PARIS/CAIRO — The Vatican's high-profiled, headline-grabbing baptism of a Muslim-born convert earlier this week has raised eyebrows not only among Muslims but Catholics as well.
"I don't understand why he wasn't baptized in his hometown by his local bishop," Christophe Roucou, the French Catholic Church's top official for relations with Islam, told Reuters.
Pope Benedict XVI baptized Egyptian-born Magdi Allam, an vicious critic of Islam and defender of Israel, Saturday at a Vatican Easter service.
Vatican Television zoomed in on Allam, who sat in the front row of the basilica, before he received his first Communion.
As a choir sang, the pontiff poured holy water over Allam's head and said a brief prayer in Latin.
His conversion to Christianity was a well-kept secret, disclosed by the Vatican less than an hour before the Easter eve service started.
The picture and high-profile baptism made international headlines.
Muslim intellectuals were angered, not by the conversion, but the way it was handled by the Vatican.
"The whole spectacle…provokes genuine questions about the motives, intentions and plans of some of the pope's advisers on Islam," Aref Ali Nayed, the director of Jordan's the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center, said in a statement.
He regretted that the Vatican had turned the baptism into "a triumphalist tool for scoring points."
Islam Criticism
Nayed, one of 138 Muslim scholars who last October issued an unprecedented appeal for a serious interfaith dialogue with Christians, asked the Vatican to distance itself from Allam's searing attack on Islam.
"[It is] sad that the particular person chosen for such a highly public gesture has a history of generating, and continues to generate, hateful discourse."
Allam has been a fierce critic of Islam.
"Beyond…the phenomenon of extremists and Islamist terrorism at the global level, the root of evil is inherent to a physiologically violent and historically conflictual Islam," he wrote in his della Sera daily hours after his baptism.
The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat and the South Asian Council for Minorities also criticized the Vatican handling.
They dismissed the high-profile baptism as "patronization of Allam’s views on Islam by the Vatican."
"The incident provokes genuine questions about the motives behind this high-profile ceremony and the future plans of the Vatican vis-a-vis other faiths," they said in a joint statement mailed to IslamOnline.net.
They said this negates Vatican’s recent announcement that it sincerely wishes to engage Muslims in dialogue, expecting it to hinder the peaceful co-existence and meaningful interfaith dialogue.
Trend
Mahmoud Belhimer, deputy editor of Algeria's popular El Khabar newspaper, said Allam's conversion "could have been normal if he had not made anti-Islamic comments."
Mohamed Yatim, commentator for the Moroccan daily Attajdid, said the move is a part of a growing anti-Islam trend in the West.
"[This is] a new provocation for the Islamic world and part of a trend that has intensified in recent years with the caricatures of the Prophet."
Denmark's main dailies reprinted on February 13, a drawing of a man described as the prophet with a ticking bomb in his turban.
This has reignited a controversy that first surfaced in 2005 after the mass-circulation Jyllands-Posten commissioned and printed 12 cartoons of the prophet, sending thousands of protesting Muslims into the streets across the world.
Pope Benedict himself angered Muslims in 2006 after delivering a lecture in which he cited criticism of Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) by an ancient Roman emperor.
"Nevertheless, we will not let this unfortunate episode distract us from our work on pursuing 'A Common Word' for the sake of humanity and world peace," said Nayed, the Muslim scholar.
"Our basis for dialogue is not a tit-for-tat logic of reciprocity."
I don't think pope did the right thing, but I don't think criticism coming from muslims is entirely justified. After all, muslims too tend to be vocal about the numerous converts from Christianity to Islam, many of whom happen to be critical of their former faith.
Last edited by Whatsthepoint; 03-26-2008 at 06:50 PM.
I think that pope is a wise man and he just showed something that many knows but they are afraid to admit - that the only way to save Europe from Islam's conquest is christianity.
This country is dying because of a lack of men, not a lack of programs.
And who is going to save Europe from Christianity...? :X
Probably atheism or agnoticism.
Whatever, who is this guy again? Someone who'll change the world? A genius, like Einstein? No? Another Islam-hater? Oooh... like whatever.
The Pope can criticize all what he wants, it's not like we're unaware he's not fond of Islam nor that there are many people who dislike Islam in Europe. So long there are practicing Muslims, they will keep coming and keep coming.
Maybe we should take some quite famous figure and show his/her revertion to the whole world, lights and stuff and then a big poster saying 'Beat this, Ben!' ? Why don't we do that?
