On September 12, 2006, Pope Benedict delivered an address entitled, "Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections."

In his lecture, Pope Benedict quoted a passage about Islam written at the end of the 14th century by Byzantine (Eastern Roman) emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. The controversial comment originally appeared in the seventh of the 26 Dialogues Held with a Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia, written in 1391 as an expression of the views of Manuel II, one of the last Christian rulers before the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, on such issues as forced conversion, holy war, and the relationship between faith and reason. The passage, in the English translation published by the Vatican, was:

Show me just what Muhammad 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.

Many Islamic politicians and religious leaders protested against this passage the pope quoted, which they perceived as an insulting mischaracterization of Islam. Mass street protests were mounted in many Islamic countries. The Pakistani parliament unanimously called on the Pope to retract "this objectionable statement."

The thing is, the Qur'an clearly and repeatedly commands male believers to deal with unbelievers by converting them, by "the sword" if necessary; by subjugating them (and dhimmis live worse lives than slaves do); or by killing them. No other option is available. It is extremely telling that the pope, who made his remarks at the invitation of a Muslim scholar, quoted Manuel II Palaelogos in the course of trying to emphasize the need for reason and civility in religion — and male Muslims responded by murdering a Roman Catholic nun and firebombing a large number of Christian churches.

An HTML version of these quotations from the Qur'an follows the JPG file. You can see the JPG full-size (roughly ten inches square) by right-clicking on it and selecting "view image." (Feel free to save it if you wish.)

A few quotations representing Muhammad's teachings:

“If you have made a treaty with infidels who are honorable, do not break the treaty until after the holy months are past. Then fight them and kill them wherever you find them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and ambush them.” — Qur’an 9:4-5 . . . after all, honorable men deserve to be betrayed, ambushed, and murdered! (I say "men" because Muhammad refers to male believers as "you" and all others — including female believers — as "they." As you will see from the next quotation, Muhammad gave his true followers, "you," many rights over "them," and gave women zero rights over men.)

“Men are in charge because Allah made men superior to women. Therefore righteous women are devoutly obedient to men. And if ye are afraid that a woman might be disobedient to you, first berate her, and then immure her, and then scourge [idrib] her.” — Qur’an 4:34 (The translation "scourge" is the choice of Pickthal and many other translators. This word could also be accurately translated "flog severely." The apologists who translate it "beat lightly" are not being faithful to Muhammad's words.)

“Strike terror into the hearts of ... your enemies.” — Qur’an 8:60 “And slay them wherever ye find them.” — Qur’an 2:191

Muhammad said, “May the hands of Abu Lahab perish! May he himself perish! Nothing shall his wealth and gains avail him. He shall be burnt in a flaming fire, and his wife, laden with faggots, shall have a rope of fiber around her neck!” — Qur’an 111:1-5 (Isn't this sweet? Abu Lahab was guilty of having the opinion that Muhammad was a crank and of "mocking" Muhammad — so Abu Lahab's wife had to be punished almost as severely.)

“There came to Muhammad a woman from Ghamid and said, 'Allah's Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me. He (the Holy Prophet) turned her away. [After she had borne her illegitimate child, Muhammad] pronounced punishment. And she was put in a ditch up to her chest and [Muhammad] commanded people and they stoned her.' — Hadith of Abu Dawud, #4428 (Kind of different from the way Jesus treated the woman taken in adultery, isn't it?)

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day, or acknowledge that Islam is the religion of Truth, even if they are Jews or Christians, until they submit to slavery to you willingly and feel themselves subdued.” — Qur’an 9:29 (The actual word is dhimmitude, which Muslims believe is slightly different from slavery. Muslims are incorrect in their belief, as they would know if they ever experienced it from the dhimmis' perspective.)

“Allah has purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs in return is the garden of Paradise: they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth. . . .” — Qur’an 9:111

“Therefore, when ye meet the unbelievers in fight, smite at their necks.” — Qur’an 47:4

“We are clear of you . . . and have rejected you; and there has arisen between us and you enmity and hatred for ever, unless ye believe in Allah and Him alone.” — Qur’an 60:4

We recommend the web site "Answering Islam" (http://www.answering-islam.org/) as an excellent source for non-partisans who are more interested in the truth than in defending their preconceptions.

Faithful and committed Muslims are likely to be insulted that a non-Muslim should dare to quote the Qur'an in this way. But the Qur'an says of itself that it is the perfect and complete word of God, flawless and unassailable; it says of itself that it is so perfect that it exists on a special table in heaven (Sura 85:21-22). The Qur'an says of itself, "The revelation of this book is from God, The exalted in power, full of wisdom.  It is we [i.e., Allah] who have revealed the book to thee in truth" (Sura 39:1-2).

If the Qur'an is as perfect as it says it is, then each verse is perfect and may be quoted by anyone, even unbelievers. If the Qur'an is NOT as perfect as it says it is — for example, when earlier-spoken, unassailably perfect verses are directly contradicted by later unassailably perfect verses, a contradiction known as "abrogation" — faithful and committed Muslims should quit with the bibliolatry already.