The latest scandal in the Muslim world is a speech delivered by the Pope recently. In this speech, the Pope had the temerity to quote Manuel II Paleologos, one of the last emperors of the Byzantine empire. The quote was, more specifically, from an account written by the emperor of a conversation between himself and a Persian scholar on Christianity and Islam, and the differences between them. In this speech, Manuel criticized Mohammed’s innovations as “…evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” He then went on to discuss with the Persian the logical basis of Christianity and the relationships between faith, the soul, and reason, saying, “To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death….”
The Pope’s speech continued this examination of the logical groundings of Christianity and Islam, and urged closer examinations of both so that a greater cultural understanding could be achieved. But this part of the speech wasn’t publicized — the part about Mohammed was. The Holy Father is now in hot water.
There is an aspect of this whole incident that I find interesting, but I haven’t seen commented on anywhere else yet — what could make good old Manuel II Paleologos say such mean things about Islam? Let’s look at some of the details…
-Manuel Paleologos most likely had this conversation with the Persian scholar in 1391 while being held as a hostage by the (Muslim) Ottoman Sultan, while his father was still emperor.
-Also during this period of captivity, he was forced to help out the Islamic Ottoman Empire with their attack on the last Byzantine city in Asia Minor — Philadelphia. The city was defeated, and the Byzantines driven out of the Asian part of what is now Turkey.
-After becoming emperor, Manuel likely wrote his account of the conversation during the eight year siege of his capital city, Constantinople. The Ottomans were finally distracted by an attack on their rear by Tamerlane, and gave up the siege.
-Manuel II Paleologos lived to see the Byzantine empire become tributaries to the Ottomans in 1424, the year before his death.
-In an event undoubtedly dimly foreseen by Manuel, the Ottoman empire finally captured Constantinople, finally destroying the almost 1000 year-old Byzantine state.
I would say that this guy is someone who knew what he was talking about when he complained about Islamic militarism and forced conversions. I think it is also safe to say that many of the voices that are currently raised in protest do not know any of this, or even what the Pope actually said. Or much of anything about Christianity. Of the two sides, I would say that the Pope seems the more rational and reasonable.