Read and learn, Allah Akbar. (anon)

Qur'an 9:71 "O Prophet, strive hard [fighting] against the unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be harsh with them. Their abode is Hell, an evil refuge indeed."

Qur'an 8:59 "The infidels should not think that they can get away from us. Prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster so that you may terrorize them."

Qur'an 4:168 "Those who reject [Islamic] Faith, Allah will not forgive them nor guide them to any path except the way to Hell, to dwell therein forever. And this to Allah is easy."

Qur'an 4:114 "He who disobeys the Apostle after guidance has been revealed will burn in Hell."

Ishaq:344 "We smote them and they scattered. The impious met death. They became fuel for Hell. All who aren't Muslims must go there. It will consume them while the Stoker [Allah] increases the heat. They had called Allah's Apostle a liar. They claimed, 'You are nothing but a sorcerer.' So Allah destroyed them."

Qur'an 33:60 "Truly, if the Hypocrites stir up sedition, if the agitators in the City do not desist, We shall urge you to go against them and set you over them. They shall have a curse on them. Whenever they are found, they shall be seized and slain without mercy - a fierce slaughter - murdered, a horrible murdering."

Qur'an 33:64 "Verily Allah has cursed the Unbelievers [whom he defines as Christians in the 5th surah] and has prepared for them a Blazing Fire to dwell in forever. No protector will they find, nor savior. That Day their faces will be turned upside down in the Fire. They will say: 'Woe to us! We should have obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger!' 'Our Lord! Give them double torment and curse them with a very great Curse!'"

Qur'an 5:10 "Those who reject, disbelieve and deny Our signs, proofs and verses will be companions of Hell-Fire."

Qur'an 88:1 "Has the narration reached you of the overwhelming (calamity)? Some faces (all disbelievers, Jews and Christians) that Day, will be humiliated, downcast, scorched by the burning fire, while they are made to drink from a boiling hot spring."

Bukhari:V1B11N617 "I would order someone to collect firewood and another to lead prayer. Then I would burn the houses of men who did not present themselves at the compulsory prayer and prostration."

Bukhari:V1B11N626 "The Prophet said, 'No prayer is harder for the hypocrites than the Fajr. If they knew the reward they would come to (the mosque) even if they had to crawl. Certainly I decided to order a man to lead the prayer and then take a flame to burn all those who had not left their houses for the prayer, burning them alive inside their homes.'"

Bukhari:V4B52N260 "The Prophet said, 'If a Muslim discards his religion, kill him.'"

Qur'an 5:51 "Believers, take not Jews and Christians for your friends."

Qur'an 74:31 "We have appointed nineteen angels to be the wardens of the Hell Fire. We made a stumbling-block for those who disbelieve and We have fixed their number as a trial for unbelievers in order that the People of the Book may arrive with certainty, and that no doubts may be left for the People of the Book, those in whose hearts is a disease."

Bukhari:V4B54N487 "The Prophet said, 'The Hell Fire is 69 times hotter than ordinary worldly fires.' So someone said, 'Allah's Apostle, wouldn't this ordinary fire have been sufficient to torture the unbelievers?'"

Qur'an 72:15 "The disbelievers are the firewood of hell."

Qur'an 72:17 "If any turns away from the reminder of his Lord (the Qur'an), He will thrust him into an ever growing torment, and cause for him a severe penalty."

Qur'an 72:25 "Whoever disobeys the Lord and His Messenger then there is for him the fire of Hell where they shall abide forever."

Qur'an 88:21 "You are not a warden over them; except for those who turn away and disbelieve, in which case, he will be punished with the severest punishment. Verily to Us they will return."

Qur'an 90:19 "But those who reject Our Signs, Proofs, and Verses, they are the unhappy Companions of the Left Hand. Fire will be their awning, vaulting over them."

Qur'an 95:4 "We have indeed created man in the best molds. Then do We abase him, reducing him to be the lowest of the low, except such as believe."

