Hit & Run does Islamic analysis

There's an interesting post up at Hit and Run, with a great title: If it accords with the Quran it is unnecessary and can be burned. If it doesn't accord with the Quran it is heresy and must be burned.

It's interesting to see what has been attributed to the current Pope, in comments on Islam before he became Pope:

[Father Joseph D. Fessio said] This is the first time I recall where he made an immediate statement. And I'm still struck by it, how powerful it was . . . the Holy Father, in his beautiful calm but clear way, said well, there's a fundamental problem with that [analysis] because, he said, in the Islamic tradition, God has given His word to Muhammad, but it's an eternal word. It's not Muhammad's word. It's there for eternity the way it is. There's no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it.

It's an interesting angle, and one that most of us in the West would have quickly passed over: Islam, unlike most other monotheistic religions, does not recognize the secular state . . . there is no secular world in Islam. You can't render up to Caesar, because Caesar isn't allowed to hold things outside the realm of the religion.