Sunday, October 22, 2006

Letter to Benedict XVI



"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."

Byzantine Emporer Manuel II

This is some of the remarks of Pope during his lecture at the University of Regensburg on Sept. 12, 2006. In a spirit of goodwill, 38 Muslims scholars from around the globe joined to send a letter to respond to speech made by His Holiness Pope Benedict. Among scholars that signed the letter are, Shaykh Ali Jumu‘ah (the Grand Mufti of Egypt), Shakyh Abdullah bin Bayyah (former Vice President of Mauritania, and leading religious scholar), and Shaykh Sa‘id Ramadan Al-Buti (from Syria), in addition to the Grand Muftis of Russia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Slovenia, Istanbul, Uzbekistan, and Oman, as well as leading figures from the Shi‘a community such as Ayatollah Muhammad Ali Taskhiri of Iran. The letter was also signed by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan and by Muslim scholars in the West such as Shaykh Hamza Yusuf from California, Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Professor Tim Winter of the University of Cambridge.

The letter tackles the main substantive issues raised in his treatment of a debate between the medieval Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an “educated Persian”, including reason and faith; forced conversion; “jihad” vs. “holy war”; and the relationship between Christianity and Islam.The letter is now published by Islamica Magazine. Read here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know what's the different between islamic religious scholars and christian relgious scholars?

the muslims actually listen to islamic religious scholars. unlike the pope he had to utter some controversial remarks to gain some respect.

or some funds for the vatican i dunno.

why do they had to make it complicated? stupid fools. haih.

Anonymous said...

a few more links from our fav writer faisal tehrani:

Faisal Tehrani: Terkena Balik: Paus Rujuk Siapa?

Faisal Tehrani: Keganasan dan Lojik: Menurut Ratzinger

Sorry if prev comment sound abit ruff. really geram man. hehe.

Ayman Rosland said...

Benedict is controversial from start.Unlike Pope John Paul II, he is more bias towards Muslims.Look at his statement regarding Turkey admission into EU long before wearing his papal tiara.

"Europe is a continent with a deep history of (Christianity).Turkey's entry will mark the end of EU!"