Interfaith Outreach – heavyweight division – was on display when Pope Francis visited Iraq for four days in early March. The Pontiff met for 40 minutes with Ayatollah Al-Sistani in Najafon March 6.. Much has been made of this encounter, but after the hopeful tumult of this “historic encounter” dies down, we will likely discover that it did not result in any noticeable change in the mistreatment of Christians either in Iraq, or anywhere else in the Muslim world. A previous Jihad Watch report on the “historic” meeting is here, and a news article about it is here: “Pope, on Iraq visit, decries violence in the name of God as ‘greatest blasphemy,'” by Philip Pullella, Reuters, March 6, 2021:
Pope Francis entered a narrow alleyway in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf to hold a historic meeting with the county’s top Shi’ite cleric and visited the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham on Saturday to condemn violence in the name of God as “the greatest blasphemy.”
The back-to-back inter-religious events some 200 km (125 miles) apart, one in a dusty, built-up city and the other in a desert plain, reinforced the main theme of his risky trip to Iraq – that the country has suffered far too much.
Why was the visit so “risky”? It’s because the Pope was traveling in a Muslim land, where millions of people have been taught to feel hostility, even murderous hatred, toward Infidels, including Christians, and Pope Francis might well be a target of attack. Not all of them accept this inculcation, but some clearly do. The massive army presence on the Plains of Ur and in Najaf testifies to the well-grounded fear for his safety; apparently too many Iraqi Muslims did not get the Pope’s memo about how “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence.”
“From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters,” Francis said in Ur, where Abraham was born….
But the Qur’an, uncreated and immutable, teaches Muslims to “hate” those the Pope describes as “brothers and sisters”; no Muslim cleric would ever describe Christians or Jews as “brothers and sisters” to Muslims. How does the Pope propose to deal with what is in the Qur’an? Will he continue to avoid its actual contents, keep trying to convince himself, and his flock, and even Muslims themselves, that Islam has nothing to do with “violence” or “hate”? Muslims don’t agree that the “greatest blasphemy” is in “hating our brothers and sisters.” They think, rather, that the greatest blasphemy is not to “hate” – the Qur’an overflows with hate – but to criticize or mock Muhammad, and the religion of Islam. They are prepared to murder those who are charged, however implausibly, with such blasphemy. Think of poor Asia Bibi in Pakistan.
The US invasion of 2003 plunged Iraq into years of sectarian conflict. Security has improved since the defeat of Islamic State in 2017, but Iraq continues to be a theater for global and regional score-settling, especially a bitter US-Iran rivalry that has played out on Iraqi soil.
Sistani, 90, is one of the most influential figures in Shi’ite Islam, both within Iraq and beyond, and their meeting was the first between a pope and such a senior Shi’ite cleric.
Two decades before the U.S. invasion of 2003, there had been “sectarian conflict” in Iraq. Saddam’s Arab troops had murdered 182,000 Kurds in Operation Anfal, even using chemical weapons to kill 5,000 Kurds during a single attack at Halabja. Shiite Arabs had also chafed for years under the rule of Saddam and his fellow Sunnis, intermittently rising in small-scale rebellions that were savagely, and quickly, crushed.
After the meeting, Sistani called on world religious leaders to hold great powers to account and for wisdom and sense to prevail over war. He added Christians should live like all Iraqis in peace and coexistence.
Yes, of course: Christians “should live like all Iraqis in peace and coexistence,”but Iraq’s Christians have shown just what they think of that possibility. Since 2003, 80% of them have fled the country, despairing of decent treatment, and I doubt if the Pope’s visit will end either the mistreatment of the 150,000 who still remain, or staunch the flow of Christians fleeing from Iraq. And how often did the Grand Ayatollah Sistani, during the last two decades, make the mistreatment of Christians the subject of his writings and sermons? If he is so greatly beloved and influential a cleric, why could he not make his tolerant views prevail? He is 90 years old; where is the evidence of his urging that Christians and Jews “should live like all Iraqis in peace and coexistence”?
