Abu Hamza wrote:
Instead of speaking from actual teachings from the Qur'an, the Pope
chose to quote from a 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel
Paleologos II - an Emperor who lived in the time of the final
crusades and during the end of the 2,200 year-old Eastern Roman empire.
Ironically, this Emperor comments about a supposed "command" from
Muhammad to spread Islam by the sword, while being himself embroiled in
many wars even against family members and also against Muslims.

The Pope even goes so far to repeatedly during his speech refer to this
Emperor favorably as being erudite or scholarly. What is that telling
us about the Pope if he thinks that way about an Emperor who makes
false unsubstantiated claims about Islam? A fair question to ask is:
why choose a remnant from the crusades to quote from and not the
Qur'an, if indeed Islam endorses terrorism and violence? His
Holiness, if you wanted to make a point to condemn attempts to
"convince reasonable souls" using violence, threats, weapons, etc.
as a means to bring them to faith, there is much in the rich history of
Christianity to point to. There is even the recent example of the
Christian nation America doing just that to bring Iraqi souls to have
faith in "democracy". Why pick the Islamic religion and bring in
words from a 14th century remnant of the crusades? This in no way
reflects the example of unity and understanding amongst religions as
pointed out by Imam Warith Deen Mohammed in the messages brought to the
world by Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

His Holiness, if Islam teaches that God is transcendent above reason,
it does not negate any of the wonderful qualities of the Supreme Being
such as Most Generous, Most Beneficent, Most Loving, All Knowing, etc.
Nor does it mean that reason should be abandoned and negated in God's
universe. It is just stating that the Being who created us all has no
limitations, no defects, no weaknesses and cannot be limited by
anything in creation. Especially for human beings Islam teaches that
true spiritual development cannot be attained without true rational
development. Rational development is an intrinsic prerequisite to the
proper development of the human being. This rational development is
fueled by knowledge. Islam places great importance on knowledge to the
point where the ignorance of an ignorant man is considered to be worse
than the sins of a sinful man as captured by these words from the
Prophet of Islam:

The Prophet said: The ignorance of an ignorant man is more harmful than
the transgression of a sinner. On the Resurrection Day a man will be
raised to the rank of nearness to God in proportion to his intellect.
The Prophet said: Nobody earns a better thing than intellect. It shows
him the path towards guidance and saves him from destruction...When his
intellect becomes perfect he obeys God and disobeys his enemy the
Satan. The Prophet said: Have you not heard the words of the sinners in
Hell: "Had we heard and understood, we would not have been the
inmates of Hell." -al Ghazali, Ihya Ulum-Id-Din

So in Islam we do not believe in an existence for human beings absent
of reason.

I will list some accusations made against Islam (indeed there are many)
by leading Christians and Christian Zionists starting with the most
recent remarks from The Pope and then I will respond to them: 1.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will
find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the
sword the faith he preached'." Pope Benedict XVI quotes Christian
Emperor Manuel Pale

2. "Islam is simply "a religion of war." You may protest that your
Islamic neighbor down the street could not possibly be a threat. Free
Congress says you should bear in mind that "there are lax Islamics."
Or to put it another way, the peaceful individual Muslims are out of
step with their religion. They are outsiders looking in." Statement
by the Free Congress.

3. Franklin Graham, fundamentalist preacher son of Billy Graham,
pronounced on NBC Nightly News November 16, 2001: "The God of Islam is
not the same God. He's not the son of God of the Christian or
Judeo-Christian faith. It is a different God, and I believe it is a
very evil and wicked religion."

4. Pat Robertson, said on the "700 Club" television program on February
21, 2002 that "Islam is not a peaceful religion that wants to coexist.
They want to coexist until they can control, dominate and then, if need
be, destroy."

5. "Nobel literature prize winner Elias Cannetti has defined Islam as
"a religion of war - literally a killer belief." "Islam has made war
on Christendom and Christians since it first swept out of Arabia to
conquer much of the Christian Mediterranean world."

