Monday, October 27, 2008

LETS THINK WHY POPE MADE A COMMENT AGAINST MUHAMMAD(PBUH



)Once the Roman empires used to punish Christians by throwing them in front of lions. Since then the relation between empires and churches or the priests have reached now at a juncture by traveling across many ups and downs. 1700 years back on the year 306 AD, Constantine the great crowned as the Roman Empire. That time today’s Palestine was a state under that Kingdom. Constantine started to baptize the people in his Kingdom. After some hundred years later Church or the highest authority of Christendom got divided into two groups as Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic. The Western Catholic authority then turned their position as Roman bishop. He declared him as Pope. Since that time Popes were prompted to declare them as the dominant authority over the emperor. The conflict between Popes and emperors in the European history had always occupied a large impact. In this regard the people of Europe always remained divided. Many political change by force, coup d'état took place in the west as well. Some times the empire or the political bodies opposed and sacked Popes and vis a vis. Henry the 4th was one of such a misfortunate king who was declared as excommunication. Henry had to walk on bare foot to the Canossa and stayed stand still in front of the Pope’s palace for consecutive three days on the open field under heavy snowfall. At last he was given mercy and Pope withdrew his decree.Some times Popes and the Emperors lived with harmony too. Today that kind of co-existence is prevailing between the Pope Benedict the sixteenth and the European statesmen. Existing 16th Benedict Pope and emperor, the George Bush,junior have the same harmony between themselves. A recent address made by the Pope gave a wit to discuss the past history. Because the abstract of his address is similar with the declaration of Bush’s crusade. This crusade is carried out with the idea of clash of civilization known as Huntington theory. The 265th Pope gave the address in a German University. He said that there are gulf of differences between Islam and Christianity. According to the Pope Christianity stands on logic whereas it is absent in Islam. Christians get logical interpretation on every action for their God but in Islam it is absolutely ignored.In order to prove Islamic ignorance He stated that Islam was preached with the help of Sword. He further said that at the last of the 14th century a Byzantine emperor, The 2nd Manual Palaeologus did sit in a debate with a Persian Islamic scholar on Islam and Christianity. Though Pope didn’t mention the name of the Muslim scholar. anyway according to Pope, at one stage of that debate the emperor got pissed of and said to the Muslim Scholar that ’” Show what new Muhammad did preach to you beside Satanic desires and inhumanity. Muhammad always used His sword to spread Islam and ordered you all to follow His footsteps”.Pope’s above mentioned comment raises three questions to inquire I think.1) Why did the emperor say so?2) Was this event truly take place?3) Why Pope at the recent stage of the world made such statements?During the period of The Second Manual Palaeologus, Byzantine empire was almost a toothless power. Manual Palaeologus became king on the 1391 AD. Ottoman Turks in that period conquered almost all Byzantine states, and rests of the states were at a stake. The Turks by that time already approached near Daniuve River. Bulgaria and Southern Greece were under the Ottoman Turk’s control. All European Christian Kings unitedly raged war twice against the Turks but they were defeated. After the death of the said Second Manual Palaeologus the Byzantine, today’s Istanbul went under the Ottoman Turks control on the 29th May 1453. The thousand years old mighty Byzantine emperor was dismantled at the hand of Ottoman Turks. Manuel the Second did not left any stone unturned to seek help form every available Christian powers at his time but all went in vain.The main aim of my this narration is to understand that under such vulnerable circumstances how the Second Manuel Palaeologus dared to pronounce those words against the Muslim at that critical juncture? I think The Second Manual Palaeologus didn't do so.Pope tried to narrow down and misinterprit this Quranic injuction of the Sura Baqara Verse 256(In religion there is no compulsion”) and the mindset of Muhammad by saying that the particular Verse was revealed to the Muslims when they were very weak in power. Muhammad started to motivate his disciples to use sword as his power stated growing. Actually there is no such Verse in the Quran to justify Pope’s claim. Here I want to mention some history which doe not match with Pope’s claim.Over many centuries Muslims did run Greece. Were the Greeks converted to Islam? Did any Muslim ruler try to Islamize them? Moreover many Corinthians (Jews) were appointed at the higher official ranks. Spain was ruled by Muslims more or less 500 years but still the majority were Christians.Bulgaria, Serbia, Rumania, Hungary and many other European