Tabari VIII:130 "The Messenger said, 'Two religions cannot coexist in the Arabian Peninsula.' Umar investigated the matter, then sent to the Jews, saying: 'Allah has given permission for you to be expelled."

Qur'an 2:64 "But you [Jews] went back on your word and were lost losers. So become apes, despised and hated. We made an example out of you."

Qur'an 66:9 "O Prophet! Strive hard against the unbelieving Infidels and the Hypocrites; be severe against them. Their abode is Hell, an evil resort."

Qur'an 60:1 "Believers, take not my enemies and yours as allies, offering them love, even though they have rejected the truth that has come to you, and have driven out the Prophet and you because you believe in Allah! If you have come out to struggle [fight jihad] in My Cause, and to seek My Pleasure, (take them not as friends), holding secret converse of love with them: for I am aware of all you conceal. And any of you that does this has strayed from the Straight Path. If they were to get the better of you, they would be your foes, and stretch forth their hands and their tongues against you with evil (designs)."

Qur'an 60:4 "We reject you. Hostility and hate have come between us forever, unless you believe in Allah only.'"

Qur'an 48:13 "If any believe not in Allah and His Messenger, We have prepared a Blazing Fire for them!"

Qur'an 48:28 "It is He Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth (Islam), that he may make it superior to every other religion, exalting it over them. Allah is a sufficient Witness. Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. Those who are with him are severe with Infidel unbelievers."

Qur'an 47:3 "Those who disbelieve follow vanities, while those who believe follow truth from their Lord: Thus does Allah coin for men their similitudes [resemblances] as a lesson. Whoever denies faith [in Islam and Muhammad], his work is of no account, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers."

Qur'an 9:2 "You cannot weaken Allah or escape. Allah will disgrace the unbelievers and put those who reject Him to shame."

Qur'an 9:4 "You cannot escape Allah, weaken or frustrate Him. And proclaim a grievous penalty of a painful doom to those who reject [Islamic] Faith."

Qur'an 9:17 "The disbelievers have no right to visit the mosques of Allah while bearing witness against their own souls to infidelity. These it is whose doings are in vain, and in the fire shall they abide. Only he shall visit the mosques of Allah who believes in Allah and the latter day, and keeps up devotional obligations, pays the zakat, and fears none but Allah."

Qur'an 9:28 "Believers, truly the pagan disbelievers are unclean."

Qur'an 9:30 "The Jews call Uzair (Ezra) the son of Allah, and the Christians say that the Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying from their mouths; they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's (Himself) fights against them, cursing them, damning and destroying them. How perverse are they!"

Qur'an 9:33 "He has sent His Messenger (Muhammad) with guidance and the Religion of Truth (Islam) to make it superior over all religions, even though the disbelievers detest (it)."

Qur'an 9:63 "Know they not that for those who oppose Allah and His Messenger is the Fire of Hell wherein they shall dwell? That is the supreme disgrace."

Qur'an 9:66 "Make no excuses: you have rejected Faith after you had accepted it. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you, for they are disbelievers."

Qur'an 9:113 "It is not fitting for the Prophet and those who believe, that they should pray for the forgiveness for disbelievers, even though they be close relatives, after it is clear to them that they are the inmates of the Flaming Hell Fire."

Qur'an 5:78 "Curses were pronounced on the unbelievers, the Children of Israel who rejected Islam, by the tongues of David and of Jesus because they disobeyed and rebelled."

Qur'an 5:80 "You see many of them allying themselves with the Unbelievers [other translations read: "Infidels"]. Vile indeed are their souls. Allah's wrath is on them, and in torment will they abide."

Qur'an 5:82 "You will find the Jews and disbelievers [defined as Christians in 5:73] the most vehement in hatred for the Muslims."

Qur'an 5:86 "Those who reject Islam and are disbelievers, denying our Signs and Revelations - they shall be the owners of the Hell Fire."

Tabari IX:78 "No polytheist shall come near the Holy Mosque, and no one shall circumambulate Allah's House naked."