In a statement, Sistani said, “Religious and spiritual leadership must play a big role to put a stop to tragedy… and urge sides, especially great powers, to make wisdom and sense prevail and erase the language of war.”…
Sistani would like to “erase the language of war”? How many pages would he have to rip out of the Qur’an to “erase” its language of war? That book is in many ways a war manual, with instructions not just on when, and against whom, and why, war-making is warranted, but even provides a guide to how the spoils of war – property and women – are to be divided among the Muslim victors.
It was disturbing that Pope Francis made no allusion, at any time during his three-day visit to Iraq, to the Jews of Iraq, to their 2,500 history in the country, and to their near-total disappearance, because of violence against them, in the late 1940s and 1950s. Why did he pass over that absence/presence of Jews in silence? Couldn’t he, on the Plains of Ur or in Najaf in the presence of Al-Sistani, at least mention “our Jewish brothers and sisters”? Was it fear of offending his Muslim hosts because, while he will never admit it publicly, he knows how deeply antisemitic most Muslims are? Didn’t he want to remind his Iraqi interlocutors of the physical absence, but spiritual presence, of adherents of the third great monotheism, especially at Ur, where Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac (in the Judeo-Christian version) or Ishmael (in the Islamic version)?
A local Church official said Jews were contacted and invited but the situation for them was “complicated” particularly as they have no structured community. However, in similar past events in predominantly Muslim countries, a senior foreign Jewish figure has attended.
Of the half-dozen or so Jews left in Iraq, none dared to show up at Ur; for Jews in Iraq things were indeed “complicated” — that is, dangerous — and none wished to draw attention to themselves as representatives of Iraqi Jewry; after the Pope left, who knows what might have happened, what kind of revenge might be taken on a Jew who dared to appear at such a gathering?
“Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart: they are betrayals of religion,” the pope said at Ur. “We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion; indeed, we are called unambiguously to dispel all misunderstandings,” he said….
When the Pope proclaims that “hostility, extremism and violence” are “betrayals of religion,” he ignores the fact that the Qur’an calls for – demands – that very “hostility, extremism and violence” toward non-Muslims, and so does Muhammad in the Hadith. Think of all the Qur’anic verses commanding Muslims to engage in violent Jihad, to fight, to kill, to smite at the necks of, to strike terror in the hearts of, the Infidels. Think of the dozens of military campaigns Muhammad took part in; he helped personally to slaughter 600 to 900 members of the Banu Qurayza. Think of his asking aloud, on three different occasions, about “who will rid me” of Asma bint Marwan, Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf, and Abu Afak, and each, in turn, was murdered by one of his loyal followers, pleased to be of service. The Pope either has not read, or has not understood, or prefers to willfully deceive himself because he could not dare to face the truth, such Quranic verses as 2:191-193, 3:151, 4:89, 5:33, 8:12 8:60, 9:5, 9:29, and 47:4. And what can the Pope do about the verses that tell Muslims they are the “best of peoples” (3:110), while non-Muslims “are the most vile of created beings” (98:6)? How can the Pope hope to explain away Muhammad’s remarks in the Hadith, such as “War is deceit” and “I have been made victorious through terror”?
Pope Francis has become a willing collaborator in the misrepresentation of Islam as a “peaceful and tolerant” religion. He figures if, instead of telling his Catholic flock the truth about Islam, he continues to mislead, and hews to his line that “the authentic Islam has nothing to do violence,” Christians will be less likely to push for such reasonable defensive measures — measures that the Pope deplores — as halting immigration by Muslims into their countries, while Muslims, having been assured by the Pope that Islam has nothing to do with “hostility, extremism, and violence,” will – so the Pope fondly hopes – listen to him, and behave accordingly, rather than follow what they read in the Qur’an, in the Hadith, in 1,400 years worth of Qur’anic commentary, and the sermons they have heard from such contemporary clerics as the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the late Sheikh Abdel-Aziz Bin Baz, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb, and Yousuf al-Qaradawi.
