger in its train.  That is my harsh judgment.  For documentation, I refer you to an excellent article by William Kilpatrick, Looking at Islam Through Catholic Eyes. Kilpatrick is too politic to draw the harsh conclusion; he prefers to say that the good pope has "clouded … Continue reading “Pope Francis’ Attempt to Put a Christian Face on Islam”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-islamism","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}