countries were under Muslim rules time to time. The people of these countries were mostly Christians. No Muslim rulers tried to convert them. Bosnian and Albanian's became Muslims but there is no history that they were forced.In the year 1099 AD Christian Crusaders conquered Jerusalem. They massacred the city killed many Coptic Christians and Muslims there. Before that Jerusalem was ruled by Muslims for more or less 400 years and no Coptic Christians were forced to convert in Islam. When crusaders were again defeated they were rejected by the local people and after this event every one of Jerusalem started to embrace Islam and learn Arabic. Present Palestinians are the next generation of that group.Muslims never tried to impose anything on the Jews community. Jews followed full flow of their life in Spain under the Muslim rule. It is called the Golden age for the Jews. Poet Yehuda Halavy and the scholar Maimonides studied in Arabic language by choice. Many Jews were selected as the ministerial and on higher posts. In the capital city of Spain,Toledo Christian, Jews and Muslim scholars worked jointly in the quest for knowledge, they explored the Greek philosophy. In fact the word ‘Philosophy’ itself is derived from the Arabic word ‘Falasifa’.Mr Toby, E. Huff in his book, ‘The rise of Early Modern Science Islam, China and the West’ stated that “All European medical schools after the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were deeply indebted to the Greek and Arabic medical tradition, especially Avicenna's medical encyclopedia, the Canon, among many other works.Both the scholastic method of disputation and the titles of academic positions-in the European were borrowings from Muslim educational practice and the Arabic language. The first paper manufacturing in Europe appears to have been done around 1150 by the Arabs in Spain. It is not surprising, therefore, that when the European translators, such as Adelard of Bath (fl. 1116—42), Gerard of Cremona (ca. 1114-87), and Michael Scot (1217-35), among others, began to encounter the rich intellectual heritage of the Middle East (largely in Spain), they quickly became enthusiasts of and promoters of the wisdom of their "Arab masters."The most notable philosophers of Arabic-Islamic civilization were al-Kindi (d. ca. 870), al-Farabi (d. 950), al-Razi (d. ca. 925), Ibn Sina (d. 1037), al-Baghdadi (d. 1152), al-Biruni (d. 1048), and Ibn Rushd (Averroes; d. 1198). Our concern is with the fact that from the eighth century to the end of the fourteenth, Arabic science was probably the most advanced science in the world, greatly surpassing the West and China. In virtually every field of endeavor - in astronomy, alchemy, mathematics, medicine, optics, and so forth - Arabic scientists (that is, Middle Eastern individuals primarily using the Arabic language but including Arabs, Iranians, Christians, Jews, and others) were in the forefront of scientific advance. Greek scientific heritage was lost to the Western world for the centuries between the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century and the great translation movement of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Arabs4 had virtually full access to that heritage from the eighth century onward. This occurred because of a momentous translation effort whereby the great works of Greece and other cultures were translated into Arabic. While the transmission of these ancient sciences into Arabic-Islamic civilization was selective, it was thoroughly representative of Greek scientific and philosophic thought as a whole. It has long been understood by medievalists that the recovery of the Roman legal heritage, along with the transmission of the long-lost Greek tradition, through the new contacts with Arabic-Islamic culture in the twelfth century produced a renaissance in Europe.During the past three decades very significant advances have been made in our understanding of Arabic science, but these have not shed any light on the puzzle of why Arabic science went into decline after the thirteenth century, and why it failed to give birth to modern science” (The rise of Early Modern Science Islam, China and the west, Cambridge university press” Mr Toby, E. Huff).Then what happened? Christians conquered the Spain and literally annihilated the entire communities including the Jews. They did put three options for the people of Spain. To become Christian, to be massacred or to leave. Many Muslims and Jews did not accept to become Christian. Now the question is what happened or where did they disappear? Many Muslim countries allowed them to stay in their countries. The Jews at that time were called Sephardim went to the western part of Morocco, Eastern Portion of Iraq, Southern part of Bulgaria. These lucky people got escaped from the Inquisition in the name of chastisement and the horrible Auto-da-Fe(Burn into Death) by the fanatic Christians..During Islamic era no Jews or Christians were tortured in the name of religion. Because Quran strictly warned to behave well with the people of the Book (29: 46). This is true that Non-Muslim were asked to pay a tax which one is called Ziziya. Many non Muslims were found happy for it. Because in an Islamic state every able Muslim male must compulsorily join in the war if it occurs. Non Muslims were given wit not to participate in the war. In exchange of this exemption they were subject to pay the tax.