Ishaq:246 "Hypocrites used to assemble in the mosque and listen to the stories of the Muslims and laugh and scoff at their religion. So Muhammad ordered that they should be ejected. They were thrown out with great violence. Abu went to Amr, took his foot and dragged him out of the mosque. Another Muslim slapped a man's face while dragging him forcefully, knocking him down. One was pulled violently by his hair. 'Don't come near the Apostle's mosque again, for you are unclean.' The first hundred verses of the Cow surah came down in reference to these Jewish rabbis and Hypocrites."

Ishaq:262 "Some Muslims remained friends with the Jews, so Allah sent down a Qur'an forbidding them to take Jews as friends. From their mouths hatred has already shown itself and what they conceal is worse."

Qur'an 5:51 "Believers, take not Jews and Christians for your friends. They are but friends and protectors to each other."

Ishaq:245 "The Apostle used to say, 'Their religion will never march with ours.'"

Bukhari:V4B52N288 "Expel disbelievers from the Arabian Peninsula.'"

Qur'an 2:191 "Slay them wherever you find and catch them, and drive them out from where they have turned you out; for persecution and oppression are worse than slaughter."

Qur'an 33:25 "Allah drove the disbelievers back...and helped the believers in battle.... He terrorized the People of the Book so that you killed some and made many captive."

Tabari IX:167 "Muhammad waged war against the false prophets [slitting his own wrists would have done nicely] by sending messengers with instructions to get rid of them by artful contrivance [plot or machination]."

Bukhari:V5B59N727 "When Allah's Apostle became seriously sick, he started covering his face with a woolen sheet. When he felt short of breath, he removed it, and said, 'That is so! Allah's curse be on Jews and Christians.'"

Qur'an 21:98 "Verily you (disbelieving Infidels), and the gods that you worship besides Allah, are the fuel for Hell, faggots for the fire! Certainly you will enter it! Had their (idols) been (real) alihah (gods), they would have kept them out of Hell. Therein, sobbing will be your lot. Breathing with deep sighs, roaring. You will hear nothing but wailing and groaning."

Qur'an 18:103 "Say: 'Shall we inform you of who will be the greatest losers? ...Those who reject my Revelations... Hell is their reward, because they rejected Islam, and took My proofs, verses, and lessons, and those of My Messengers by way of jest in mockery.'"

Qur'an 52:9 "On the Day when heaven will heave in dreadful shaking, trembling, and mountains will fly hither and thither, woe to those who reject [me], that play in shallow trifles and sport in vain discourses. That Day they will be pushed down by force, thrust with a horrible thrust into the Fire of Hell. Unable to resist, they shall be driven to the fire with violence."

Qur'an 40:10 "Lo, those who disbelieve will be informed by proclamation: 'Verily Allah's abhorrence is more terrible than your aversion to yourselves. Allah's hatred of you is terrible, seeing that you were called to the Faith [of submission] and you refused.'"

Qur'an 40:35 "Those who dispute the Signs and Verses of Allah without any authority, grievous and odious, hateful and disgusting, is it in the sight of Allah and the Believers.'"

Ishaq:185 "Adam reviewed the spirits of his offspring. The infidels excited his disgust. I saw men with lips like camels. In their hands were pieces of fire like stones which they thrust into their mouths. They came out their posteriors."

Qur'an 20:48 "Verily it has been revealed to us that the Penalty of Doom awaits those who reject and deny."

Qur'an 20:100 "Whoever turns from it, he shall bear a burden on the Day of Doom. Grievous evil will the load on them. We shall gather the Mujrimun (disbeliever) blue or blind-eyed with thirst.... My Lord will blast them and scatter them as dust."

Qur'an 21:06 "Not one of the populations which We destroyed believed: will these believe? ...So we saved whom We pleased, and We destroyed the disbelievers."

Qur'an 21:10 "Verily, We have sent down for you a Book in which is your reminder. Have you then no sense? How many towns have We utterly destroyed because of their wrongs, exchanging them for other people? When they (felt) Our Torment, behold, they (began to) fly. Fly not, but return to that which emasculated you so that you may be interrogated. They cried: 'Woe to us!' Their crying did not cease till We mowed them down as ashes silent and quenched."

