Islamic website suspects plot by PopePosted by Damian Thompson
02 Mar 2008
A ranting Islamist website called Ummah Pulse is carrying an article about a Jesuit attempt to "get behind the lines" of Islam in order to water down its theology. And the odd thing is that, for once, I can understand its paranoia. A Turkish Muslim prays at a mosque in Istanbul A German Jesuit priest-scholar called Felix Koerner is helping state-funded Turkish Muslims create an "authentic" variety of Islam that can be reconciled with the modern world. A bit strange, don’t you think? Koerner (I never see him referred to as "Fr Koerner") is strongly associated with the Ankara School, a movement of Muslim theologians whose attempts to create a cuddly, Euro-friendly version of Islam are supported by the Turkish government – and the BBC. The Corporation’s bien pensant religious affairs correspondent, Robert Pigott, last week filed an article singing the praises of the Ankara School.
A ranting Islamist website called Ummah Pulse is carrying an article about a Jesuit attempt to "get behind the lines" of Islam in order to water down its theology. And the odd thing is that, for once, I can understand its paranoia. A Turkish Muslim prays at a mosque in Istanbul A German Jesuit priest-scholar called Felix Koerner is helping state-funded Turkish Muslims create an "authentic" variety of Islam that can be reconciled with the modern world. A bit strange, don’t you think? Koerner (I never see him referred to as "Fr Koerner") is strongly associated with the Ankara School, a movement of Muslim theologians whose attempts to create a cuddly, Euro-friendly version of Islam are supported by the Turkish government – and the BBC. The Corporation’s bien pensant religious affairs correspondent, Robert Pigott, last week filed an article singing the praises of the Ankara School.
According to Pigott, the Turkish state wants to sweep away the "cultural baggage" of questionable conservative sayings attributed to "the Prophet" and returning to a "more authentic" form of Islam. Conveniently, this version of the religion is much easier to sell to the European Union than the traditional variety in which apostates face execution and women are subjected to genital mutilation.The Turkish government has commissioned the Ankara School to prepare a "reinterpretation" of the Hadith (Mohammed’s sayings) in which controversial verses are excised, played down or bowdlerised. There's also talk of dismantling the ancient tradition of Koranic exegesis in which later, bloodthirsty verses supersede earlier, more peaceful ones. Again, how convenient. The academic debates surrounding this "reformation" are complex. Pigott glosses over the objections of traditional Islamic scholars. So does the Turkish government. Instead, it attaches enormous weight to the writings of Koerner, a Koranic expert based at Ankara's only Catholic parish. Ummah Pulse sniffs conspiracy, you’ll be shocked to hear: it reckons that Koerner is one of Pope Benedict XVI's secret agents, employing Jesuitical wiles to implement his anti-Muslim agenda. I doubt it. Benedict understands only too clearly the immutable nature of Islam: he might deplore the influence of Wahhabi ideologues on the European Muslim community, and wish to see it weakened in the interests of community cohesion. But I’d be surprised if he despatched a Jesuit scholar to Ankara in order to make Islam more attractive to Europeans. Surely Fr Korner's mission should be to convert Muslims, not help them sanitise their ideology. Or am I being naïve?
Link (here)
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