The Muslims who have attacked Christians in Iraq, since 2003 driving 80% of them out of the country were not “Islamists” following some bizarre variant of the true peaceful Islam. There were, of course, among those persecuting and killing Christians in Iraq, the fanatics who were members of the Islamic State. But most of the 1.2 million Christians who fled Iraq did so before the Islamic State appeared; their tormentors were ordinary Muslims, acting upon the teachings of Islam, not a factitious “Islamism.”
At Ur, Francis praised young Muslims for helping Christians repair their churches “when terrorism invaded the north of this beloved country.”…
Yes, the handful of young Muslims who helped repair churches are to be commended, for they were ignoring the Islamic command that forbids Christians (and Jews) from repairing their houses of worship. As is written in the Pact of Umar: “we [Christians] made this stipulation with you, that we will not erect in our city or the suburbs any new monastery, church, cell or hermitage; that we will not repair any of such buildings that may fall into ruins…” Perhaps they concluded, in jesuitical fashion, that “we are not Christians, therefore we — though not the Christians themselves — can repair these churches.”
One sympathizes with the difficult conditions of the Christians in Iraq, who live in fear of attacks by Muslims – even in the absence of the Islamic State – and understand their hope the Pope’s friendly meeting with al-Sistani might just change that behavior. But we can’t allow the Pope’s naïve interfaith-outreach sentiments to distract us from the permanent threat that arises naturally from the texts and teachings of Islam.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Al-Sistani may want to remove a certain infamous page from his website. It’s a list of what, according to Muslims, including Al-Sistani, are the “unclean” (najis) things. Here’s that list:
Najis (impure) things:
1. urine;
2. faeces;
3. semen;
4. corpse;
5. blood;
6. dog;
7. pig;
8. disbeliever (kāfir);
9. wine;
10. sweat of an excrement-eating animal
And if Al-Sistani still doesn’t remove that list, or at least Item #8, after that supposedly “historic meeting” in Najaf between himself and the Pope, when they exchanged bromides about hope for a better world, I trust that the world’s media will reproduce this list and send it far and wide, including to the Vatican, with a question included for Francis: Would Pope Francis care to comment on this list found at the official website of his new BFF?
somehistory says
OT
“Swiss voters narrowly approved on Sunday a proposal to ban face coverings, both the niqabs and burqas worn by a few Muslim women in the country and the ski masks and bandannas used by protesters.
The measure will outlaw covering one’s face in public places like restaurants, sports stadiums, public transport or simply walking in the street. It foresees exceptions at religious sites and for security or health reasons, such as face masks people are wearing now to protect against COVID-19, as well as for traditional Carnival celebrations. Authorities have two years to draw up detailed legislation.
Two Swiss cantons, or states, Ticino and St. Gallen, already have similar legislation that foresees fines for transgressions. National legislation will put Switzerland in line with countries such as Belgium and France that have already enacted similar measures.”
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/switzerland-face-coverings/2021/03/07/id/1012857/?ns
gravenimage says
Yes–this story is covered here:
“Switzerland bans face coverings amid charges of ‘sexism’ and ‘Islamophobia’”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/03/switzerland-bans-face-coverings-amid-charges-of-sexism-and-islamophobia
Good to see this.
somehistory says
Yes, covered after I posted. It was in my in-box early, so I shared.
gravenimage says
Thank you, Somehistory. I just wanted to indicate that this story is now covered here at JW.
And sometimes the story is *not* covered here. Often posters citing stories leads to the stories later being featured here.
European pagan says
He is smiling but he is afraid ???
americanpatriot says
I think Pope is like making great efforts to transform the prey of hunter animals such as lions and tigers to have compassion toward fellow living animals of the forest and eat vegetables in place of their meat.
How successful his great diplomatic charm offensive toward Islam will be is just a matter of time to manifest.
Let’s wait and see.