6. Ann Coulter boldly wrote that the US should conquer the entire
Muslim world and convert them to Christianity. She pronounced these
words of war and conquest with no criticism or outcry by "turn the
other cheek" Christians. In fact she is loved and encouraged by them.

7. Conservative Baptist Evangelist, Jerry Falwell, in an interview on
the CBS news program 60 Minutes (October 6, 2002) said," I think
Muhammad was a terrorist. I read enough of the history of his life
written by both Muslims and non-Muslims, (to know) that he was a - a
violent man, a man of war,"

Not to be outdone by the Christians and fueling the flames of hatred,
especially Muslim-Christian hatred have been leaders amongst the Jews.
Israel now enjoys major support and major endorsement by more than 30
million Christian Zionists and Evangelicals who believe that Islam is
their enemy and that they must support Israel against Muslims. In their
fundamentalist vision of the world, the Evangelicals see supporting
Israel, right or wrong, as the best way to fulfill -- and even speed up
-- the Bible's doomsday plan for the world. The founding of Israel in
1948 was the first step in the Biblically-mandated series of events
leading to Armageddon and the return of Jesus. They are preparing for a
period of extreme violence costing millions of lives including many
Jews. Those who remain will embrace Jesus as Savior.

The Israelis are enjoying this because despite the Christians claim to
a future beneficial outcome for Christians, the Israelis are reaping
the benefits TODAY of strong Christian support against their enemies.
They have even predicted a future Christian crusade against Muslims as
in the following statement:

Quote: "Within a few years a Christian crusade against Islam will be
launched, which will be the major event of this millennium..." Benny
Elon, Israeli Tourism Minister and high level envoy
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/05/29/d30529150280.htm

At the same time many in the leadership of Judaism don't see the
world of Christianity as a threat. They view the Christian world as a
civilization that has already been conquered with their only remaining
challenge being the Muslim world. This is reflected in the following
statement: "The Jews are not a nation, neither a religion," he
said. "They are a civilization, and they have their civilizing
mission. They cannot tolerate the competing civilization of Islam, as
they could not tolerate Christendom or Communism. That is why the war
with Islam is unavoidable." Yehuda Bauer, director of the Holocaust
Memorial Institute Yad va-Shem in Jerusalem
http://www.israelshamir.net/English/midasears.htm

The turmoil brought on by hatred and wars between Christians and
Muslims works well for these Jews. Without lifting a finger they
gleefully enjoy how the Christian Zionists are fighting Muslims for
them. Through the ownership of the world's media they also help in the
propaganda war against Islam by painting it to be a religion of
violence and terrorism. In response to these charges and which religion
is the religion of violence and war, I would like to mention that
"people who live in glass houses should never throw stones."

It was not Muslims who went to Christian lands to wage 8 successive
Crusades to take their land away from them as directed by their Islamic
leaders as Christians were, following the direction of their Popes. It
was not Islam whose leadership claimed that the purpose for the first
crusade was (1) to rescue their brothers of the faith in the East from
Muslim hordes and (2) liberate Jerusalem. But lo and behold then by the
second crusade their Christian brothers in the East - who supposedly
needed rescuing from the Muslims - joined the Muslims to fight
against the crusaders due to the savage, barbarous and cruel behavior
of their "rescuers".

