Through Force or Faith? — Page 83
Chapter 1 — Analysis of the Papal Lecture 83 has made some observations which show that even the Pope’s knowledge about Islam is extremely limited. Nature of the Pope’s Objections against Islam In his lecture, the Pope has raised objections in two ways. One is that he has raised objections indirectly, by referring to Manuel, Khoury and Arnaldez, by saying that it is not him but others have said so. Some objections he has made directly. The details of the latter category of objections are as follows: 1. He has translated jihad as ‘Holy War’ and has pre- sented the two words as interchangeable. 2. While quoting the verse, ِ َ إِكْرَاه َ فِي الدِّين ل , that, ‘There should be no compulsion in religion’ ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:257), he has tried to create the impres- sion that the Holy Prophet s as taught peace when he was in a state of weakness (God forbid) and later on enjoined war. 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. The above-mentioned four objections are made by the Pope