RichardL says
the road to hell is paved with good intentions…
Charlie in NY says
Sistani’s comment about the rights of Christians that should be protected was truncated in the article you quote. He specifically referred to their rights under the Iraq Constitution which, as it references Sharia as the only relevant standard, in fact locks that community into a second class position within society. And why not, doesn’t that express precisely Allah’s wishes for a well ordered and appropriately submissive humanity?
somehistory says
since their “law” there is the demonic lawlessness of islam, Christians will never be protected from the violence their filthy book commands, never to be safe from rape and murder by mo slums who worship satan. Violence for islam is demanded, and it will be obeyed.
gravenimage says
Yes–“proctection” under Islam means persecution and threat.
owensgate says
There is no TRUTH in an amalgam of “religions”, nor is there hope of Salvation. This pope is busy doing the work of his father, Satan. Catholics, get out of it ASAP. Jesus Christ is the ONLY hope of salvation. This is “End Times” prophecy being fulfilled in real time, the “One World Religion” to operate concurrently with the One World Government, ALSO being forced on us; that’s what the “UN” is all about. That’s what “Covid” is all about. That’s what “masks” are all about. Obedience to what the Globalists want. No thank you, I’ll have no part of it.
Ecosse1314 says
OK if you say so.
Politicallyincorrectistruth says
The popes father was Mario Bergoglio and he was an accountant….not “Satan”.
gravenimage says
+1
citoyen says
An accountant?
Coincidently I was just wondering how many millions/billions of dollars did they have to give to the Ayatollah and his people to accept the visit of the fat infidel Pope? How, apart from money, is the visit of any advantage to the Ayatollah?
“OK, five billion And for alcohol -only Drambhui, that Scotch with the honey taste sweeter than any woman. 100 cases, which should last me until I get to “Paradise” (as the dim-witted jihadists call it) where there is nothing but Qatar recycled water and heaped mounds of used virgins.
Disgusting.
gravenimage says
I think having Infidel leaders visit him gives him more global legitimacy–or at least the appearance of legitimacy.
somehistory says
The Pharisees had human “fathers” also, but Jesus Christ said to them, “You are from your ***father*** the devil (a.k.s. satan) and you wish to do the desires of your father.”
Jesus may say something similar…or even the exact words… to the ‘pope.’
A “spiritual” father is of more importance than a physical one in situations such as this.
The pope is not looking to God for what to say and what to do and with whom to have a close friendship. Clearly, the pope is much like the ancient pharisees.
For one more thought on this, read the words of the Apostle John who described the “children of the devil” and what is the “evidence” of this “parentage.”
1 John 3″10
Infidel says
A more asymmetrical meeting can hardly be imagined. While the Pope is the leader of half the world’s Christians (~ 1 billion), the Ayatollah is the leader of just 20 million muslims in one country – Iraq. Even shi’a in Bahrein or Azerbaijan don’t owe any allegiance to him, much less those in Iran. What makes the Pope think that his meeting w/ the Ayatollah will matter to the average muslim sitting in Mecca, Cairo, Benghazi, Ankara, Buqhara, Kabul, Islamabad or Dhaka?
Ronald Barnett says
Reference was made above to the two religions that share a somewhat similar tradition regarding the birth of Abraham in Ur: the Judeo-Christian version of Abraham and Isaac and the Muslim one of Abraham and Ishmael. Will someone please explain to me the meaning of the common phrase: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the three great monotheistic religions”, when Islam obviously “borrowed” this and other accounts of the Biblical prophets from the Jewish Torah and the Christian Injeel or Gospels. How is this part of Islamic tradition? Islam came into existence centuries after Judaism and Christianity which have a strong historical connection. But where does Islam fit into this narrative? Am I missing something here?
Patriotliz says
Islam plagiarized Judeo-Christian theology then perverted it to fit into the Arabic tribal culture of imperialistic conquest. Then they set out to destroy Judaism and Christianity and any other infidel. I think Satan must have had a hand in the invention of this farce of a “religion.” Originally Muhammad feared his visitations were the jinn (demon) and was ready to commit suicide…but then his wife at the time convinced him that he was being visited by the Angel Gabriel. Thus a demonic “religion” was invented and became the scourge of mankind.
citoyen says
But “God is not great”.