It was not Islam that went conquering people all over the world and
colonizing them as Christians did forcing defenseless people to embrace
Christianity after being militarily defeated by the more powerful
Christian armies of Europe. These actions are being repeated in this
time with the military conquest of Iraq by America and Britain only to
be followed by enthusiastic Christian Zionists seeking to convert
Muslims to Christianity. "The opportunity for broadcast expansion in
post-war Iraq is phenomenal," enthused Don Black, Vice President of In
Touch Ministries in Atlanta, in an interview with the web site Salon.
Samaritan's Purse, a relief headed by Franklin Graham, is another group
planning to proselytize the people of Iraq. All these groups are doing
it under the guise of providing aid to the Iraqi people. Of course this
is strongly encouraged and supported by the Bush administration which
claims "it's not the administration's responsibility to determine
which groups can provide aid to Iraq."
http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?t=32135

It was not Islam, whose Holy Book teaches "make no graven images"
yet portrays the son of God as a Caucasian crucified savior on a cross
for all the races in the world to worship. Then to also portray his
virgin mother, apostles, and all the saints as Caucasians, belonging to
the 'divine white race' for all to revere and love. This fostering
of white supremacy in religious form caused Caucasians to feel superior
over the non-white 'un-Godly' races thereby justifying the
colonization and subjugation of other human beings. As a result of
worshipping a Caucasian-looking God, it caused non-white races to feel
inferior and Caucasians to feel superior, bringing about serious racial
inferiority complexes among the non-white races and inspiring the rise
of cruel inhumane organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, that committed
lynching, murders and other racial atrocities. It was not Islam that
encouraged the slave trade in Africa declaring it was OK because the
heathen Africans were having their souls saved by being converted to
Christianity. It was not Islam that cursed a whole race of people and
described them as inferior, children of Ham because of the color of
their skin. Then to add further humiliation and deepen racial tensions
have this story embellished showing ridiculous origins of African
features as done by Rabbis in the Jewish Talmud.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...&q=Black+Slave

It was not Islam which caused the decimation of over 50% of the
population of the Congo as was done by the Belgian Christian King
Leopold (11 million massacred out of a population of 20 million).

It was not Islam that attempted to Frenchify Algeria at the cost of
over a million Algerians (which at the time represented over 10% of the
population) as Christians from France did to this defenseless country
in Africa.

It was not an Islamic nation that uttered the arrogant and conquering
statement "the sun never sets on the British Empire" as was done by a
leading conquering Christian nation.

It was not Islam which dominated and conquered the world, not as a
result of superior ideas and excellent examples of humanity, but as a
result of superior weapons of war possessed by Christian nations used
against weaker nations, as we see being done by Christian America today
against Iraq and Afghanistan, and tomorrow against Iran, Syria and
other Muslim countries. It was not Islam whose history is mired with
constant cycles of vicious wars and hostility as experienced for
Centuries by the Christian nations of France, England, Spain, Portugal,
Germany, Russia and others. It was not Islam that went to the Far East
and conquered Asians and as part of the Asians' humiliation and
subjugation introduced addictive drugs into their societies, forcing
those countries to fight Opium wars to free themselves from Christian
tyranny.

It was not Islam that caused the misery, suffering and whole scale
deaths of millions with mass destruction of cities like the Christian
nations did in WWI and WWII. During one night of February 13, 1945, the
allied armies Britain and US bombed the city of Dresden in Germany, and
it is estimated that as many as 350,000 - 600,000 victims were
incinerated beyond being identifiable or even recognizable as human
remains in that Holocaust. Only 35,000 could be identified. Then the
Christians culminated this death and destruction by dropping atomic
bombs on Japanese cities killing an estimated 115,000 victims, and many
later with radiation sickness, disfigurement and permanent damage to
thousands of innocent people. It was not Islam that persecuted and
murdered thinkers and scientists, like Galileo, Copernicus and the
great female scientist Hypatia in the worst way because they dared to
state their scientific findings that differed from Catholicism. It was
not Islam that defied scientific facts and insisted for years that the
universe was Geo-centric rather than Helio-centric simply because
Muhammad lived on earth as Christians did with Christ and persecuted
anyone who dared to say different. During the recent invasion and
occupation of Iraq, US occupation forces detained more than 600 top
Iraqi scientists, whose fate is totally unknown. Before this invasion,
an American scientist, David Albright, wrote an article "IRAQ: Resettle
the Scientists," in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (page 17, Jan/Feb
1998) foretelling the US plans.

