Samir Khalil Samir

For the Jesuit priest and great Islam expert, starting with his first address Pope Bergoglio has shown that he is faithful to the Gospel and prayer. The pope did not mention the Company of Jesus because his membership is a mere fact that is part of the Church's embrace. Being South American will help him in dealing with the poor and marginalised peoples of the world, especially in Asia and Africa.

Too many amateur Vaticanist watchers stigmatize the relationship between the pope and Islam as a "failure", starting with the "unfortunate" Regensburg address. Instead, that speech was prophetic for the Arab Spring and the global dialogue between religions and the secular world. It has opened up new areas of collaboration between Christians and Muslims.

In recent years the authorities of the most important Sunni university, supported the youth of the revolution and are now with the Muslim Brotherhood. For the great scholar of Islam Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, such behavior is typical of the University, which has always supported those who govern. The new constitution based on Sharia will not transform Egypt into an Islamic state, for now. It takes advantage of the ignorance of a population that only trusts imams, all formed by al-Azhar. The document is primarily a ideological move by Islamists to appear like "real Muslims" before the Islamic world. Sharia, Islam, religion reassure the population. The future game of the Muslim Brotherhood and of Islam itself will evolve in the coming months on specific topics: jobs, the economy and development.

Many players have entered the Syrian conflict: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, Russia, China, USA, Europe. All are dominated by a conflict within Islam. Christians in the most difficult situation: a choice between political dictatorship or Islamic dictatorship. Radical Islam on the rise in Europe, but the West does not seem to care. Part two of the analysis by the great scholar of Islam.

Almost two years after the Arab uprising, the Middle East finds itself increasingly Islamist and increasingly violent. Yet the young people had fought for greater dignity and freedom. It is a job half done: freed of dictators, but still without full democracy. The great scholar of Islam Samir Khalil Samir offers his vision (Part One)

Muslim migrants are helping the secular West rediscover the dimension of the sacred, modesty, and also the courage to bear witness to their faith in public. Christians neglect to evangelize Muslims because they are too lukewarm and insecure in their Christian faith. The mission is a gesture of love expressed through friendship. The testimony of one of the experts of the Synod underway at the Vatican.

The Islamic world suffers from a centuries-old frustration and emotionally reacts to every little criticism. At the same time the West provokes without restraint and respect. The solution to this clash of civilizations, lies within the Pope’s Regensburg Address and Ecclesia in Medio Oriente. Muslims also have to learn not to offend Jews, Christians and other religions. Rather than stifling freedom to criticize, we need to promote a criticism enlightened by reason.

The case of the anti-Islamic film and of the cartoons satirising Mohammed highlights two different cultures: Islamic culture, which hails from dictatorships and complaints, and Western culture, liberal and iconoclastic towards religion. Too much sanctity among Muslims and too much secularism among Westerners. But the Islamic world is changing: there's increasingly more condemnation of the violence. The Pope's proposal in Lebanon to build coexistence in diversity and not in uniformity.

A few days after Benedict XVI’s visit to Lebanon (14-16 September) Lebanese enthusiasm refuses to be dampened, presented as a model of coexistence for the world Muslims and Christians. The Apostolic Exhortation suggests the overcoming of fundamentalism on the part of all religions, welcoming one another in the name of reason and principles inherent in human nature. The proposal for a "healthy secularity", respectful of the presence of religion in society also has something to say to the West.

Despite the tensions in neighboring Syria and the winds of war between Israel and Iran, the journey to Lebanon was not postponed. Christians and Muslims are waiting for him. The exhortation to promote the relationship between clergy and laity, ecumenism between Christians and relations with Muslims, the commitment to the poor, education. Lebanon can be a model for the Arab Spring: common citizenship between Christians and Muslims, freedom of conscience (and conversion from one religion to another), beyond the excesses of Western permissiveness and Islamic fundamentalism.

Al Qabas, Kuwait's daily newspaper, reports the arrival in Syria of jihadists from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Pakistan. Among them many are under 18 years of age. Turkey serves as a transit point for weapons and people. A war of fundamentalism against the Alawite Shia and Sunni fundamentalism against the secularism of the Assad dictatorship. The distrust of Christians. The ambiguous West.

The horrific video was released not by anti-Islamic groups, but by an Egyptian journalist, Tawfik Oshaka, condemning the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamic extremism has a cruel image of Islam. But the seeds of violence are present in the Koran and the life of Muhammad. It is time for Muslims to unequivocally condemn this violence.