Qur'an 21:98 "Verily you (unbelievers), and that which you worship besides Allah, are faggots for the Hell Fire! And come to it you will! There, sobbing and groaning will be your lot."

Qur'an 46:20 "On that Day the unbelievers will be placed before the Fire: 'You squandered your good things in this life and you sought comfort from them, but today shall you be rewarded with a penalty of humiliation.'"

Qur'an 59:4 "If any one resists Allah, verily Allah is severe in Punishment, stern in reprisal."

Ishaq:249 "Fear Hell, whose fuel is men and stones prepared for the infidels.'"

Qur'an 2:39 "Those who reject and deny Our Signs will be inmates of the Hell Fire and will abide there forever."

Qur'an 2:99 "We have sent down to you Manifest Signs; and none reject them but those who are perverse."

Qur'an 2:71 "The semblance of the infidels is one who shouts to one who cannot hear. They are deaf, dumb, and blind. They make no sense."

Qur'an 2:174 "Those who conceal Allah's revelations in the [Bible] Scripture Book, and thus make a miserable profit thereby [selling it to Muhammad], swallow Fire into themselves; Allah will not address them. Grievous will be their doom."

Qur'an 2:175 "They are the ones who bartered away guidance for error and Torment in place of Forgiveness. Ah, what boldness (they show) for the Fire! (Their doom is) because Allah sent down the Book in truth but those who seek causes of dispute in the Book are in a schism of great opposition."

Qur'an 2:256 "There is no compulsion in religion."

Qur'an 4:90 "If they turn back from Islam, becoming renegades, seize them and kill them wherever you find them."

Bukhari:V5B59N572 "O Muslims, take not My enemies as friends, offering them kindness when they reject Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, and his Qur'an. And whoever does that, then indeed he has gone (far) astray. You have come out to fight in My Cause, seeking My acceptance so do not be friendly with them, even in secret." [60:1]

Qur'an 8:12 "I will terrorize the unbelievers. Therefore smite them on their necks and every joint and incapacitate them. Strike off their heads and cut off each of their fingers and toes."

Qur'an 8:13 "This because they rejected Allah and defied His Messenger. If anyone opposes Allah and His Messenger, Allah shall be severe in punishment. That is the torment: 'So taste the punishment. For those infidels who resist there is the torment of Hell.'"

Qur'an 8:20 "Those who do not obey are the worst of beasts, the vilest of animals in the sight of Allah. They are deaf and dumb. Those who do not understand are senseless."

Qur'an 8:36 "The unbelievers spend their wealth to hinder (man) from the Way of Allah, and so will they continue to spend; but in the end they will have intense regrets and sighs. It will become an anguish for them, then they will be subdued. The unbelievers shall be driven into hell in order that Allah may distinguish the bad from the good and separate them. Allah wants to heap the wicked one over the other and cast them into Hell. They are the losers."

Qur'an 8:39 "So fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief [non-Muslims]) and all submit to the religion of Allah alone (in the whole world)."

Qur'an 8:40 "If people are obstinate, and refuse to surrender, know Allah is your Supporter."

Qur'an 8:50 "If you could have seen the infidels when the angels drew away their souls, striking their faces and smiting their backs. The angels said: 'Taste the penalty of the blazing Fire.'"

Qur'an 8:52 "They denied and rejected the revelations of Allah, and Allah destroyed them, punishing them for their crimes: for Allah is strict, severe in punishment."

Ishaq:231 "Muslims are one ummah (community) to the exclusion of all men. Believers are friends of one another to the exclusion of all outsiders."

Ishaq:363 "Say to those who do not believe you: 'You will be vanquished and gathered into Hell, an evil resting place.'"

Qur'an 61:7 "Who does greater wrong than one who invents falsehood against Allah, even as he is being summoned to Submission? And Allah guides not the disbelievers. Their intention is to extinguish Allah's Light (by blowing) with their mouths: But Allah will complete His Light, even though the Unbelievers detest (it). It is He Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth (Islam), that he may make it conquer all religion, even though the disbelievers hate (it)."

