Sept. 22, 2006
Quantum Note
By Dr Muzaffar Iqbal
One would expect that a man like pope Benedict XVI, the learned professor of
theology, knew perfectly well the consequences of his invocation of the words of
the "erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus", but even if he did not,
what could be the rational for quoting a part of the dialogue that took place
between the emperor and "an educated Persian" on the subject of Christianity and
Islam "perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara"? Why would the pope
choose to resurrect the ugly words of this medieval text in Germany at a time
when the hurt caused by the terrible Danish cartoons is still fresh in Muslim
memory? What could be a possible reason to his well-chosen quotation in a speech
which had otherwise little to do with Islam?
Given the pope's very reasonable and sensitive approach to some of the recent
aggressions against Islam and Muslims by men like George Bush and Tony Blair, it
is extremely puzzling that he would invoke this unfair dialogue between Manuel
II and the educated Persian who does not even appear in the text because the
actual text of the so-called dialogue is written by the emperor a few years
after it took place.
The little-known emperor, whom the pope has chosen to call "erudite", was
anything but erudite; he was a closed-minded emperor of an empire that was
falling apart and certainly no friend of Islam and Muslims whom he saw as the
worst enemies of his empire. Held prisoner by the Ottomans for a while, he saw
his empire crumbling and witnessed the siege to his imperial capital,
Constantinople, by the Turks. He attempted to stir emotions against Islam and
Muslims in 1399 in order to seek help to protect his falling empire. He
travelled to Rome, Paris, and London to get help from his brethren in faith in
his life-long mission to fight against Islam. He signed a humiliating treaty
with the Ottomans, agreed to pay tribute to the Ottoman sultan, and died on July
21, 1425.
Why would pope Benedict XVI, an ex-professor of theology, one of the best-known
theologians of the Western world, a prolific writer, a staunch defender of
traditional Catholic doctrine and values cite this medieval text in a lecture on
faith and reason? Let us look a little more closely at the context of the
speech.
The pope invoked the words of the emperor to serve as the "starting point" of
his reflections on the issue. He resurrected the seventh conversation between
the emperor and the almost-absent Persian from the text which is to be found in
a version edited by Professor Khoury. In this conversation "the emperor touches
on the theme of the holy war", the pope told his audience, and then went on to
state that "the emperor must have known that ayah 256 of surah 2 reads: 'There
is no compulsion in religion'."
Then the learned pope said that the "according to the experts, this is one of
the surahs of the early period, when Muhammad (PBUH) was still powerless and
under threat. But naturally the emperor also knew the directives developed later
and recorded in the Quran concerning holy war. Without descending to details,
such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the 'Book' and
the 'infidels', he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on
the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in
general, saying: "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". After having expressed himself so forcefully, 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', he says, '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'".
This quotation from the pope's speech leaves one struggling with the question of
his understanding of Islam. To begin with, regardless of the pope's experts, the
second surah of the Quran (Suratul Baqarah) is not an early surah of the Quran;
it was in fact revealed in Medina at a time when Muslims were in full control of
the Arabian peninsula and not when "Muhammad was still powerless and under
threat". Second, to consider the Prophetic mission of the Prophet (PBUH) in
terms of an individual's struggle, even to treat him as a man who is once
"powerless" and "under threat" and who then gains power and strength is totally
contrary to Islamic understanding of a prophet's mission. According to Islam,
God has chosen certain men to act as his messengers to humanity and once a man
has been chosen to perform this function, his individual power of strength have
little meaning left; he is acting under Divine Commands.
But regardless of these obvious misunderstandings about Islam (which one would
not expect from such a learned theologian), the point that the pope attempted to
make in his speech was that there is a "profound harmony between what is Greek
in the best sense of the word and the biblical understanding of faith in God".
He did not say that such a "profound harmony" does not exist between Islam and
Greek thought, but his invocation of the ugly words written by a Byzantinian
emperor leaves one wondering how much of that text has crept into the
understanding of the Church.
To be sure, the current perceptions of Islam and Muslims in the West are not
merely the result of CNN and Fox News; they are the handiwork of generations of
churchmen and academics who have followed in the footsteps of people like
Emperor Manuel II. One only has to read a work like Islam and the West: The
making of an image by Norman Daniel to see the contributions of the Church in
the cultivation of the deep hatred of Islam and Muslims in the contemporary
West.
Back to the 2006 Contents Back to the Main Page