An interesting thing happened at the Vatican on June 8 of this year. The pope invited what sounds like the setup for a 70s joke, an imam, a rabbi and a priest, to come and each give prayers for peace in the Vatican rose garden.
When the imam got up to read his prepared materials, all of which had been submitted in advance for approval as had all the materials to be read by all, the imam read 3 verses of the koran which he had not submitted in advance as well as some free form thoughts of his own.
Gates of Vienna and this site have written a few posts on this, here and here and GoV here But the importance of the event should not be underestimated. The meaning of the 3 extra verses you are about to see with great attention to detail and with highly acclaimed and authoritative Islamic texts, will be shown to be basically a direct insult to the Jews and Christians in attendance. The Vatican’s response was to write some pot-boiler sophistry to deflect the imam’s insult in order to not take away from the intended spirit of the event one would assume. But this event was broadcast live to the entire Islamic world and it is highly likely that a large percentage of muslims watching knew exactly what took place, not to mention a number of Christian and other minority groups living in Islamic lands, even if nearly no Westerners did.
This is not without importance and not without consequence.
Special thanks to Stephen Coughlin who worked patiently with me on this over several days of recording as well as assembling the materials referenced in his answers and explanations.
Below, the actual speech the imam gave subtitled. There is a minor error with the translation. Unbelievers should read, ‘Kufar’
It's not hard to believe but I imagine your headline is intentionally sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteFor many centuries official RCC doctrine held that Islam was a fanatical heresy consisting of militant Arab mythology peppered with pseudo Biblical stories from both the Hebrew and Christian testaments. Said stories often confuse the Biblical accounts (eg: Miriam the wife of Moses is also Mary the Mother of Jesus.)
However post Vatican II the doctrine changed. Now Muslims are said to "worship the one true God" and are therefore on the right path. John Paul II reiterated exactly that at least once.
I cannot imagine the impetus for this change. Perhaps regret about the Crusades. But it has currently attached itself to the progressive concept of "tolerance and inclusion."
I can't help but believe this is a huge mistake on the part of the RCC. A mistake that will paid in much new blood.
Apparently this pope cannot see the threat to his flock and instead invited the wolf to his den and permitted the wolf to dictate his own menu.
ReplyDeleteThey don't make Crusaders like they used to.
This is not insulting to non-Muslims. To non-Muslims, this is expected, which is exactly why he should not have been invited on the grounds of the Vatican.
ReplyDeleteWhat is insulting to any Catholic who follows Jesus Christ more so than the Catholic church is that the Pope was short-sighted enough to invite the imam to the Vatican and that the bishops did not have the courage to leave immediately.
YES, THE TITLE IS SARCASTIC
ReplyDeleteTo Pete Rowe,
This is only expected by non-Muslms who KNOW what Islam is about.
Sadly, that is very few non-Muslims.
Most think Islam is just another religion that teaches people to love their neighbor.
To the first Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI did not know that history.
Do you have any links for that?
I'd like to study it a bit.
Thank you, mi amigo.
ReplyDelete