The new leader of Catholic Christians, Francis
is willing to have cordial relations with the religion of Islam. He expressed
this desire while delivering his first foreign policy address at the Vatican on
22 March. ‘It is important to intensify dialogue among different
religions “particularly dialogue with Islam”.’ (The Times of India, 23 March) This assertion of the new Pope is in
a way in accordance with the expectations of the Islamic world. The news and
reports on his views and thoughts as well as leanings published since his
taking charge of this high post in March last revealed that he is an apt
religious leader and that he would review the relationships between Islam and
Christianity. That is, like his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, he would not mar
the relations. Therefore, Secretary General of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, had expressed
the hope at that time that under the new Pope “the relationship between Islam
and Christianity will regain its cordiality and sincere friendship”. O.I.C, Jamia
Al Azhar and many Islamic scholars have welcomed the move of the Pope.
The Eminence of the
Pope
The eminence of the Pope is the highest position
of Catholic Christianity with 1.2 billion following. There is no term fixed for
the election of the Pope. The Pope determines the thoughts and trends of the
entire Christian world. Therefore, at the time of the election of every Pope,
the Islamic world also looks at it with keen interest as to how the new Pope of
the Christian world would say about Islam and other religions. In this regard,
the last Pope Benedict XVI disappointed them very much. He not only did not name
any religion other than Christianity and Judaism in his very first address but
also on a later occasion gave the evidence of his narrow-mindedness and
ignorance when he uttered blasphemous words about Islam and the Prophet of
Islam (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) with reference to some rude
Christian ruler of the past. The 8-year regime of Pope Benedict was not good
even for Christianity and the Christian world. During this period, moral
delinquency, sexual anarchy and many kinds of scandals appeared. The entire
Christian world went downward on the moral and religious scale. Attendance in
churches diminished. The new Pope Francis has inherited this depravity which he
wants to reform.
Good omen for Muslim
Ummah
The real name of the new Pope is Jorge Mario Bergoglio. As the Pope, he himself
took Francis as his alias. He belongs to the Latin American country Argentina
and he is the first non-European Pope in the last one thousand years. He is
very simple and soft-spoken as per his temperament and standard of living. –
His desire to have a dialogue with Islam is indeed good omen for the Muslim Ummah.
– It is still not known as to what he knows about Islam and what his study on
Islam is. However, as a cardinal and archbishop, he must have known that Islam takes
Jesus Christ as one of the revered Messengers. And that the faith of a Muslim is
not complete without accepting him as a Prophet. According to the faith of Muslim
Ummah, the Qur’ān is the last book of God which covers the basic teachings of
all the previous prophets including Jesus Christ. The new Pope perhaps might also
be aware of the opinion of American scholar John L. Esposito that there are
more bases of agreement than disagreement between Islam and Christianity. If he
initiates a dialogue with the followers of Islam, he would find the Muslim Ummah
very much open-hearted and far-sighted, God willing.
IN MY OPINION TOPMOST leaders of parties and communities rarely have courage to express the real feelings about ISLAM AND matters OF JUSTICE even if a minority of them knows the fact.
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