St Thomas Aquinas' 13th Century View of Islam

HE WARNED US ABOUT ISLAM 750 YEARS AGO – 

AND HIS WARNING IS STILL RELEVANT TODAY

The 13th-century scholar Thomas Aquinas, regarded as one of the most eminent medieval philosophers and theologians, offered a biting critique of Islam based in large part on the questionable character and methods of its founder, Mohammed.

Thomas Aquinas is a well-known philosopher and theologian from medieval times. In reviewing his writings, it’s clear he had fierce criticism and concern about Islam. As events roll out in the Middle East with Radical Islam on the rise, it’s important to learn from history so as not to repeat it. 

According to Breitbart:

According to Aquinas, Islam appealed to ignorant, brutish, carnal men and spread not by the power of its arguments or divine grace but by the power of the sword. Aquinas, a keen observer of the human condition, was familiar with the chief works of the Muslim philosophers of his day–including Avicenna, Algazel, and Averroes–and engaged them in his writings. 

Since Islam was founded and spread in the seventh century, Aquinas—considered by Catholics as a saint and doctor of the Church—lived in a period closer to that of Mohammed than to our own day. In one of his most significant works, the voluminous Summa contra gentiles, which Aquinas wrote between 1258 and 1264 AD, the scholar argued for the truth of Christianity against other belief systems, including Islam. 

Aquinas contrasts the spread of Christianity with that of Islam, arguing that much of Christianity’s early success stemmed from widespread belief in the miracles of Jesus, whereas the spread of Islam was worked through the promise of sensual pleasures and the violence of the sword. 

Mohammad, Aquinas wrote, “seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teaching also contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure.” Such an offer, Aquinas contended, appealed to a certain type of person of limited virtue and wisdom. 

“In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men,” he wrote. “As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity.” 

Because of the weakness of Islam’s contentions, Aquinas argued, “no wise men, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning.” Instead, those who believed in him “were brutal men and desert wanderers, utterly ignorant of all divine teaching, through whose numbers Muhammad forced others to become his followers by the violence of his arms.” 

Islam’s violent methods of propagation were especially unconvincing to Aquinas, since he found that the use of such force does not prove the truth of one’s claims, and are the means typically used by evil men. 

“Mohammad said that he was sent in the power of his arms,” Aquinas wrote, “which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants.”

It’s interesting that Aquinas mentions the initial followers as ‘brutal and desert wanderers.’ Isn’t that what we’re seeing play out today with Syria and the Middle East? Brutal men carrying out heinous crimes in desert regions. And it’s moving into Europe as the recent Paris attacks demonstrate.

And now, through Obama’s open border policy, we’re seeing the early signs of radical Islam here in the US. Let’s hope that more honorable leaders learn from Thomas Aquinas and stop the invasion of radical Islam into the US.