“Quran in one hand and sword in the other” this phrase is a nasty propaganda circulated by the crusaders when they were desperate to abolish Muslims and were repeatedly defeated at the Muslim hand. Even the Vienna was about to be conquered by Muslim. Muslims were the lords of Arabia for 1400 years. For a few years the British ruled, and for a few years the French ruled. Overall, the Muslims ruled Arabia for 1400 years. Yet today, there are 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians i.e. Christians since generations. If the Muslims had used the sword there would not have been a single Arab who would have remained a Christian. The Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years. If they wanted, they had the power of converting each and every non-Muslim of India to Islam. Today more than 80% of the population of India is non-Muslims. All these non-Muslim Indians are bearing witness today that Islam was not spread by the sword. Indonesia is a country that has the maximum number of Muslims in the world. The majority of people in Malaysia are Muslims. May one ask, ’Which Muslim army went to Indonesia and Malaysia?’ Similarly, Islam has spread rapidly on the East Coast of Africa. One may again ask, if Islam was spread by the sword, ’Which Muslim army went to the East Coast of Africa?’Islam recognized from the very beginning the principle of freedom of belief or freedom of religion. It said very clearly that it is not allowed to have any coercion in the matters of faith and belief. The Qur'an says, “There is no compulsion in religion."(Al-Baqarah: 256).Allah says to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), "If then they turn away, We have not sent you as a guard over them. Your duty is but to convey (the Message)…" (Ash-Shura: 48) In another place Allah says, "Invite (all) to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious. Your Lord knows best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance."(An-Nahl: 125). There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, and Islam is the world’s fastest-growing religion. The very word Islam, which means “surrender,” is related to the Arabic salaam, or peace.In the Quran, the only permissible war is one of self-defense. Muslims may not begin hostilities (2: 190). The Quran suggests that it is meritorious to forgo revenge in a spirit of charity (5: 45). Hostilities must be brought to an end as quickly as possible and must cease the minute the enemy sues for peace (2: 192-3). Islam is not addicted to war, and jihad is not one of its “pillars,” or essential practices. The primary meaning of the word jihad is not “holy war” but “struggle.” It refers to the difficult effort that is needed to put Allah’s will into practice at every level—personal and social as well as political. A very important and much quoted tradition has Muhammad telling his companions as they go home after a battle, “We are returning from the lesser jihad [the battle] to the greater jihad,” the far more urgent and momentous task of extirpating wrongdoing from one’s own society and one’s own heart.Although it is true that many Muslim rulers didn’t follow the right path of Islam, leaded their life lasciviously, got engaged in internal war fare, caused many bloodshed but converting to Islam by force had not been done. No scientists were expelled for his scientific finding, no philoshoper had to drink hamlock ,no women were burnt to death or trapped by the witchhunters,no Rasputin emerged or nurtured by the Muslims. No gas chamber or nuclear bomb were tested on general innocent people.In the name of religion no Auto-da-Fe or Inquisition was practiced.The question is often hurled at Muslims, either directly or indirectly, during any discussion on religion or world affairs that Muslims are terrorists. Muslim stereotypes are perpetuated in every form of the media accompanied by gross misinformation about Islam and Muslims. In fact, such misinformation and false propaganda often leads to discrimination and acts of violence against Muslims. A case in point is the anti-Muslim campaign in the American media following the Oklahoma bomb blast, where the press was quick to declare a ‘Middle Eastern conspiracy’ behind the attack. The culprit was later identified as a soldier from the American Armed Forces.It is doubtful why Pope at this moment said the comment and why is he so ignorant about other religion when he clams himself as a theologist.Bush and his evengelist associates are now at a state of war against the so called Global war on Terrorism.To achieve the control over petroleum energy this kind of platform has been created and it is not new in the human history that religion is made scapegoat to achieve political and economical dominance.

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