Through Force or Faith? — Page 86
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 86 Objections against Islam in the Pope’s Lecture The objections that the Pope made directly: 1. He has translated jihad as ‘Holy War’ and has presented the two words, jihad and Holy War, as interchangeable. 2. While quoting the verse ِ َ إِكْرَاه َ فِي الدِّين ل , ‘There should be no compulsion in religion’ ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:257), he has tried to create the impression that the teachings of peace was offered when the Holy Prophet s as was in a state of weakness, that is, dur- ing his Meccan life period before migration to Madinah, and later on, when he gained power, that is, after migration to Madinah, he enjoined war. (God forbid) 3. He objected that the Holy Quran does contain injunctions with reference to the ‘Holy War. ’ 4. He objected that the Holy Quran sanctions dif- ferential treatment of the People of the Book and Infidels. That is, the treatment of the People of the Book is different from the treatments of the infidels. Then the following objections have been made in the words of the Kaiser: 5. ‘Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman’. (God forbid)