Pope’s
Badgering of Islam Is Nothing New
By Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff
St. Cloud, MN
No
Muslim should have been surprised that Pope Benedict
XVI selected the words of a medieval Byzantine
ruler, in his lecture at the University of Regensburg,
to demonize Islam as an “irrational and
violent” religion while heaping insults
on the Prophet. Hardly two years ago the same
Pope, newly chosen at that time, delivered a scathing
diatribe to the representatives of the Islamic
community in Cologne, Germany, for their failure
to “combat terrorism” and commanded
them to “work harder.”
Obviously, he saw every Muslim as being responsible
for terrorism and for bringing this “new
darkness of barbarism.” The Muslim leaders
who had gathered in the Cologne Archdiocese’s
office were stunned and could not respond to the
words of His Holiness. The media paid scant attention
to the subject of the meeting even though the
Pope was on his first foreign visit after being
selected to head the Roman Catholic Church.
In his thundering monologue he laid the responsibility
for the present day “barbarism” squarely
on the shoulders of the Muslims and accused them
of doing nothing. He castigated them for their
“apathy and disengagement.” As a German
growing up during the interwar period he had done
nothing to combat the evil that engulfed Germany
in decade of the thirties. Instead, he dutifully
served the German totalitarian state, initially,
as a member of the youth brigade, and later as
a soldier in the army.
His speeches indicate that he deeply internalized
the ideology of the political order under which
he grew up. Previously as Cardinal and now as
Pope he has viewed Islam as irrational, violent
and inferior.
Before the title of Pope was given to him Cardinal
Josef Ratzinger, his real name, out-maneuvered
his competitors by taking a narrow line rallying
against “a dictatorship of relativism”
meaning that he was neither interested in dialogues
nor in reconciliation. He was only interested
in proving his religion to be right, indeed, superior.
The message that the Pope delivered at the University
is part of the dual-pronged strategy in which
a crusade is being waged against Islam to justify
the colonial suppression of Muslims. The Pope
uses the ideological hammer to disparage Muslims
while George Bush, his temporal counterpart, takes
direct military action. The “war against
terror” has been conveniently broadened
into a struggle against “militant Islam”
or “Islamic fascism” in the defense
of Christian Western civilization.
If Muslim activists see a conspiracy by the West
to use the “war on terror” as a pretext
for the domination and control of Muslim lands
they are on the right track to understanding the
nature of contemporary international politics.
The Pope seems to have taken the Byzantine emperor
Manuel II Paleologus as his role model to showcase
the peaceful and rational nature of Christianity
and to condemn the religious motivation for violence.
At the time when the Byzantine ruler is said to
have spoken to a visiting Persian gentlemen about
“violence and Mohammed” his empire
was already under siege having failed by using
violence to stop the Ottoman Turks.
Afterwards he lost his empire and fled to the
interior of Europe rallying for a crusade against
the Muslims. His campaign to organize a military
force against the Turks was unsuccessful. He can
hardly be said to have been a promoter of peace
and rationalism. To claim that this ruler represented
peaceful and rational Christianity is to engage
in a gross distortion of history.
Instead of badgering Islam the Pope should examine
his own Church’s history to understand the
exercise of violence and irrationality. The Vatican
is said to have a vast treasure trove of historical
records. If the Pontiff ever delves into these
books he would find that even before Mohammed
was born the worshipful St. Augustine of Hippo
had developed a concept of “just war.”
That precept justified the use of violence against
anyone considered to be a challenge to the Church.
From this perspective came one of the great bloodlettings
of history, namely, the proclamation of the first
Crusade in 1095 by Pope Urban II, a predecessor
of Benedict XVI. The Crusade was launched to counter
the expansion of Islam and to seize as much territory
and loot as possible. The bloody warfare that
ensued represents anything but rationality and
peacefulness of Christendom.
Just a century later another one of Benedict’s
predecessors, Pope Innocent III in 1198, initiated
the infamous Inquisition in Spain. Its brutality
directed by the Catholic Church’s own Father
Tomas de Torquemada became a legend for the subsequent
royalty to celebrate. Eventually Spain was cleansed
of Muslims and the religion of Islam forever prohibited
from taking roots.
The brutality initiated in Spain was applied in
the lands discovered by Christopher Columbus and
his conquerors. Victimized by well-armed adventurers
the native people were systematically slaughtered,
their cultures and societies utterly demolished.
Today, the remnants of those original inhabitants
constitute the oppressed exploited by the Church
of Rome and the agents of Washington.
In the current flap over the Regensburg speech
the Pope has not apologized for the insults delivered
despite protests throughout the Muslim world.
From his summer palace at Castel Gandolfo he said:
“I am deeply sorry for the reactions in
some countries to a few passages in my address.”
He is sorry for the “reactions” but
not for contents that denigrated Islam by calling
it “violent and irrational.”
History is a witness to the fact that harsh words
have always preceded gruesome actions. What does
that portend for Europe? Well, among other things,
the Pope has strongly spoken out against Turkey’s
membership in EU (too many Muslims) and has shown
disdain for increasing multiculturalism (meaning
Muslims) on that continent.
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