Monday, April 04, 2005

Islamic Website Comments on Pope's Death

Here is what an Islamic website says about the death of Pope John Paul II (hat tip: Free Thoughts):

What to say about a human being who possibly misled more other humans than any of his contemporaries? A taghut who promoted the worst sin, declared what is lawful as unlawful and what is unlawful as lawful, while people followed him? Should one weep for him? Indeed.

Muslims ought to recognize the enormity of the crime of disbelief and attributing a son to Allah the Most High.
In case you are wondering what "taghut" means, check here. This about a man who reached out to Islam.

Such nice people. Meanwhile not all in the Arab world refer to the "Christian Monk" in such terms.

Both Al-Jazeera and Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya transmitted live from the Vatican over the past few days, with blow-by-blow accounts from their correspondents at the Vatican, in Rome and at holy sites in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The two stations, along with many others throughout the Arab world, aired several documentaries about John Paul II and his various appeals for peace and dialogue between all faiths and civilizations.

They also highlighted images of the pope during his historic visit to the Palestinian territories and Israel in March 2000 when he was warmly welcomed at the Palestinian refugee camp of Dheishe, near Jesus's traditional birthplace of Bethlehem in the West Bank.

Finally, here is a comment by Charles Krauthammer on Townhall on the contrast between the "faith" of the Islamofascists and that of John Paul:

Under the benign and deeply humane vision of this pope, the power of faith led to the liberation of half a continent. Under the barbaric and nihilistic vision of Islam's jihadists, the power of faith has produced terror and chaos. That contrast alone, which has dawned upon us unmistakably ever since 9/11, should be reason enough to be grateful for John Paul II. But we mourn him for more than that. We mourn him for restoring strength to the Western idea of the free human spirit at a moment of deepest doubt and despair. And for seeing us through to today's great moment of possibility for both faith and freedom.


That about sums up a major conflict in our world today: faith and freedom that promotes the human spirit versus faith that glorifies hatred and death and seeks to enslave.

No comments: