Vittorio Messori, the "most translated Catholic writer in the world," published an essay this week on the Rorate Caeli site, entitled: The Real Root of Extremism.
Messori discusses a newspaper article by "Rabbi Giuseppe Laras (renowned in Italian Judaism not only for his culture but also for his religious sensitivity)," who thinks we are now in engaged in a fourth world war. According to Laras: The hypocrisy of the dominant ideology today - political correctness – has been attempting exorcisms and in order to tranquilize us they have built an ideal of “moderate Islamism” encouragingly increasing it by repeating the mantra of “dialogue”. Nevertheless, those who know the Koran, those who know history and the society that has given it form over a thousand and a half years, know that those Muslims we call “extremists” (to use our Western categories) are not wrong in shouting (Kalashnikov in hand) that a “moderate” Muslim is a bad Muslim.
Messori then goes on to relate the following story: A French friend, a Catholic religious in Jerusalem and well-known biblical scholar, told me recently that in their convent, there was an old Muslim who had worked for them for a long, long time as a factotum. Honest, trustworthy and a hard worker, he had become part of the family and all the religious had great affection for him which was sincerely reciprocal. One Friday, the man came back from the mosque with a dejected air about him. The Superior of the House, after insisting, was finally able to make him talk. He said: “Today the Imam who conducts the prayers told us during the sermon that, on the day of the triumph of Allah and his Prophet, which will arrive soon, we will then rid this Holy City of Jews and Christians, and all of those infidels who don’t make a profession of faith at once will have to be killed. This is what the Koran wills and we are bound to obey it.”
The French priest friend of Messori, paused after reaching that point in his story, then added the final words of the old Muslim employee of the convent, which will serve as the quote for today.
Here's the quote:
“But have no fear Father, you know that I love all of you. I know what to do if I have to kill you, I’ll find the way not to make you suffer.”
