Auburn man’s book presented to pope

VATICAN CITY — A book written by an Auburn man was presented to Pope Francis recently.

Shaykh Yahya Pallavicini, Italian Ambassador of the Covenants Initiative, an international movement of Muslims to defend persecuted Christians based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Lexington, Kentucky, presented a copy of “The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World” to Pope Francis.

The book was written by Dr. John Andrew Morrow of Auburn, a professor of foreign languages at Ivy Tech Community College, Fort Wayne.

The book contains the texts of six treaties between Muhammad and Christian communities of his time; they command Muslims not to attack or rob peaceful Christians, but rather defend them “until the end of the world.”

Many Muslim scholars consider these covenants, authored by the Prophet himself, to be legally binding upon Muslims today, a press release said.

Pallavicini described Francis in a press release as “very touched by my words of solidarity for the Christians in the Middle East.”

The pope extended his blessings to Pallavicini for the important role of Western Muslims, a press release said.

Morrow is a scholar, author, and research scholar. He also is the director of The Covenants Foundation and Quality Counseling and Psychological Services.

The book has been featured in multiple media outlets, including Time Magazine and the Huffington Post.

“When I am not teaching, I tour the world promoting peace and opposing extremism and violence,” Morrow said.

For more about Morrow and his books, go to amazon.com/John-Andrew-Morrow/e/B003UME6HS

The website for “The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World” is covenantsoftheprophet.com