“Great” used in your comment could just mean “big” but with such a stealth word people assume that these religions must be wonderful.
The Romans referred to Great Britain as Britannia Magna (I think, or Magnus; my Latin is not great) because Ireland (?) was Britannia Minor. Same thing with Majorca and Minorca. This is good news because we can tell all those people who want to pull down statues that it’s all a misunderstanding because Britain is not great. Yay.
But Islam is not great; it’s just big and dirty.
Christianity is not great for women (just as with Islam),
The only great thing about Judaism is that it has produced so many
Nobel Prize winners which really gets up the noses of the muslims.
Jim says
The pope reminds me of the minister in War of the Worlds who tried to reason with the invaders from Mars. But as they had no compassion, they simply vaporized the poor man. His good intentions were not reciprocated. The same with the pope. He has a certain mentality shaped by faith. Religion expects its adherents to accept the truth of faith before any sort of realistic view of the world such as a realistic political scientist might have.
Martin says
Sistani looks so happy …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GofRcYu-Hpw
tim gallagher says
I believe that the Pope, and any Christian church leader, should be calling out Islam as the evil ideology that it is. To my mind, this attempt to be nice to islam, (maybe the idea is that, by some miracle Islam will somehow become a pleasant and non-violent ideology if the Pope treats Islam pleasantly) is just as stupid as someone being nice to Nazism, that other vile ideology.
gravenimage says
Agree, Tim.
john smith says
Thats exactly what they should be doing Tim, “calling out islam as the evil ideology it is.” The trouble is the vast majority of people have absolutely no idea at all to how truly evil islam really is. And they will remain this way until people like Pope, our political elites, and the MSM, start telling the truth.
tim gallagher says
Thanks for the comments, gravenimage and John. I believe that possibly the most important job (or vocation, since I am someone who was brought up as a Catholic) of church leaders is to fearlessly call out evil. To my mind, Islam is obviously evil and barbaric in so many different ways, so there is no excuse for the way this Pope keeps giving Islam such pleasant treatment. As you say, John, if people like the Pope and other members of the elites get the truth about islam out there, then it might wake up some of the average, often clueless, people. The Pope has plenty of people who work for him and who could do some research on Islam’s nature and let him know what Islam is all about. There’s no excuse for his giving Islam such an easy time. I keep thinking that he must have some idea that, if he is nice to islam, islam will miraculously become a less disgusting and evil ideology, but that’ll never happen.
gravenimage says
Pope Meets Ayatollah Al-Sistani In Iraq: Interfaith Outreach, Heavyweight Division
………………
More suicidal insanity from this pontiff…
Oren says
It is amazing to me that the Iranians did not take the opportunity to attack the pope. Could this be A sign from him that he is master of both the brics and nato? That none dare attack him? That he can go visit one shitte over another, establishing the supremacy of the one he visited, because the Ayatola, who fled to France when he was in danger, did not show his contestation by attacking one of the popes troops, or at least one of the shittes troops in the city that the meeting was supposed to occur?
Clearly the imam in Iraq is still exposed to Iranian forces, but I think if they backed down then they are agreeing to whatever program is being demanded by the pope, or the communists who are pressuring him. I suppose that program could be regime change in iran. I doubt the pope could visit iran and declare A new period of peace, that will make the Israelis back down. The international community would say that the pope is being used by the Ayatolas. If iran was to rejoin the JCPOA, that might make Israel less popular in taking matters into their own hands, but enough of us remember article after article describing how iran was violating the conditions of the agreement, which resulted in no action. They will not return to compliance, and even if the world media declared that they did, I would back the Israelis if they attacked iran, figuring they were lying. Perhaps they could join the nuclear non proliferation treaty, but with claims of wiping out the Jewish entity it would take A tremendous amount of statements by Iranian, Israeli and other officials to believe that we have actually changed course. I don’t expect that to be what happens.
