Through Force or Faith? — Page 88
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 88 There is perfect concordance between the belief that God does not act contrary to rationality and the belief in God that is based on the Bible. In other words, it is being deduced that the teachings of Christianity are exactly according to rationality and those of Islam are just the opposite. It is quite obvious from it that the Pope has intentionally criticized Islam in his lecture and has sought support for it by quoting others. Dialogue with Two Medieval Christian Rulers The Pope began his speech with the dialogue of Manuel, who was the emperor of a declining kingdom which was in a losing battle with Muslims, whereas there have been other Christian emperors preceding him whose dialogues about Islamic teachings and the founder of Islam are preserved in history. Many such Christian emperors were a thousand-fold greater in their might and the expanse of their domain such as Heraclius, Kaiser of Rome, and Negus of Abyssinia. If emperors are to be quoted, to begin the discussion, one should start with these emperors. It is recorded in history that after the Truce of Hudaibiyyah, when the Holy Prophet Muhammad s as wrote letters to differ- ent kings, he wrote one to Heraclius too. The emperor of the Byzantine Empire (575–641) was on his way to Jerusalem to fulfil a vow. He received the letter of the Holy Prophet Muhammad s as at Jerusalem. At that time, an arch-enemy of Muslims and the chief