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Pakistan: Pope’s jihad comments show his (what else?) ignorance of Islam

Sep 14, 2006 8:48 am By Robert Spencer

I get called ignorant of Islam about five times a day. Muslims and non-Muslims write to me or about me in hot indignation, claiming that I’m misrepresenting Islam. But none of the enlightened ones have ever bothered to clue me in about the real, peaceful thing — which, of course, also seems to elude the grasp of tens of thousands of jihad terrorists and misunderstanders of Islam worldwide. When I ask them to show me evidence of a mainstream Islamic sect or school that renounces violence against and the subjugation of unbelievers, they assure that…well, there are hordes of them, but they just don’t have their names on hand at the moment, and I am an utter moron not to have noticed them.

This kind of thing happens even though I am invariably the one quoting chapter and verse of Qur’an and Hadith, while my opponent is making vague claims of an Islam that is tolerant and peaceful but doesn’t seem to have any specific textual support (beyond Qur’an 2:256 and 5:32, of course).

The charge of “ignorance” is, of course, a propaganda tactic which, like most propaganda tactics, has nothing behind it. It may fool the credulous clientele of academic titans like Omid Safi, Carl Ernst, Ahmed Afzaal, and Mark LeVine, but anyone who troubles to look will see that the facts are on the side of the allegedly “ignorant,” and the academic apologist emperors have no clothes.

So it is in this case. The Pope’s statements were entirely correct, and all Taslim Aslam can fall back on is a vague and unsubstantiated charge of “ignorance.” And many credulous types out there will figure that Taslim Aslam knows his own religion better than the Pope does, and so he must be right. And I expect that that’s at least half-true: I expect that Taslim Aslam does know his own religion better than does the Pope.

“Pakistan: Pope’s Jihadi Comments Shows His Ignorance of Islam, Official Says,” from AKI, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

Islamabad, 14 Sept. (AKI) – Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson, Taslim Aslam, has referred to recent comments by Pope Benedict XVI against the Muslim concept of jihad or holy war, as a sign that the pontiff did not understand Islam. Aslam was quoted by Arabic language satellite television channel Al Jazeera, as saying that the Pope’s recent statements showed his “ignorance” on the fundamental principles of Islam and its history. On Tuesday, the Pope spoke out against jihad saying it was against God and urged Muslims who renounced it to enter a dialogue of cultures.

Speaking in Germany on Tuesday, Pope Benedict said the idea of jihad is contrary to God’s plan. Experts on Islam and the Roman Catholic Church however told the New York Times that the pope’s source-based speech did not appear to be a condemnation of Islam. A Vatican spokesman said the comments were not meant as any statement on Islam but only a brief reference to his argument of the dangers of the separation of reason and religion.

The Pakistani foreign office spokesperson however said that the Pope’s statement on Islam and the prophet Mohammed showed that he did not understand Islam. She went on to say that Muslims were “the founders of science in general” and that they were the leading “lights in a period in which the world was wrapped in darkness.”

Oh, well! Why didn’t you say so before? Muslims founded science, eh? Well, that means there must not be any violent jihad today!

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