Qur'an 2:104 "To those who don't submit there is a grievous punishment."

Qur'an 3:4 "As a guidance to mankind, He sent down the criterion (to judge between right and wrong). Truly, for those who deny the proofs and signs of Allah, the torture will be severe; Allah is powerful, the Lord of Retribution."

Qur'an 3:10 "As for those who deny [Islam], neither their wealth nor their children will help them in the least against Allah. They shall be faggots for the fire of Hell."

Qur'an 3:11 "The punishment of Allah is severe. So tell the unbelieving infidels: 'You will surely be vanquished, seized by Allah, and driven to Hell. How bad a preparation.'"

Qur'an 3:26 "You [Allah] exalt whom You please and debase and humiliate whom You will. Those who believe should not take unbelievers as their friends...guard yourselves from them.... Allah commands you to beware of Him."

Qur'an 3:32 "Say: 'Obey Allah and His Messenger;' If they refuse, remember Allah does not like unbelieving infidels."

Qur'an 3:55 "Allah said, 'Jesus, I will take you and raise you to Myself and rid you of the infidels (who have forged the lie that you are My son).... Those who are infidels will surely receive severe torment both in this world and the next; and none will they have as a savior for them."

Qur'an 3:61 "If anyone disputes with you about Jesus being divine, flee them and pray that Allah will curse them."

Qur'an 3:62 "This is the true account, the true narrative, the true explanation: There is no Ilah (God) except Allah; and Allah - He is the Mighty. And if they turn away, then lo! Allah is aware of the corrupters, the mischief-makers. Say: 'People of the Book, come to common terms as an agreement between us and you: That we all shall worship none but Allah.'"

Qur'an 3:84 "Say (Muhammad): 'We believe in Allah and that which is revealed to us and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes [of Israel], and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered, bowing our will (in Islam).'"

Qur'an 3:85 "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (Surrender), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who are losers."

Qur'an 3:87 "Of such, the reward is the curse of Allah, of His angels, and of all men, all together. Their penalty of doom will not be lightened."

Qur'an 3:118 "Believers! Take not into your intimacy those outside your religion (pagans, Jews, and Christians). They will not fail to corrupt you. They only desire your ruin. Rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths. What their hearts conceal is far worse. When they are alone, they bite off the very tips of their fingers at you in their rage. Say unto them: 'Perish in your rage.'"

Qur'an 3:141 "This is so that Allah may test the faithful and destroy the unbelieving infidels." [Another translation:] "Allah's object is to purge those that are true in Faith and blight the disbelievers. This is so that Allah may test the faithful and destroy the unbelieving infidels."

Qur'an 3:150 "Soon We shall strike terror into the hearts of the Infidels, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority: their abode will be in the Fire!"

Qur'an 33:8 "He has prepared for the Unbelievers a grievous Penalty."

Qur'an 33:58 "And those who annoy or malign Muslims bear (on themselves) a crime of calumny and a glaring sin."

Qur'an 24:39 "For those who disbelieve, their deeds are like a mirage in the desert. There is no water for the thirsty. He only finds Allah, who will pay him his due in Hell."

Qur'an 23:40 "Soon they will regret. Torment and an awful cry will overtake them. We have made such men rubbish, like rotting plants. So away with the people."

Qur'an 24:57 "Never think that the unbelievers can escape in the land. Their abode is Fire!"

Qur'an 4:12 "Those who disobey Allah and His Messenger and transgress His limits will be admitted to a Fire, to abide therein: And they shall have a humiliating punishment."

Found at: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/rnr/657833450.html

Italy prepares for saint display

For 50 years he was said to have borne the bleeding wounds of Jesus.

His followers said he could see into the future and be in two places at once.


Forty years since his death, Padre Pio, now officially Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, continues to move and inspire millions of followers worldwide.

On Thursday, to mark the anniversary of his death, his body will go on display in a glass coffin at his friary at San Giovanni Rotondo, in Puglia, southern Italy.

