Riyadh, 20 March (AKI) - 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 t
here
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."
[Recognize him as what
he is or who that Muslims believe he is? I recognize him as one who
scattereth Mt
12:30 Lu
11:23 Joh
10:12 ]
"If they don't
recognise him as a prophet,
[of
whom the angel of light 2Co
11:14 ] 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.