It was not Islam that kept its followers in perpetual ignorance,
superstition and barbaric filth during a period of time known as the
Dark Ages. It was not Islam that allowed its people to live in the most
un-hygienic ways, discouraging cleanliness and baths and causing them
to suffer Bubonic Plagues and other life-threatening diseases for
centuries. This Bubonic Plague was responsible for decimating 25% of
the European population at that time which was approximately 137
million people. It was not Islam that instituted the Inquisition that
punished millions of "heretics" for several centuries who did not go
along with the official version of Christianity with imprisonment,
torture and death. Then in the 1500's, the Christian Spaniards
brought the Inquisition to the Americas demanding instant conversion by
the Indians and death to any Indian daring to refuse.

It was not Islam that caused people to flee religious persecutions as
Christianity did in Europe causing Europeans to find and establish
religious freedom in a new land. Then due to the horrible, inhumane
experience with Christianity the country formed in the new world said
"never again". Never again would we let the ignorance and cruelties
of the Christian religion rule our government. We insist and we
legislate that there will always be a separation of church and state!

It was not Islam that encouraged the ethnic cleansing of Native
American Indians and ruthless theft of their lands as done by
Christians from England, France and Spain. The number of deaths caused
by European Christians on poor hapless American Indians was upwards of
250 million. It is not Islam whose countries are decaying from within
because of high crime rates, immorality, corrupt leaders, high divorce
rates, social unrest, rampant accepted homosexuality like in Sodom and
Gomorrah, destruction of the family, extreme selfishness, greed and
other ills that plague Christian nations today.

It is not Islam which has championed the cause of another people's
religion identifying them as "God's chosen people" and then provided
the means for these people to steal Palestine and ethnically cleanse
innocent Palestinians including fellow Christians. The war crimes
committed, barbarism, cruel and inhumane treatment of Palestinians and
the Israelis' in brazen defiance of UN resolutions are rewarded by
the most powerful Christian nation in the world with free money,
undying support and special consideration.

It is not an Islamic nation that has imposed sanctions on another
nation that has caused deaths of mainly innocent children in the range
of 4000-5000 per month. Then to add insult to injury threaten and
attack that nation - killing more than 250,000 CIVILIANS -- on false
pretense causing millions more to live in squalor and misery as the
great Christian nation of America is doing to Iraq. Now that the WMD
claim for attacking Iraq proves to be false, this Christian nation
changes the rules and claims that the WMD reason to attack Iraq does
not matter.

It was not an Islamic nation that has brutally massacred more than
20,000 innocent Afghans and threw the Geneva Convention out the window
in their inhumane, barbaric treatment of Afghan prisoners as the great
Christian nation of America has in its false war on terrorism against
Afghanistan. While the world, including Islamic nations, mourned the
innocent deaths of about 3000 Americans on 911, the great Christian
nation of America degrades the dignity of human beings by describing
the 20,000 innocent Afghans killed as collateral damage.

It is not an Islamic nation that already has a plan mapped out known as
A Project for the New American Century (PNAC) whose National Security
Strategy - promulgated as late as September 2002 - now includes
pre-emptive attacks on possible future competitors first, assuming
regional hegemony by force of arms in the Middle East, controlling
energy resources around the globe, maintaining a permanent war
strategy, and more as Christian America does. It is easy to surmise
that Christian America is after oil, but not one of the Muslim nations,
not even Iraq, has denied America the purchase of its oil. The
Christian nation of America does not care. It is bent on pursuing a
warlike imperial foreign policy and is chomping at the bit to attack
Iran next.

Need I say more? I could go on and on.

