The following is a translation of a work by Don
Bosco entitled The Catholic Educated in his
Religion. Conversations with the Father of a Family
and His Beloved sons, in Relation to the Needs of
the Present Day (Turin, 1853). Don Bosco presents
this as a form of a father and son discussion.

Father:
Before talking to you about the religions
separated at a certain point from the Roman
Catholic Church, I want to draw your attention to
the religions that do not have the characteristics
of the divinity in them and which we call false
religions. They range from Judaism to idolatry,
to Mohammedanism, to the Christian sects
professed by the schismatic Greeks, Valdese,
Anglicans and Protestants.
Regarding idolatry, I think there is no need to
discuss this with you, since nowadays it does not
exist, with the exception of very few countries
where the light of the Gospel has still not
penetrated.
Regarding Judaism, I think I have already spoken
sufficiently in the first part of these conversations.
If you like, I’ll now tell you about the others,
starting with Mohammedanism.

Son:
Yes, yes, first of all, tell us what Mohammedanism
means?

Father:
Mohammedanism is a collection of maxims
extracted from various religions, which, if
practiced, bring about the destruction of every
moral principle.

Son:
In which countries is this Mohammedanism
professed?

Father:
It is professed in a large part of Asia as well as part
of Africa.
Son:
Who started Mohammedanism?
Father:
Mohammedanism was started by Mohammed.

Son:
Oh! We’d really like to hear about this Mohammed.
Tell us everything you know about him.

Father:
It would take too long to tell you all the stories
about this famous impostor. But I’ll tell you who
he was and how he came to establish his Religion.
In the year 570, Mohammed was born into a poor
family, of a Jewish mother and gentile father, in
Mecca, an Arabian city not far from the Red Sea.
In search of glory and desirous of bettering his
conditions, he wandered around several countries
and managed in Damascus to become the agent of
a merchant’s widow who afterwards married him.
He was cunning enough to take advantage of his
infirmities as well as her ignorance, to establish a
religion. Suffering from epilepsy, male caduco, he
claimed his frequent falls were ecstasies wherein
he had conversations with the Angel Gabriel.

Son:
What an imposter to deceive people like that!
Did he also try to work miracles to support his
predication?

Father:
Mohammed couldn’t work any miracles to
support his religion, as he was not sent by God.
God is the sole author of miracles. However, as
he claimed himself greater than Jesus Christ, he
was asked to work miracles in the same way [as
Jesus]. He arrogantly replied that the miracles had
[already] been worked by Jesus Christ and that he
[himself] had been called by God to reestablish
the religion by force.
With all of this he claimed to have worked one
miracle. He said he had been able to restore
a piece of the moon after it had fallen onto his
sleeve; to commemorate this ridiculous miracle,
the Muslims made the half-moon their emblem.
You laugh, beloved sons, and you are right to
do so, since a man of that sort [simply] had to
be deemed a charlatan, not the predicator of a
new religion. For this reason, his fellow-citizens
wanted to imprison him and put him to death
since his reputation as an impostor and disturber
of the peace was widely known. But he managed
to escape and retreated to the city of Medina
along with some libertines who helped him and
made him the ruler of that city. [1]

Son:
What exactly does the Mohammedan religion
consist of?

Father:
Mohammed’s religion consists of a monstrous
mixture of Judaism, Paganism and Christianity.
The book of Mohammed’s laws is called the
Qur’an i.e. the book par excellence. This religion
is also called Turkish (Ottoman) since it is widely
diffused in Turkey; Muslim [Musulmana] derives
from Mosul, the name that the Mohammedans
give to their prayer director; Islamism, from the
name of some of its reformers, at any rate, is still
the same religion Mohammed established.

Son:
Why did Mohammed put together this mixture
of various religions?

Father:
Since the peoples of Arabia were in part Jews
Christians and Pagans, he consequently selected
a part of the religion they professed in order to
induce them to follow him, choosing in particular,
those points that would favor sensual pleasures
the most.

Son:
Mohammed must have been an erudite man?

Father:
Absolutely not, he couldn’t even write; and in
composing his Qur’an he was assisted by a Jew
and an apostate monk. When discussing things
contained in Holy Scripture he confused the
facts; for example, he attributes to Mary, Moses’
sister, many facts that regard Mary, the Mother
of Jesus Christ, in addition to many, many other
frightful errors.

Son:
This seems hard to believe: if Mohammed was
ignorant and he didn’t work any miracles, how
could he have propagated his religion?

Father:
Mohammed propagated his religion, not through
miracles or persuasive words, but by military
force. In a short time, this religion which favoured
every sort of licentiousness, allowed Mohammed
to become the leader of a troop of brigands.
Along with them he raided the countries of the
East and conquered the people, not by indicating
the Truth, not by miracles or prophecy but with
one aim only: to raise his sword over the heads of
the conquered shouting: believe or die!

Son:
What a villain! This cannot be the way to convert
people! Without doubt, Mohammed being such
an ignoramus must have planted many seeds of
error in the Qur’an?

Father:
We could say the Koran (Qur’an) is a series of
errors, the most enormous ones being against
morality and the worship of the true God. For
example, it excuses from sin those who deny
God out of fear of death; it permits revenge; it
guarantees its followers a Paradise filled only of
earthly pleasures. In short, this false prophet’s
doctrine permits things so obscene, that the
Christian soul is horrified just naming them.

Son:
What is the difference between the Catholic
Church and the Mohammedan one?

Father:
The difference is very great. Mohammed
established his religion with violence and arms;
Jesus Christ established His Church with words
of peace using His poor disciples. Mohammed
incited the passions; Jesus Christ commanded
the denial of self. Mohammed worked no
miracles; Jesus Christ worked uncountable
miracles in broad daylight and in the presence of
countless multitudes. Mohammed’s doctrines are
ridiculous, immoral and corrupting; Jesus Christ’s
are august, sublime and pure. In Mohammed not
even one prophecy was fulfilled; in Jesus Christ
all were.
To sum up, the Christian religion, in a certain way,
renders man happy in this world so as to raise
him up to the enjoyment of Heaven; Mohammed
degrades and dishonours human nature and by
placing all happiness in sensual pleasures, reduces
man to the level of filthy animals.
1. Mohammed’s escape was called Egira, which
means “escape” from which the Muslim era begins
precisely and corresponds to the Year of Our Lord,
622.
* Conversation XIII [Pages 50 to 56]. Originally
translated and posted