To be honest I awaited something like this to happen. Not like I'm against interfaith dialogues, on the contrary, but history repeats itself. Muslims and Chatolics, mmm, never a good combination as a whole. Individuals might find peace, but big crowds? I'm skeptical.
I also saw it on TV by coincidence, and I also don't get this show off of this baptismal. I would nearby say, it was a provocation towards muslims.
But on other side, muslims easily get irritated and it seems, they took the bait.
He' s just one among thousands who leave Islam everyday, same as thousands join Islam everyday.
Peace
Im Always Right,Its Like,When Im Right,Im Right,And When Im Wrong,I Could've Been Right,So Im Still Right,'Cause I Could've Been Wrong!
Islam's goal is to conquer and colonize Europe. Muslims are trying to do this since the beginning of their religion (few years after Muhammed's death muslims attacked southern Italy). But always there were great christian heroes who managed to stop them, for example Charles Martel, Pelayo, or Jan III Sobieski. As one sheik said in Germany few years ago-"We conquered Constantinople and we will conquer Rome as well". Nowadays there are just a few brave men who realize this and even less those who try to do something about this.
This country is dying because of a lack of men, not a lack of programs.
Conquer Europe, eh? With what army? Muslims are having enough trouble holding on to the land that already belong to them, let alone worrying about 'conquering' Europe.
Conquer Europe, eh? With what army? Muslims are having enough trouble holding on to the land that already belong to them, let alone worrying about 'conquering' Europe.
War is not the only way to conquer a land, it usually proves to be one of the less successful ways to do it. Emmigration and children are much more effective and muslims seem to have the lead in both. I'm not sure as to whether all this is intentional, I don't think it is.
Isn't there an ayat or a hadith that says Rome will be conquered by peaceful means?
Last edited by Whatsthepoint; 03-27-2008 at 02:42 PM.
War is not the only way to conquer a land, it usually proves to be one of the less successful ways to do it. Emmigration and children are much more effective and muslims seem to have the lead in both. I'm not sure as to whether all this is intentional, I don't think it is.
Isn't there an ayat or a hadith that says Rome will be conquered by peaceful means?
i see no reason why not, africa/india etc were conquered by no force, people chose to embrace islaam themselves.
Emmigration and children are much more effective and muslims seem to have the lead in both. I'm not sure as to whether all this is intentional, I don't think it is.
Perhaps it's Allah's intention.
"I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge."
War is not the only way to conquer a land, it usually proves to be one of the less successful ways to do it. Emmigration and children are much more effective and muslims seem to have the lead in both. I'm not sure as to whether all this is intentional, I don't think it is.
Isn't there an ayat or a hadith that says Rome will be conquered by peaceful means?
Mu’adh, the son of Jabal said,
“The Prophet Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wa Sallam said, ‘The building of Bayt al-Maqdis (al-Aqsa in Jerusalem) will be followed by the destruction of Yathrib (Madinah), which will be followed by a fierce battle (great war), which will be followed by the conquest of Rome, which will be followed by the appearance of the Dajjal.’"
Narrated Mu'adh ibn Jabal:
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The flourishing state of Jerusalem will be when Yathrib is in ruins, the ruined state of Yathrib will be when the great war comes, the outbreak of the great war (i.e., the battle of Armageddon) will be at the conquest of Constantinople and the conquest of Constantinople when the Dajjal comes forth." He (the Prophet) struck his thigh or his shoulder with his hand and said: "This is as true as you are here or as you are sitting (meaning Mu'adh ibn Jabal)".
Note: Some believe that the city of Constantinople, in these narrations, is actually referring to the city of Rome as it's descriptions and other narrations indicate, that before the Dajjal's appearance, the city of Rome would be conquered. However, it can also be said (and this is probably more correct) that Constantinople would be conquered for a second time, because the Romans would've gained control of it from the Muslims. So it would in fact be that there would be a second conquest of Constantinople, immediately followed by the conquest of Rome.
i see no reason why not, africa/india etc were conquered by no force, people chose to embrace islaam themselves.
so why not rome eh
A lot of people(s) chose Islam in order to gain certain political and economical rights, others, anmely tribal peoples from Africa and Asia converted bcause muslim tarders and conquerers had shiny agdgets and nice clothes... and some accepted it because they felt it was the truth. I have no idea what was the most common type for conversion, nor is it important actually, as it is off topic.
Well, yeah, Europeans may accept Islam as well, however I think it will take longer than it did in India and Africa, seeing that our society vastly differs from the afore mentioned.
If it should ever happen, it will happen through immigrantion and birth rates.
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