time for Muslims to wake up

time for Muslims to wake up

So, this past week, the Pope gave a speech at his old university. And, he happened to quote some old emperor to make a point that conversion to a religion under threat of death is not a valid conversion at all.

And, predictably, when the Pope was quoted out of context, the Muslim world went bananas. Here is the "offending" passage:

In the seventh conversation edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the jihad (holy war). The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: There is no compulsion in religion. It is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat.

But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur’an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the “Book” and the “infidels,” he turns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words:

Show me just what Mohammed 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.

The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.

God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death....

The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature.

Of course, the part that is circulated in the Muslim world is that quote about "show me just what Mohammed brought... etc". And the reaction to the Pope's relatively mild speech? (From Wikipedia:) The Egyptian foreign minister said, "This was a very unfortunate statement and it is a statement that shows that there is a lack of understanding of real Islam." The Guardian Council of Iran called his speech a part of "a series of Western conspiracy against Islam." An Iraqi government spokesman said "The Pope's remarks reflect his misunderstanding of the principles of Islam and its teachings that call for forgiveness, compassion and mercy". The Turkish Prime Minister said "I believe it is a must for (the Pope) to retract his erroneous, ugly and unfortunate remarks and apologise both to the Islamic world and Muslims. …I hope he rapidly amends the mistake he has made so as not to overshadow the dialogue between civilisations and religions." Pakistan's Parliament issued the statement "The derogatory remarks of the Pope about the philosophy of jihad and Prophet Muhammad have injured sentiments across the Muslim world and pose the danger of spreading acrimony among the religions."

And on and on and on it goes, with the leaders of the Muslim world in high dudgeon, ready to take murderous offence at the mildest of rebukes. Again from Wikipedia:

Some Muslims in India burned an effigy of the pope, and many joined in protest marches. 2000 Palestinians in Gaza City protested the Pope's statement on 15 September; a Greek Orthodox and an Anglican Church in Nablus were fire-bombed. A group called the Lions of Monotheism claimed responsibility for the attacks and said they were carried out to protest the pope's speech. Palestinians bombed and engaged in shootings against five churches in the West Bank and Gaza. Security has been discreetly stepped up around and inside the Vatican City, because of concerns about the possibility of acts of violence.

The Iraqi militia Jaish al-Mujahedin (Holy Warriors' Army) announced its intention to "destroy their cross in the heart of Rome… and to hit the Vatican." A previously unknown Baghdad-based group, Kataab Ashbal Al Islam Al Salafi (Islamic Salafist Boy Scout Battalions) threatens to kill all Christians in Iraq if the Pope does not apologize to Mohammed in three days in front of the whole world. A Somali cleric of the Islamic Council of Somalia has called for the Pope's assassination, urging Muslims to "hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements"

Let's get one thing straight right now: the Pope is not going to apologize to Mohammed. Mohammed is dead, and is beyond appreciating either insult or praise. Also, the Pope is the religious leader of a billion Catholics, and as such he simply cannot all of a sudden subordinate his religion to any other.

But where have we seen this sort of a reaction before? Newsweek makes up a story about a Koran being flushed down the toiled in Guantanamo, and Muslims go berserk, killing each other, never once stopping to think that it is impossible to flush a book down a toilet. A few relatively mild cartoons are published in a Danish newspaper (and on my blog, among many others), and Muslims go bananas, killing each other and then boycotting Danish goods. Theo van Gogh makes a movie about Mohammed, and Muslims go insane and murder him in the street. And it just goes on and on and on, with Muslims abandoning reason and logic every time they take offense at anything, whether the offense is real or not.

I've got a clue for those Muslims out there who riot, murder, burn effigies, and so on at every slightest provocation: if you commit acts of evil in the name of your deity, after a while people will put two and two together and determine that the deity that you are worshipping is the deity of evil. They will rightly assume that what you call "Allah" is what everyone else calls "Satan".

So, give your heads a shake and wake up. The satanists have taken over your mosques, the satanists have become your imams. There is a reason why the people of the Middle East are living in abject poverty and ignorance, and you don't need to go any further than your local mosque to see the reason for yourself. Wake up!

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