While the Zionists and Christian Zionists write and talk about Islam
being warlike, the above information proves that Christians are the
ones who are truly warlike. More evil has been committed in the name of
Christianity than has been committed by any other religion in human
history. Their history has been one of a people who have "the mark of
the beast" in their hands or actions. But the elite Jews who are
rejoicing and reaping the benefits of the turmoil caused by Christians
are the ones with the "mark of the beast" in their foreheads. After
all they gave the Europeans their version of Christianity and even
boast about it as in the following: Quote:

We conquered you as no empire of yours ever subjugated Africa or Asia.
And we did it all without armies, without bullets, without blood or
turmoil, without force of any kind. We did it solely by the
irresistible might of our spirit, with ideas, with propaganda.

We made you the willing and unconscious bearers of our mission to the
whole world, to the barbarous races of the earth, to the countless
unborn generations. Without fully understanding what we were doing to
you, you became the agents at large of our racial tradition, carrying
our gospel to the unexplored ends of the earth.

Marcus Eli Ravage, Jewish Scholar and Official Rothschilds Biographer
http://www.ety.com/HRP/leaflts/ravage/ravage1.htm

Muslims will never say, as some Christians do, that the evils done by
Christians were due to the teachings of the Noble Christ. Muslims will
never blame good God conscious Christians for those evils. No, Muslims
will put the blame where it belongs and that is on evil people who used
the name of Christ to accomplish their wrongs. Evil men and women
dirtied the name of Christ with their evil deeds. Now these same evil,
war mongering, hypocritical false people are trying to smear and
falsify Islam. They are at it again. They want war and they are using
the name of Christ and smearing the name of Muhammad (saaw) to achieve
it.

The truth is that there is no "command" in Islam about spreading
the religion by the sword. There is nothing in Islam that is known as
"holy" Jihad or kill the infidel concept. Most people who state
that make those claims in a vacuum or deliberately take words out of
context to support their claims. They are vicious lies done to demonize
Islam and cause hatred. It is especially sad to see these words coming
from the leader of Catholicism when the message of Jesus was one of
truth, love and kindness. The Qur'an on the contrary is rich with
verses showing tolerance and understanding for others of different
religions. Rather than an attitude of war, air of superiority and
degradation of good people of other faiths, the Qur'an is resplendent
with verses guaranteeing good non-Muslims rewards from God for their
goodness. Here are a few:

2: 62. Those who believe (in the Qur'an) And those who follow the
Jewish (Scriptures) And the Christians and the Sabians, - ANY who
believe in God And the Last Day, And work righteousness, Shall have
their reward With their Lord: on them Shall be no fear, nor shall they
grieve. "They are not all the same; among the followers of the
scripture, there are those who are righteous. They recite God's
revelations through the night, and they fall prostrate."

"They believe in God and the Last Day, they advocate righteousness
and forbid evil, and they hasten to do righteous works. These are the
righteous." (3:113-114)

If any do deeds of righteousness,- be they male or female - and have
faith, they will enter Heaven, and not the least injustice will be done
to them. [4:124].

As for a "command" to spread the religion by the sword, the words
of the Qur'an condemns that idea and strongly so. The idea of no
compulsion in religion and freedom of conscious choice pervades the
Qur'an from beginning to end. Here are just a few verses reflecting
that:

Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful
preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious:
for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who
receive guidance. [16:125]

"...There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is here
forth distinct from error..." [2:256]

"Say (Muhammad it is) truth from the Lord of all. Whosoever will, let
him believe, and whosoever will, LET him disbelieve." [18:29]

"If it had been thy Lord's will, they would all have believed,- all
who are on earth! Wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to
believe?" [10:99].

There is much propaganda about Islam and the "command" to spread it
by the sword, but Muslims are still waiting to find out where our
religion teaches that. Today Islam is the fastest growing religion in
the world especially after 9-11. It should be obvious to everyone that
despite all of the negative publicity and association of Islam with
terrorism, there are people finding it to be more attractive than any
other religion in the world. More and more people are finding out the
truth about Islam and converting because they became curious and
decided to find out more about this "terrorist" religion that they keep
hearing so much about. Where is the sword in all this? Who is pointing
the sword at the doctors, scientists, clergy, professionals and common
people to force them to become Muslims?

