Through Force or Faith

On September 12, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a lecture at the University of Regensburg, Germany during which he indicated that Islam was spread by the sword. He referenced a medieval polemic authored by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1350–1425ce). The Pope also insinuated that the verse in the Quran forbidding compulsion in matters of faith (2:257) applied only when the Holy Prophet(sa) was in a state of political weakness, but this principle was changed once he attained a position of power. These statements created an uproar across the Muslim world.

In defense of the true teachings of Islam, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad(aba), Khalifatul-Masih V, immediately refuted the erroneous statements made by the Pope. In 2008, these were published in an Urdu book along with other chapters written by several Ahmadiyya Muslim scholars. This is the English translation of that book.