Newswise — "We have to beware riding the wave of Islamaphobia that is now flowing over Europe. And we have to relate to the Pope's talk with great caution." So advised Dr. Fania Oz-Salzberger, senior lecturer in the University of Haifa's Faculty of Law and School of History.
According to the lecturer, a reading of the full speech shows that no accidental slip of the tongue was involved. The pope, throughout his talk, was attempting a theological comparison that presents Islam as an irrational religion in contrast to Christianity, whose sources are Jewish and Greek and a religion that relies on reason.
Oz-Salzberger continues: "A brief look at Islamic philosophical writings and, in contrast, Christian philosophy in the Middle Ages - the period from which the pope took a solitary and one-dimensional quote - shows that such a forthright statement has no leg to stand on.
The historian mentions that Islam of the Middle Ages was characterized by great philosophical thinking with deep Greek roots that tried to find a compromise between religion and wisdom. It influenced Christian religious thinking, among others, through Maimonides.
"We as Jews and as Israelis need to keep especially from responding positively to the prevailing anti-Islamic fashion," she said. Oz-Salzberger added, though, that there was great irony in the fact that many Muslims have reacted violently or with threats of violence to a statement attributing an inherent violence to Islam.
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