Thomas Aquinas WARNED US ABOUT ISLAM 750 YEARS AGO

https://www.jewsnews.co.il/2016/07/21/he-warned-us-about-islam-750-years-ago-and-his-warning-is-still-relevant-today-2.html
HE WARNED US ABOUT ISLAM 750 YEARS AGO – AND HIS WARNING IS STILL RELEVANT TODAY
JUL 21, 2016by JEWS NEWSin OPINION
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The 13th-century scholar Thomas Aquinas, regarded as one of the most eminent medieval philosophers and theologians, offered a biting critique of Islam based in large part on the questionable character and methods of its founder, Mohammed.

Thomas Aquinas is a well-known philosopher and theologian from medieval times. In reviewing his writings, it’s clear he had fierce criticism and concern about Islam. As events roll out in the Middle East with Radical Islam on the rise, it’s important to learn from history so as not to repeat it. According to Breitbart:

According to Aquinas, Islam appealed to ignorant, brutish, carnal men and spread not by the power of its arguments or divine grace but by the power of the sword.
Aquinas, a keen observer of the human condition, was familiar with the chief works of the Muslim philosophers of his day–including Avicenna, Algazel, and Averroes–and engaged them in his writings.

Since Islam was founded and spread in the seventh century, Aquinas—considered by Catholics as a saint and doctor of the Church—lived in a period closer to that of Mohammed than to our own day.

In one of his most significant works, the voluminous Summa contra gentiles, which Aquinas wrote between 1258 and 1264 AD, the scholar argued for the truth of Christianity against other belief systems, including Islam.

Aquinas contrasts the spread of Christianity with that of Islam, arguing that much of Christianity’s early success stemmed from widespread belief in the miracles of Jesus, whereas the spread of Islam was worked through the promise of sensual pleasures and the violence of the sword.

Mohammad, Aquinas wrote, “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.”

Such an offer, Aquinas contended, appealed to a certain type of person of limited virtue and wisdom.

“In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men,” he wrote. “As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of