Already some 700,000 people have registered to visit the sanctuary. Millions more are expected through the year.

The church says entrance to the crypt is free and no decision has yet been taken on how long the coffin will remain on show.


The chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved. The knees, hands and nails all clearly visible
Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio

Padre Pio's body was exhumed in March. The Capuchin friars said it was in "surprisingly good condition".

No special measures were taken to preserve the body when he was buried in 1968. It was injected with formalin, but only to preserve it better during the following days in which the devotees filed past the coffin.

Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, who led the service to exhume the body, said: "We could clearly make out the beard. The top part of the skull is partly skeletal but the chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved. The knees, hands and nails all clearly visible."

Since then it has been treated by a mortician to make the face more recognisable.

Stigmata

But there is still one thing missing. The stigmata.

Neither his feet nor his hands show any signs of the wounds from which, the church says, he bled spontaneously for much of his life.

Padre Pio was born Francesco Forgione, the son of poor farmers from southern Italy. He joined the Capuchin order at the age of 15 but it was not until he was 23 that the wounds started to appear.

In 1911, he wrote to his spiritual adviser, Padre Benedetto, describing something unusual that had happened to him.

Statue of Padre Pio in Messina, Sicily in March 2002A statue of Padre Pio drew crowds after reports that it shed tears of blood

"I can neither explain nor understand it," he said.

"In the middle of the palms of my hands a red mark appeared, about the size of a penny, accompanied by acute pain in the middle of the red marks.

"The pain was more pronounced in the middle of the left hand, so much so that I can still feel it. Also under my feet I can feel some pain."

As word of his miracles spread, the cult following grew.

It alarmed the Catholic Church.

At one point, he was banned from celebrating Mass in public, although one of those who was said to have made a pilgrimage to Foggia for confession with him was a young Pole who would later become Pope John Paul II - and make Padre Pio a saint.

'Self-harmer'

More recently the sceptics have cast doubt on the miracles he performed. The founder of Rome's Catholic University hospital concluded Padre Pio was "an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath who exploited people's credulity".

Last year, historian Sergio Luzzatto suggested Padre Pio was a self-harmer who had used carbolic acid to create the wounds.

The research was based on a document found in the Vatican's archive: the testimony of a pharmacist from San Giovanni Rotondo and from whom he had ordered four grams of acid.


Padre Pio is big business. His portrait hangs from rear-view mirrors, in dry cleaners, in restaurants and police stations

According to the pharmacist, Padre Pio had asked her to keep the request secret, saying it was to sterilise needles.

The document was examined but dismissed by the Catholic Church during Padre Pio's beatification process.

Today the essence of his condition remains a mystery. He is said to have lost a cup of blood a day through his wounds and yet never showed any signs of anaemia.

The wounds were never infected. He ate very little: one account states that he went 20 days on only the Eucharist without any other nourishment.

And so, despite the scepticism that has grown in some quarters, Padre Pio still fascinates and enchants millions around the world.

In Italy, Padre Pio is big business.

His portrait hangs from rear-view mirrors, in dry cleaners, in restaurants and police stations.

His following has transformed the small town of San Giovanni Rotondo.

It is now a centre for pilgrims from around the world. A modern hospital has been built for those seeking cures and, in 2004, a vast new church, designed by internationally renowned architect Renzo Piano, was officially consecrated.

It cost the church $36 million to build and can hold 30,000 pilgrims.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7361189.stm

Stadium Mass ends Pope's US visit

Pope Benedict XVI said farewell to the United States by celebrating an open-air Mass with 55,000 people at New York's Yankee baseball stadium.

Earlier, he visited Ground Zero in New York, the site of two of the 11 September 2001 attacks.

Well-wishers gave him a final cheer as he boarded a plane for Rome on Sunday.

The Pope's six-day tour, which has dominated the American media and attracted huge crowds, has been hailed as a great success by analysts.

Pope Benedict enjoyed a packed schedule during his visit, his first to the US since being elected head of the Catholic Church.