The truth is Islam has always spread through contact with Muslims and
peaceful introduction to the teachings of Islam as it is spreading
today. Not military warrior crusading Emperors, but peaceful thinkers
and scholars from around the world know this and many of them have
written about it as in the following:

1. Historian De Lacy O'Leary has to say on the subject of "the sword
of Islam".

"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims
sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword
upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that
historians have ever repeated" (Islam at the Crossroads, London, 1923
p. 8)

2. From Israeli Journalist, humanitarian and former Knesset member, Uri
Avnery:

"Muslim Spain was a paradise for the Jews, and there has never been a
Jewish Holocaust in the Muslim world. Even pogroms were extremely rare.
Muhammad decreed that the "Peoples of the Book" (Jews and Christians)
be treated tolerantly, subject to conditions that were incomparably
more liberal than those in contemporary Europe.

The Muslims never imposed their religion by force on Jews and
Christians, as shown by the fact that almost all the Jews expelled from
Catholic Spain settled in the Muslim countries and flourished there.

After centuries of Muslim rule, Greeks and Serbs remained thoroughly
Christian. When peace is established between Israel and the Arab world,
the poisonous fruits of anti-Semitism will most probably disappear from
the Arab world (as will the poisonous fruits of Arab-hating in our
society.)"

3. From Mahatma Ghandi, Hindu and liberator of India from British
colonial rule:

'I become more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a
place for Islam in those days in the scheme for life. It was the rigid
simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous
regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and
followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God
and his own mission. These and not the sword, carried everything before
them and surmounted every trouble.' (M.K. Gandhi, Young India, 1924).

4. From an Atheist, Mathematician and Philosopher Bertrand Russell: I
have always been told throughout my youth of the fanaticism of the
Mohammedans, and especially that story of the destruction of the
library at Alexandria. Well, I believed all these stories, but when I
came to look into the history of the times concerned, I had a great
many shocks. In the first place, I discovered that the library of
Alexandria was destroyed a great many times, and the first time was by
Julius Caesar. But the last time was supposed to have been by the
Mohammedans, and for this I found no justification whatsoever. Nor did
I find that the Mohammedans were fanatical. The contests between
Catholics, Nestorians, and Monophysites were bitter and persecuting to
the last degree. But the Mohammedans, when they conquered Christian
countries, allowed the Christians to be perfectly free, provided they
pay a tribute. The only penalty for being a Christian was that you had
to pay a tribute that Mohammedans did not have to pay. This proved
completely successful, and the immense majority of the population
became Mohammedans, but not through any fanaticism on the part of the
Mohammedans. On the contrary they, in the earlier centuries of their
power, represented free thought and tolerance to a degree that the
Christians did not emulate until quite recent times.

Bertrand Russell (Eng. philosopher, mathematician, 1872-1970): "Reading
History As It Is Never Written" [1959]

5. Sir George Bernard Shaw, Writer:

'I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because
of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me
to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of
existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him
- that wonderful man - and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ,
he must be called the savior of humanity. I believe that if a man like
him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would
succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much
needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of
Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is
beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today. (G.B. Shaw, The
Genuine Islam)

As the leader of Catholicism in the world, the Pope should learn the
truth about Islam and not single out hateful false statements about the
religion of 1.5 billion people to publicize. Rather than praise the
ignorance of an Emperor embroiled in war against Muslims as being
erudite, he should learn the truth about Islam or go to truly erudite
peaceful scholars as listed above to quote from. This would be more in
line with following the noble example of Christ in spreading love,
peace and happiness in this world. "Strive as in a race to achieve the
goal of excellence in all that you do."

Yes, yes. The Pope was dead wrong to use that quote about Islam and
those who practice it. And in the aftermath, all those "peaceful"
Muslims went out and blew up churches, shot nuns, and rioted in the
streets to prove him wrong.

sigh