Two revealing quotes on the subject of “Muslim tolerance.”

From a netfriend:

Friends (and others): I wanted to pass on two revealing quotes on the murky subject of “Muslim tolerance.” As you know, our media tell us that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. I find it interesting, however, when a prominent Muslim defines what “tolerance” means by his faith.

Quote #1 comes from Ibn Kaldun, a Muslim scholar (1332-1406) who is invariably represented in the west as a moderate and even a liberal. This is how he describes how to deal with Christians in his master work, “Introduction to History”:

“We do not think we should blacken the pages of this book with their dogmas of unbelief. In general they are well known. All of them are unbelief. This is clearly stated in the noble Qu’ran. To discuss or argue these things with them is not for us. It is (for them) to choose between conversion, payment of the poll tax, or death.”

To repeat, Kaldun is represented as the most tolerant voice in historical Islam. Got it?

Quote #2 is more recent. It comes from the “Davos Report: Highlights, outcomes, and next steps from the 2004 meeting of the World Economic Forum.” This is a special report on a “Council of 100” consisting of “religious, business, and political leaders” seeking a “dialogue between Islam and the west.” In the first session, the co-chair Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Cantebury asked the other co-Chair Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom a question “in a spirit of friendship”

The question was: “Why doesn’t Saudi Arabia allow churches?”

The program reports dryly that “A few minutes later, al-Faisal gave a response that took aback many in the room: ‘Christians and Jews ought to be content to worship in mosques. That’s because Islam accepts both Jesus Christ and Moses as prophets.'”