Riyadh, 20 March (AKI) – No churches
should be permitted in Saudi Arabia, unless Pope Benedict XVI
recognised the prophet Mohammed, according to a Middle East expert.
While Saudi mediators are working with the Vatican on negotiations to
allow places of religious worship, some experts believe it will not
occur without this recognition.
Anwar Ashiqi, president of the Saudi centre for Middle East strategic
studies, endorsed this view in an interview on the site of Arab
satellite TV network, al-Arabiya on Thursday.
“I haven taken part in several meetings related to Islamic-Christian
dialogue and there have been negotiations on this issue,” he said.
“It would be possible to launch official negotiations to construct a
church in Saudi Arabia only after the Pope and all the Christian
churches recognise the prophet Mohammed.”
“If they don’t recognise him as a prophet, how can we have a church in
the Saudi kingdom?”
Well we can meet them half way since we
already recognize Mohammed as a prophet, a false prophet that is.
17 comments
It’s nice to see them reaching out in a spirit of dialogue.
Hmmmm…
If the Pope of Rome recognized Muhammet as a prophet… They he could build mosques there?
Gee, if the Mohammetans of Italy recognize Jesus as God, we will let them build churches!
The amount of tolerance and freedom in Saudi Arabia = ZERO.
I think there’s a church in Italy that has artwork of Mohammed burning in Hell. Does that count?
It seems to me that there is a striking resemblance to the view that Christianity only has a place at the table of intellectual discussion if it accepts that all other ideas are of equal value. It is tolerance with preconditions. Fortunately, God’s love and mercy is not similarly quid pro quo.
Actually, God’s love has conditions too – we must desire it in order to receive it. Lacking this desire we can only reject it, as God does not impose his love but propose it.
With all due respect, it cannot be true that God’s love comes with conditions.
Whether or not one wants it or asks for it or accepts it, God’s love is present- an unearned and unyielding free gift.
G-Veg,
God respects His gift of free will to us. While His love will always be present and available, we can still reject it.
Mr. Flapatrap,
We are probably have a disagreement about the definition, rather than the concept, of God’s love.
To me, God’s “love” is that force which is always present and always offered, no matter what we do. Judas and Hitler were “loved” by God, even though they appear to have entirely rejected His love. Arguably, the greatest sin is the arrogant belief that one is so awful that God CANNOT love us. It may be this sin that both of their suicides points to.
However, God’s love, present and unyielding, can, and often is, set aside by our arrogance and rebellious nature. I am a deeply flawed man- utterly undeserving of the love and blessings that have been bestowed on me. There is nothing that I can do to earn the love that continually refreshes me, but I am, on occasion, grateful.
In a strange way, my flawed nature is a Blessing.
Along the same lines of Muslim coercion, the latest Bin Laden tape regarding the Pope and crusade and cartoons etc….says of the next attack that we will see it first rather than hear it…as to their mode of the next attack. I can think of blimps, people strapped with bombs, or gliders with explosives or a sailboat packed with same….all of which make no noise as they approach and the blimp would fit with the scale they need to approach the spectacular nature of the Twin Towers. Remember the spectacular fire that accompanied the Hindenburg accident which one can find at youtube. Pray that they have a snafu right in the middle of such an attack whatever may be the nature of it.
I can tell you that here at the NY harbor, we see commercial advertising blimps alot during the warm months and they are not prevented from being in the area like large planes are.
“only after the Pope and ALL the Christian churches recognise the prophet Mohammed”
This shows how obvious it is that they have NO intention of allowing a church in Saudi Arabia, even if the Pope said he recognizes Mohammed- we would have to get every Bible Church preacher in the world to say it too. Automatic backout clause. This is just a stunt to get the Pope to take the bait. He is smarter than that!
Hahaha! This is something I would have expected to read in a satire by Chesterton.
The Church can build churches in Saudi Arabia if She first apostasizes and accepts Islam. Then for accuracy’s sake, those churches will be called mosques.
Absurd.
I hate to say it but is this that much different than kissing the Qu’ran? Is that not implicit acceptance of Muhammed as a prophet?
Of course, I don’t think John Paul II actually thought Muhammed was a prophet, and I’m quite certain Benedict XVI does not, but from a Muslim perspective, this seems to be the next logical step.
Hey Mohammed, meet Mr. Joseph Smith. You both have something in common: historical revisionism. What’s that? – your offended? You’ve issued a fatwa because you’re not prepared to face reasonable criticism? What a shame. That seems like the action of a bully. When you’re ready to forego the drama for dialogue, drop us a line. Oh, and in case your wondering where Mr. Smith has gone, Joe is having your dead relatives baptized as we speak. Wait, come back.. I was only kidding. Sheesh, some guys just can’t take a joke.
But we do recognize him as a FALSE PROPHET! There won’t be Churches in Saudi Arabia anytime soon.
Whoever put this demand in any negotiations with the Church obviously does not know the least thing about either theology or history. The revelation ended with the death of the last of the Apostles. So, what should the Pope recognize Muahmmad as a prophet for? Well, until the Holy See decides for guood we can speculate: Muhammad’s teaching could be “recognized” as a private revelation (I speak German – in German it is Privatoffenbarung), similar to, e.g., Lourdes or Fatima. A private revelation is not mandatory; you may believe in it, but it is not compulsory to do so. Or maybe Muhammad could be proclaimed as a person helping the Unity of the Church, since during the wars against the Turks, the Austrian and Hungarian armies received help from all over Christendom … Somehow I doubt that this is what the Saudi negotiators want to get.
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