If peace with iran is not the objective, then the only other question is will the Israelis and the gulf nations attack Iranian facilities on their own, or will America lead that initiative? Is it reasonable to conclude that if Israel leads the attack, criticism of Jews will be much greater than if America leads the attack? Seems reasonable. Does the pope and the gentiles prefer that not be the case? Yes. But they would probably have preferred that Israel live with threat of nuclear annihilation. To weaken their resolve to support Israel. I suppose that means that whatever criteria Israel needed to pass in order to support attacking iran has been achieved. That doesn’t strike me as A difficult question, but ok.
Good article, it’s a pleasure to read the conclusion that hostility towards Jews, Christians, disbelievers and non muslims is A major and clear edict of the koran. A conclusion impermissible in most of the western media. Probably not in the Chinese media though.
Regardless if arab muslim terrorism, discrimination and violence comes from the koran or from biological factors, we know that one day this hostility shall end being A source of instability in the world. The idea that biology is the source of arab muslim behavior is exaggerated, and I believe used by champions of chaos and division. Look at how different the behavior of southern Europeans, middle easterners, and north African Christians versus muslims. The gap is considerable. Our task is to shine A light on these fears and show that clearly A better way is possible.
As for the pope, I suspect his motives are much less inclined towards the betterment of human kind. He willfully ignores the suffering caused by muslims to his own supposed Christian people, because doing so helps the cause of the Jews who are also suffering and oppressed by the muslim supremacist ideology.
He is A promoter of suffering and oppression of every sort for every reason. The evil of the people justifies them being ruled by evil people. Evil people assume their leaders are evil, good people demand that evil leaders be overthrown, and good leaders be installed. Multiculturalism is perpetual oppression by A people whose standard of living is dependent on the people they are taking advantage of. If the Jews of Israel began discussing how many times they have been expelled by the muslims, how many times they formed multicultural communities with the muslims which were based on superior rights for muslims and inferior rights for Jews, for no other reason than the muslims had the upper hand of violence, the Jewish people would desire to end this newest modern attempt at coexistence.
Jews would not feel bad about expelling the muslims anyways. Add to that the intentional and malicious coverup of the billionaire controlled west, which censors the mass expulsion of two million Jews, that went on for decades, ending mostly in the 1960’s, and I doubt the Jews of Israel will feel any shame when the americans and the Europeans accuse them of racism. They will not hear about their media covering up multiple genocides, because it harms the leftist system of government that the billionaires use to draw attention away from themselves. Millions of non muslims and black muslims suffer discrimination and oppression at the hands of muslims, and the billionaires who own the American and European media are primarily responsible for covering it all up. They use the left as their cover, but in no way do they represent anywhere near A majority of leftist public opinion, in America or Europe.
The billionaires are illegitimate, and they are willing to harm as many people as they need to in order to protect themselves. The pope is championing A return to lies, by backing one Shite leader over the other, over an iran that is openly stating their intentions. It would seem that he is blessing the removal of the blatant Ayatola, signifying the end of the time of open declarations of Jew hatred. Regardless if America agrees to take the initiative or not, Israels position should be strengthened by this symbolic rejection of the eastern Ayatola. I think Americas controllers will be more than willing to make the commission, but I question if they will share it with the American people. In G-d I trust.
gravenimage says
What gives you the idea that the Pope is demanding regime change in Iran? That seems *very* unlikely.
And then, the Israelis are not expelling Muslims. Citations?
william carr says
If Sistani thinks semen and blood is unclean he must think the whole human race, including Moose Limbs is unclean, as semen and also blood is the source and essence of life. He must also think pregnancy and birth is unclean. in fact I am surprised he left out women from his list.
Goofy says
Those guards brandishing their swords look so tempted to use them to chop of the pope’s head! I am sure that they were richly rewarded for passing on that opportunity.