Saturday, September 16, 2006

Analysis of Pope Benedict Speech

There is an uproar in the Islamic world on the speech made by Pope Benedict in which he has quoted a Byzantine King who said "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."
I was aghast at the use of malicious quotation by Pope and thought why would he say such a thing in the time when the world is already in turmoil due to religious intolerance. To understand the motive behind his speech I read its full text. Here is my analysis.

1. The objective of the Pope in the speech was to invite non-practicing Christians back to the religion of Christianity. He pleaded them the case of religion (Christianity) that had lost its central position among Europeans.
2. The strategy he adopted to achieve the objective was first to malign Islam by quoting the Byzantine King who was humiliated by Turks throughout his life. Then he portrayed Islam as a religion in which there is no place of logic. Why did he malign Islam? To get a soft corner in the heart of the audiences who in these times consider Islamic fundamentalism the greatest threat to the secular civilization of Europe.
3. Next he quoted from Bible that Logos (Logic and word) is God. This quotation was to appeal to the secular audience, who are adherent of the logic and followers of science.
4. He then said the Church and Greek Philosophy have never been at odds essentially. (This was important because audience identify themselves with Greek Philosophy, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and not with church.)
5. He quoted a Muslim philosopher Ibn Hazn who said, "God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God's will, we would even have to practice idolatry. " Now here he tried to discredit Islam through this quotation as a religion in which God is not oblige to reveal the truth.
6.Then he tried to detach the modern Catholic Church from the past in which Church itself was the greatest impediment in the path of enlightenment and logic.
7. He then appealed that religion must not be excluded from the realm of logic and the Europe that wants to engage in the dialogue with other civilizations/religions must do so as Christian Europe because there is no conflict in the Christian faith and the values of secular Europe.

The points mentioned above show the position of a man whose institution has lost its ground long time ago and he is trying his best to reclaim the central position for the institution he represents and to do so he used Islam that is indeed sad and dangerous.
How should Muslims react? Muslims should not involve themselves in violent protests. The Muslims should involve themselves in intellectual debate. In universities and in media the Islamic scholars must respond to the misinformation that exists about Islam in Europe through historical facts.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

salam
Hmmm,they r doing their jobs,r the intelectual muslims doing their jobs...right now the need of time is as you said is intellectual debate...and I think you should start making a "kaarwaan" :)
BTW I like your blog.
take care

Keshi said...

I dunno MASD. Im not so sure if Islam is indeed a practical and logical religion. Only because the majority of it's followers seem to take violent methods to explain things.

Keshi.

Masood Ahmed said...

@Anonymous: Thanks for comments. Why anonymous, I would love to know and visit your blog too.
@Keshi: Thanks for commenting. I am the propenent of live and let live. Anyone creating hatred among the fellow human beings is a deplorable person.

Keshi said...

good. thats the way it should be.

:)
Keshi.

Dawn said...

Masd dear its been long but after reading this I feel at peace :)...coz in many forums this is what I am also saying....!
Good to be here :)
Cheers