‘Some Muslims want to impose an inquisition.’
Professor Abdullah Saeed is the Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies and director of the Asia Institute at Melbourne University, Australia.
“The idea that an Islamic state’s first job is to punish or safeguard the personal morality of its people is parallel to what happened in Europe in the 14th to 17th centuries,” he told reporters on 29 Oct, on the sidelines of the Fifth Regional Interfaith Dialogue, held in Perth, Australia from 28 to 30 Oct.
Saeed explained that both the state and church in Europe at that time would try to force conversions of Jews and Muslims to Christianity and even imposed an Inquisition on those who did not comply.
“This is so similar to what some Muslims seem to want to impose right now,” he said.
The Inquisition had terrible ramifications for the ‘dawah’ of the Catholic church and made a joke of its scholars, as can be seen in this Monty Python sketch: “This was the Spanish Inquisition…”
If we don’t want to see our ulema mocked forever after, and fear a protestant reformation, an inquisition is to be avoided at all costs…
