I have a different recall of the incident with Pope Benedict. Those prominent Muslim scholars, in their reply to the Pope, explicitly claimed their status as an offshoot of Christianity and Judaism. I suspect that the pope was absolutely right: when the answer to his question came, the West was not willing to hear it.
38 leading Muslim religious scholars and leaders including Shaykh Ali Jumu‘ah (the Grand Mufti of Egypt), Shakyh Abdullah bin Bayyah (former Vice President of Mauritania, and leading religious scholar), and Shaykh Sa‘id Ramadan Al-Buti (from Syria), in addition to the Grand Muftis of Russia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Slovenia, Istanbul, Uzbekistan, and Oman, as well as leading figures from the Shi‘a community such as Ayatollah Muhammad Ali Taskhiri of Iran; also HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan Muslim scholars in the West such as Shaykh Hamza Yusuf from California, Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Professor Tim Winter of the University of Cambridge signed a letter to the Pope that said:
http://www.islamicamagazine.com/online-analysis/open-letter-to-his-holiness-pope-benedict-xvi.html
…faith in the One God is not the property of any one religious community. According to Islamic belief, all the true prophets preached the same truth to different people at different times. The laws may be different, but the truth is unchanging.
They acknowledge the two great Commandments: ….”and the second commandment is like it: Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself.” citing Mark 12:29-31 and Matthew 22:37-40
And they said that their prophet brought nothing new to the message from God, that the message from all three faiths is the same.
I am sure that there are follower of Islam that aren’t ready to hear their answer, either.
Nash, thank you for writing. You have more friends and allies than you know. Good luck, and God bless us all.
NASH, you came through to me quite clearly. Good luck, and God bless.