The trip coincided with the third anniversary of his election to the papacy and also his 81st birthday.


POPE'S ITINERARY
15 Apr: Arrived at Andrews Air Force Base
16 Apr: White House luncheon; talks with Mr Bush. Meeting with US bishops and prayer service
17 Apr: Washington Mass; addressed Catholic University; interfaith meeting
18 Apr: Address to UN
19 Apr: NY Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral
20 Apr: Ground Zero visit; Yankee Stadium Mass

US Vice-President Dick Cheney hosted a farewell ceremony for the pontiff at New York's JFK airport, which was also attended by former President Bill Clinton and his wife, and presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton.

Pope Benedict said "May God bless America!" before boarding the specially chartered Alitalia plane, nicknamed Shepherd One, for his flight back to Rome.

There was a party atmosphere at his final engagement at the Yankee stadium in New York, with clergy and lay members of the Church taking part in Mexican waves ahead of the pontiff's arrival.

Jazz musician Harry Connick Jr and gospel singer Kim Burrell performed prior to the Mass, and not for the first time, the Pope was greeted by a sea of people waving yellow and white handkerchiefs, the official papal colours.

'Feeling different'

The BBC's David Willey in New York said demand for the free tickets far outstripped supply.

Philip Giordano, 49, a tax lawyer from Connecticut, said: "I have never seen Yankee stadium so beautiful, and I have a season ticket."

Pope Benedict XVI blesses Ground Zero on Saturday 20-4-08
At Ground Zero the Pope blessed the "scene of incredible violence and pain"

His wife Suzanne added: "I am hoping to feel something. Everyone who has seen him (Pope Benedict) says they crumple. You come away just feeling different."

Earlier, at Ground Zero, Pope Benedict prayed for the rescuers and victims of the 11 September 2001 attacks, as well as "those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred".

He requested "eternal light and peace" for those who died, not only in New York but at the Pentagon in Washington DC and in Pennsylvania.

The Pope then met 24 people with links to the tragedy, taking the time to chat to each.

Unprecedented steps

During his visit, the Pope has been welcomed by huge crowds at the three Masses he has celebrated.

He has also not shied away from the difficult issues, taking the unprecedented step of repeatedly expressing regret for the scandal of sexual abuse carried out by Catholic clergy.

The Pope also hailed the growing influence of Hispanic migrants on the US Catholic church, and urged Americans to use their freedoms wisely.

He was given an unprecedented, personal welcome by US President George W Bush when he touched down at Andrews Air Force base on Tuesday.

He delivered a speech at the UN headquarters on Friday, and in a personal address on Saturday, Pope Benedict told 30,000 Catholic youths at a New York rally about growing up under the "monster" of Nazism.

With a candour that correspondents say has been a hallmark of this visit, he spoke publicly for the first time about being forced to join the Hitler Youth and being conscripted into the Nazi army.

Pope Benedict also visited a New York synagogue on Saturday, becoming the first leader of the Roman Catholic church to visit a Jewish place of worship in the US.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7357948.stm

When Muslims become Christians

There's a widespread belief that the penalty for leaving Islam is death - hence, perhaps, the killing of a British teacher last week. But Shiraz Maher believes attitudes may be softening.


Ziya Miral's parents disowned him when he converted from Islam to Christianity.

"They said 'go away, you're not our son.' They told people I died in an accident rather than having the shame of their son leaving Islam."

Born and raised in Turkey, he decided to convert to Christianity after moving to university. He knew telling his parents would be a difficult moment even though they're not particularly observant Muslims, and he planned to break the news to them gently.

In the end, events overtook him. Before heading back to Turkey for the holidays, Ziya briefly visited a Christian summer camp where he was filmed eating a bowl of spaghetti.

The first his parents heard of his conversion was when they saw Ziya on the national news being described as "an evil missionary" intent on "brainwashing" Turkish children.

His parents decided they would rather tell people that he was dead than acknowledge he was a Christian. And Ziya, who now lives in the UK, is not alone in this experience.

