by Samir Khalil Samir

Is the Jesus of the Qur‘an that of the Gospels? Should Christians consider Muhammad a prophet? Some Saudi experts seem to think so and want to build dialogue on blackmail (a church in Saudi Arabia in exchange of a profession of faith about the prophet Muhammad). Christianity and Islam are however different and sometimes opposed to one another. Instead of syncretism or blackmail, the only path is that of mutual respect.

Can the Pope and Christians recognise Muhammad as prophet?

What does it mean “the Pope and all the Christian Churches” must recognise the “Prophet Muhammad?” What has the Pope got to do with “all the Christian Churches?” since the issue is only about the eventual building of a church for Catholics, which was the request made last 6 December during the meeting between the Pope and King Abdallah. What authority does the Pope have anyway over other Churches . . . or vice versa!

But the strangest thing of all is the request that the Pope recognise Muhammad’s prophetic character. How do you do that? How do you recognise that he is the “seal of the prophets” to quote the Qur‘anic expression that runs through the Muslim tradition? How can Christians believe at the same time that Christ is the Word of God, God’s final message to humanity, the Divine Word incarnate, and that after him God, his Father, sent another prophet to seal the Revelation, i.e. complete, correct, contradict what is said about him in the Gospels?

I can understand that Muslims might feel bad about the fact that no Christian in his or her right mind can proclaim that God has sent messengers after Christ, unless only to follow Christ, imitate him and proclaim his message. Indeed for Muslims this might be seen as a kind of injustice. After all, “we recognise Jesus as prophet of God, why can’t you recognise Muhammad as a prophet of God?”

The answer is that it is not a matter of mutual favours: “I give you this and you give me that!” We are not in a market. It is about our own sincerely and honestly held faith, which is not meant to attack or humiliate anyone, but only to avoid falling into hypocrisy or doubletalk.

As a Christian I cannot ask Muslims to believe in Christ’s divinity in exchange for recognising Muhammad’s prophetic nature. If a Muslim was willing to do that, he should then get baptised and become a Christian. By the same token, if a Christian recognised Muhammad as a prophet he should be recognised as a Muslim. Continued here in full....