What the Saints Say About Islam
For Americans who lived through September 11, 2001, Islam is not merely a subject of history or theology. The attacks of 9/11 and subsequent acts of Islamic terrorism made the question of Islam painfully real for an entire generation.
The following passages from Catholic saints offer a forthright glimpse into how many saints understood Islam and its founder, Muhammad. These quotes may sound direct to modern ears, but they reflect the Catholic duty to know the truth about false religions in order to defend the Christian Faith and work for the conversion and salvation of souls.
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)
“Those who Place any Faith in Muhammad’s Words Believe Foolishly”
On the other hand, those who founded sects committed to erroneous doctrines proceeded in a way that is opposite to this [the way the Apostles acted]. The point is clear in the case of Muhammad. He 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. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men.
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. He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth.
On the contrary, Muhammad said that he was sent in the power of his arms—which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants. What is more, no wise men, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning.
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. Nor do divine pronouncements on the part of preceding prophets offer him any witness. On the contrary, he perverts almost all the testimonies of the Old and New Testaments by making them into fabrications of his own, as can be seen by anyone who examines his law. It was, therefore, a shrewd decision on his part to forbid his followers to read the Old and New Testaments, lest these books convict him of falsity. It is thus clear that those who place any faith in his words believe foolishly.
Saint John Bosco (1815–1888)
“Muhammad Incited People’s Passions; Jesus Christ Commanded Self-Denial”
He writes in the form of a dialog between a father (F) and a son (S):
F. Islam is a collection of maxims drawn from various religions, which, if practiced, brings about the destruction of every moral principle.
S. Why did Muhammad put together this blend of various religions?
F. The peoples of Arabia being in part Jews, Christians and Pagans, to obtain their adhesion he picked a part of each of their religions, and particularly those points that most favor sensual pleasures.
S. What difference is there between the Catholic Church and Islam?
F. The difference is huge. Muhammad established his religion with violence and weapons; Jesus Christ founded His Church with words of peace using His poor disciples. Muhammad incited people’s passions; Jesus Christ commanded self-denial. Muhammad worked no miracle; Jesus Christ worked countless miracles in broad daylight and in the presence of numerous multitudes. Muhammad’s doctrines are ridiculous, immoral, and corrupt; those of Jesus Christ are august, sublime and most pure. Not even one prophecy was fulfilled in Muhammad; all prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
In short, in a certain way, the Christian Religion makes man happy in this world to later raise him to the enjoyment of heaven; Muhammad degrades and vilifies human nature, and placing all happiness in sensual pleasures, reduces man to the level of filthy animals.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori
“The Mahometan Paradise Is Only Fit for Beasts”
He [Muhammad] professes that there is but one God; but in his Alcoran he relates many trivialities unworthy of the Supreme Being, and the whole work is, in fact, filled with contradictions, as I have shown in my book on the “Truth of the Faith.” Jews or Christians, he says, may be saved by the observance of their respective laws, and it is indifferent if they exchange one for the other; but hell will be forever the portion of the infidels; those who believe in one God alone will be sent there for a period not exceeding, at most, a thousand years, and then all will be received into the House of Peace, or Paradise.
The Mahometan Paradise, however, is only fit for beasts; for filthy sensual pleasure is all the believer has to expect there. I pass over all the other extravagancies of the Koran, having already, in the “Truth of the Faith,” treated the subject more fully.
Saint Francis de Sales (1567–1622)
“The Sect of This Great Impostor, Mohammed”
Ah! That the French are brave when they have God on their side! How valiant they are when they are devout! How happy they are to fight the infidels! . . . O France that will strike the last destructive blow upon the sect of this great impostor, Mohammed.
Saint Juan de Ribera (1532–1611)
Islam Does not Deserve to Be Called a Religion
What has been said suffices to close this article, which is so essential to your salvation; to wit, the destruction of this perverse sect of Muhammad. Because if we have proved that the end that it sets is all beastly and unworthy of man’s authority; that its author was an adulterer, perjurer, robber, murderer, blasphemer, and most ignorant in human and divine letters; that the things contained in his law are all fables in philosophy and errors in theology even for those with just a glimmer of reason; that what it teaches in terms of customs is a school of bestial vices; that he failed to produce any proof, supernatural with miracles, or natural with reasoning to prove his new sect but established it only with the force of arms, violence, fiction, lies, and carnal license, then all that remains is the fact that it is an impious, blasphemous, and vicious sect, an invention of the devil that leads straight to hell, and does not deserve, therefore, to be called a religion.
Sources:
St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, trans. Anton C. Pegis, ed. Joseph Kenny, OP (New York: Hanover House, 1955), bk. 1, ch. 6, no. 4, http://dhspriory.org/thomas/Co....
St. John Bosco, Il Cattolico istruito nella sua religione: Trattenimenti di un padre di famiglia co’ suoi figliuoli secondo i besogni del tempo (Turin: Tipografia Dir. da P. de- Agostini, 1853), vol. 2, Conversation XIII, 50–1, 53-6, http://www.donboscosanto.eu/do....
St. Alphonsus M. Liguori, The History of Heresies, and Their Refutation; Or, The Triumph of the Church, trans. Rev. John T. Mullock (Dublin: James Duffy, 1847), 1:188, https://archive.org/stream/the....
Saint Francis de Sales, Œuvres Complètes de Saint François de Sales (Paris: Bethune, éditeur, 1836), 2:412.
Francisco Pons Fuster, “El patriarca Juan de Ribera y el Catechismo para instrucción de los nuevamente convertidos de moros,” Studia Philologica Valentina, vol. 15, n.s. 12 (2013), 209–10, https://www.uv.es/SPhV/15/10_p....
These passages were taken from the book Islam and the Suicide of the West: Origins, Doctrines, and Goals of Muhammad’s Religion by Luiz Sergio Solimeo.
Photo attribution: Michael Foran.