Under ANY circumstances?

Submitted by jennifer solis (United States), Mar 24, 2008 at 15:21

I have very high regard for Dr. Pipes. The man is brilliant.

However, I disagree with him on this one.

Islam's definition of "prophet" - "Islam recognises many prophets, including Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus. The last Prophet was Muhammed, who received the final communication of law - the Qur'an - from Allah. http://www.ethnicityonline.net/islam_glossary.htm

A more general definition of "prophet" - 1.an athoritative person who divines the future 2.someone who speaks by divine inspiration; someone who is an interpreter of the will of God. http://wordnet.princeton.edu

Quoting Dr. Pipes' comment, "As I say, opening a single church in Saudi Arabia in any circumstances will be remarkable achievement."

If the Catholic Church were to build a church in Saudi Arabia on condition that "the Pope and all the Christian churches (quoting Anwar Ashiqi from above article) recognize Muhammed as a prophet", any "church" they build would not be a church.

If the Catholic Church were to accept Muhammad as a prophet, that would mean accepting that Muhammed's words, recorded in the Qur'an, came from God - which includes the belief that Jesus was a prophet, not the Son of God.

I would be HIGHLY surprised if the Vatican would compromise on this issue.

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