Fourth is the whopper that Islam spread peacefully from Arabia, as if the followers of Muhammad went door-to-door ringing doorbells and handing out brochures. Are you a true Bible scholar who can pick out the correct book? In this school, God creates individual Self (Atman), but the individual Self never was and never will become one with God; the best it can do is to experience bliss by getting infinitely close to God. And despite the efforts of many Sunni and Shia clerics to reduce tensions through dialogue and counterviolence measures, many experts express concern that Islam’s divide will lead to escalating violence and a growing threat to international peace and security. In this view Bin Ladin, the ayatollahs in Iran, the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the Saudis with their Wahhabism (a particularly puritanical brand of Sunni Islam)-all are twisting a “moderate” religion to suit their purpose. Bukhari lived in the 9th century CE and was the most authoritative compiler of sayings attributed to the prophet Muhammad; he mentions jihad many times as meaning “holy war.” Jihad as “Muslim piety” is mainly the province of the Sufis, the mystics of Islam, and has become a minority view today.

UBL essentializes it as jihad. ” brigade essentializes Islam as peaceful. ” Poverty may be necessary, but it is hardly sufficient, to explain Islamic terrorism. Another fairy tale about Islam is that poverty produces terrorists. And finally, we have politically-correct mendacity number seven, which even British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently repeated: that Islam has been “hijacked” by terrorists. And finally, his buildings incorporated flat roofs that could accommodate gardens. In a statement read out by a senior Vatican official, the Pope said he respected Islam and hoped Muslims would understand the true sense of his words. But Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said the statement did not go far enough and called on the pontiff to apologise in person. Security at the Vatican is being stepped up, although the pontiff remains closeted with his closest advisers at his summer villa at Castelgandolfo near Rome. And besides: why are the Crusades being constantly used as a club with which to beat the West-remember the scathing attacks on President Bush when, not long after 9/11, he referred to a “crusade” against terrorism? And Muslim armies would stay on the offensive for the next millennium, with only two exceptions: the “Reconquista” in Iberia and the Crusades.

The only good ruler is a Muslim ruler, asserted Ibn Taymiyah. The Book of Job: When we’re first introduced to Job, we see a good man who’s blessed with prosperity. Actually, the Crusades, 1095-1291, were simply the first time that European Christians managed to take the fight to their enemy’s territory. Muslim Arab armies destroyed the entire Persian Empire (modern Iran), replacing its official Zoroastrian religion; about the same time they invaded the surviving Christian Roman (Byzantine) Empire and within a few decades had taken half its territory. But early on in Islamic history, jihad came to mean fighting against unbelievers in order to expand the territory under Muslim rule. But just as some Christians take literally, for example, the command of to Christ handle poisonous snakes (Luke 10:19), some Muslims take literally the injunction to behead unbelievers. For example, on many understandings of politics, one of the purposes of the polis is to ensure that citizens have the resources necessary for living a choiceworthy, flourishing life. The BBC’s David Willey in Rome says Pope Benedict, a theologian who has led a sheltered life in the Vatican for more than two decades, may not have understood the potential implications of his remarks.

My explanation of fatwas is based on expertise developed over several years of researching the writings of a Pakistani Muslim theologian and on my collaborative academic work with scholars of Islamic jurisprudence. Second, despite the claims of even President Bush in a number of public statements, Islam is not solely a “religion of peace.” Yes, there are verses of toleration in the Qur’an: Sura(chapter) al-Baqarah:256 says “there shall be no compulsion in religion;” Sura al-Furqan:65ff says that Allah will be merciful to those who repent and do good works; and Sura al-Nisa’:19ff enjoins Muslim men to provide financially for wives and ex-wives. Currently there are 2 billion Christians and 1.3 billion Muslims (out of a world population of 6 billion), and in the 21st century Christianity will maintain its lead, thanks to explosive growth in sub-Saharan Africa and China. There will still be concerns about whether to go ahead with the Pope’s planned visit to Turkey in November, our correspondent says. Reading the statement, new Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said the Pope’s position on Islam was in line with Vatican teaching that the Church “esteems Muslims, who adore the only God”.