Through Force or Faith? — Page 237
Chapter 6 Islam: Knowledge, Wisdom, and Rationality Dr. ‘Abdur-Ra h m a n Bhutta Referring to Emperor Manuel’s assertion in his lecture, the Pope created the false impression that Islam teaches to enforce its faith through coercion and violence; and to make his point, he bor- rowed the following statement of the Emperor: …Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats… To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threat- ening a person with death… Thus, the Pope gave the impression that the religion of Islam uses coercion and oppression to spread its beliefs instead of using rea- soning and rationality. This notion is absolutely incorrect, baseless and contrary to facts. The amount of emphasis the Quran puts on freedom of conscience and logical reasoning is unparalleled in any other religious scripture. Study of the Quran makes it abundantly clear that Islam upholds freedom of conscience. As far as Emperor