Sophia, which is not her real name, faced similar pressures when she decided to become a Christian.

Coming from a Pakistani background but living in east London, 28-year-old Sophia spoke about the extreme cultural pressures her family put her under.

SENTENCED TO DEATH -- Hashem Aghajari
Hashem Aghajari, a history professor in Tehran (pictured), was sentenced to death for apostasy in Nov 2002
He had said Muslims should not follow clerics "like monkeys"
The sentence sparked off a month of student protests and was quashed by Iran's Supreme Court
Abdul Rahman began a new life in Italy after his trial for apostasy in Kabul collapsed

"They kept saying: 'The punishment is death, do you know the punishment is death?'"

In the end, Sophia ran away from home. Her mother tracked her down and turned up at her baptism.

"I got up to get baptised, that's when my mother got up, ran to the front and tried to pull me out of the water.

"My brother was really angry. He reacted and phoned me on my mobile and just said: 'I'm coming down to burn that church.'"

For Sophia and Ziya, a lot of the prejudice they faced seemed to be borne out of cultural ideas, which are particularly ingrained in the South Asian community relating to notions of family honour.

But it's too easy to say this is just a cultural problem. Dig a little deeper and you find that there is a theological argument which advocates the death penalty for apostates, which has serious implications for British society.

Aghajari's death sentence sparked protests and a review

Last week, British teacher Daud Hassan Ali, 64, was shot dead in Somalia. His widow, Margaret Ali, said her husband was targeted by Islamists who "believe it is ok to kill any man who was born into Islam and left the faith".

Those renouncing their faith for atheism or agnosticism are viewed in a similar way to those who adopt another faith.

A poll conducted by the Policy Exchange last year suggested that over a third of young British Muslims believe that the death penalty should apply for apostasy.

Until recently, I would have shared that view, but since personally rejecting extremism myself, I've been re-examining the issues which I once regarded as conclusive.

Discretion

I was staggered to learn that the Quran does not say anything about punishing apostates and that its proponents use two hadiths instead to support their view. Hadiths are the recorded traditions and sayings of the Prophet which, in addition to the Quran, provide an additional source of Islamic law.

The hadiths which relate to apostasy are linguistically ambiguous and open to interpretation. Distinguished scholars told me that the hadiths actually speak about a death penalty for treason, not apostasy. And even then, they stressed the punishment is discretionary.

Dr Hisham Hellyer is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies at University of Oxford, and has researched classical Islamic law.

He believes the death penalty punishment is no longer applicable and should be suspended under certain circumstances.

Usama Hassan, a Cambridge-educated scientist and an imam, goes further and says the classical scholars were wrong in how they interpreted the Quran. He is unequivocal in denouncing those who advocate the death penalty.

"I believe the classical law of apostasy in Islam is wrong and based on a misunderstanding of the original sources, because the Quran and Hadith don't actually talk about a death penalty for apostasy."

Last year Egypt's Grand Mufti, Ali Gomaa, unequivocally told the Washington Post that the death penalty for apostasy simply no longer applies. It provoked a flurry of debate in Egypt and the wider Middle East.

Traitor

The idea of killing apostates has become a resurgent theme in recent years, a fact closely-related to the increasing politicisation of Islam since 9/11.

It epitomises the "us and them" mentality felt by many Muslims between themselves and the West. And there's an uncomfortable conclusion to all this.

If there is a death penalty for treason, then who defines what treason is?

Earlier this year a group of men from Birmingham pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to kidnap and behead a British Muslim solider because they regarded him as a traitor. Joining the British army was to them treason against Islam.

So while the debate surrounding one aspect of apostasy continues, it is simultaneously throwing up an entirely new series of challenges around other issues including what should be considered treason against Islam.

Muslim attitudes towards apostasy are a metaphor for the wider struggle taking place within Islam, between those who argue for a progressive form of Islam and those who argue for more dogmatic interpretations.

Attitudes to apostasy may be a useful barometer for judging where it's headed.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7355515.stm