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Middle East expert says acceptance of Islamic prophet necessary for
Christian worship Pakistan Christian Post Riyadh: March 29, 2008.No churches should be permitted in Saudi Arabia,
unless Pope Benedict XVI recognised the prophet Mohammed, according to a
Middle East expert.
While Saudi mediators are working with the Vatican on negotiations to
allow places of religious worship, some experts believe it will not
occur without this recognition. Anwar Ashiqi, president of the Saudi centre for Middle East strategic
studies, endorsed this view in an interview on the site of Arab
satellite TV network, al-Arabiya on Thursday. "I haven taken part in several meetings related to Islamic-Christian
dialogue and there have been negotiations on this issue," he said. "It would be possible to launch official negotiations to construct a
church in Saudi Arabia only after the Pope and all the Christian
churches recognise the prophet Mohammed." "If they don`t recognise him as a prophet, how can we have a church in
the Saudi kingdom?" Ashiqi`s comments came after a declaration launched by the papal nuncio
of the Persian Gulf, the archbishop Mounged El-Hachem, at the opening of
the first Catholic church in Qatar last week. The prelate had announced the launch of "treaties to construct a church
in Saudi Arabia where it is banned to practise whatever religion they
want outside Islam". El-Hachem estimated three to four million Christians in the Saudi
kingdom who want to have a church. A member of Saudi Arabia`s Consultative Council, Abdelaziz al-Thinani,
rejected the prelate`s claims saying that there were no Christians among
the Saudis who were all Muslims. "Those few Christians do not reside in the country permanently, they
come and go," he said. He denied there were four million Christians in the kingdom and said the
issue of human rights should not be used to call for the construction of
a Christian church. Most of Saudi Arabia`s Christians are foreign workers. There are 8.2
million foreign workers in a country of 25.6 million people according to
a report by the Saudi Labour Ministry.
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