Ahmadinejad is writing a letter to Pope Benedict

Reuters Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is writing a letter to Pope Benedict, following an unprecedented letter to U.S. President George W. Bush earlier this month, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Bryan blogged He also invited Bush to become a Muslim. And you would be wise to interpret the word “invite” to have a whiff of the mob inviting you to dinner at the end of a pier. Since al-Reuters doesn’t provide the context for these global pen pal missives, I will. These letters are hardly unprecedented, as al-Reuters says. Their origins go all the way back to Mohammed, who often issued letters to the kings of lands he was about to attack to invite them to accept Islam before Mohammed would invade to convert them by the sword. Thus, the religion of peace spread far and wide. This, now second letter from the hand of Ahmadinejad is a da’wa–a call to Islam. It follows Mohammed’s traditional letters. Implicit in such letters is the threat that if the recipient doesn’t accept Islam voluntarily, he and his land will accept it by force. Or die resisting.

In Crazy Mahmoud’s mind, he has now written to the chief of the world’s top secular superpower and is writing to the chief of the world’s unbelieving (vis a vis Islam) religious superpower (there being no equivalent of the pope in Islam). He is inviting them both to accept Islam, both personally and on behalf of their nation and church. Unless I miss my guess, in the letter to Benedict he will be, in essence, calling upon the Catholic Church to accept Islam–or die.

Should the Pope respond and invite Ahmadinejad to accept Jesus Christ as his personal saviour?

These letters are not well-wishes for the holidays or get-to-know-you cultural exchanges. They are threats. Mahmoud has something planned, and it would seem to me to be in the latter stages of finalization before it goes forward.

Update (Allahpundit): Bryan beat me to the punch, so I’ll merely add that MEMRI has video of this tool ranting yesterday about “nuts and chocolates.”

Ahmadinejad is clearly the nut. Who is the chocolate?