The Papst* and the Furious

The entire Muslim world is outraged while non Muslims are failing to comprehend the cause for this fury. Again - knowledge as well as the will to respect and understand each other's sentiments and opinions is lacking causing yet another chapter of the - if you believe the prophets of the apocalyppse - upcoming clash of civilisations.

After having read Pope Benedict XVI speech at the University of Regensburg (English / German) two things become clear:

1.) The quote the Pope used and which has now become the center of attention does not in any way represent the opinion of Benedict XVI, but was part of a dialogue between the Bycantic emperor Manuel II. and Persian scholar, during which the similarities and differences in the two monotheistic religions were discussed. The Pope used this dialogue as an introduction to the main topic of his speech: the relationship of the Christian belief and the concept of reason.

Having heard or read extracts and parts of the speech this important fact was missed out, making Muslims around the globe believe that the Pope has directly attacked Islam and the Prophet. Under this pretext democratic peaceful as well as absolutely unacceptable violent demonstrations have been initiated and - to an extent - also misused to launch another campaign against the West.

2.) While the controversial quote is not really so controversial, it is rather the context in which Pope Benedict XVI uses it, which makes his statements objectionable to Muslims:

After explaining that the concept of Allah in Islam is not bound to anything (i. e. also not to reason) he continues with the rhetoric question "Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true?" indirectly implying that the Christian-Greek concept of a "reasonable God" is always true.

For many non Muslims this might not an issue, because acting unreasonably by definition HAS to contradict God's nature, since God cannot be unreasonable. In Islam, however, Allah is not limited to any human definitions and concepts, therefore the concept of reason (which is doubtlessly a human concept) does not necessarily apply to Him. Man is not omniscient nor far from fail, thus man's "Logos" (reason) cannot be the guiding principle of Allah either. Therefore, in Islam, Allah can indeed be considered "unreasonable".

By implying the Christian logic into the rhetoric question above, Benedict XVI is indirectly discriminating other beliefs that do not accept the Christian principle of a reasonable God.

Considering the heated-up world we are living in, I would have expected some Muslims to be more "reasonable" in their form of protests and the Pope to be much wiser in his choice of words ...

May the Force be with you ... says

Memonji

*Papst = German for "Pope"