Merkel: Pope's critics misunderstand message

German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended remarks on Islam and jihad made by Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to Germany, saying they have “misunderstood” the pontiff’s message.

“Whomever criticises the pope has misunderstood the message of his speech,” Merkel said.

“It is an invitation to dialogue between religions and the pope has explicitly urged this dialogue, which I also endorse and see as urgently necessary,” Merkel said.

“What Benedict XVI makes it clear is a decisive and uncompromising rejection of any use of violence in the name of religion.”

By citing an obscure Medieval text that characterises Mohammed’s teachings as “evil and inhuman,” Benedict inflamed passions across the Islamic world and has aggravated fears of a “clash of civilisations.”

The leader of the Roman Catholic church quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and an educated Persian, on the truths of Christianity and Islam.

“The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,” the pope said.

“He said, I quote, ’Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,”’ Benedict quoted the emperor as saying.

Lebanon’s most senior Shiite Muslim cleric denounced Pope Benedict’s remarks as Egypt warned that the pope’s comments could incite violence between Muslims and Christians.

“We do not accept the apology through Vatican channels … and ask him (Benedict) to offer a personal apology – not through his officials – to Muslims for this false reading (of Islam),” Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah told worshippers in his Friday prayers sermon.

Fadlallah’s words were some of the strongest yet in response to the pontiff’s remarks on Islam’s prophet Mohammed and holy war, during a speech this week in Germany, which angered many in the Muslim world.

“We call on the pope to carry out a scientific and fastidious reading of Islam. We do not want him to succumb to the propaganda of the enemy led by Judaism and imperialism against Islam,” Fadlallah said.

Other Islamic leaders have demanded an apology from the pope, and one Kuwaiti lawmaker called on his government to restrict new churches from opening.

The pope quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and an educated Persian, on the truths of Christianity and Islam.

“The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,” the pope said.

“He said, I quote, ’Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," Benedict quoted the emperor as saying.

Yesterday, the Vatican said the pope had not intended to offend Muslim sensibilities with the remarks.

But the comments continued to reverberate.

About 100 worshippers demonstrated after Friday prayers at Cairo’s Al-Azhar mosque, the Sunni Arab world’s most prominent institution, chanting “Oh Crusaders, oh cowards! Down with the pope!”

One of the protest’s organisers, a Muslim Brotherhood figure, shouted into a microphone, demanding an official apology from the Vatican.

Hundreds of Egyptian riot police wearing black helmets and carrying heavy shields surrounded the mosque, preventing protesters from spilling over into the streets.

Fadlallah said he condemns “and protests in the strongest terms” the pope’s comments, “particularly his quoting without any occasion of the words of the emperor in which he insults Prophet Mohammed.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora instructed Lebanon’s ambassador to the Vatican, Naji Abi Assi, to visit the Vatican Foreign Ministry to seek clarifications on the pontiff’s remarks, a Lebanese government official said Friday.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also directed his country’s embassy in the Vatican to demand a clarification and asked for a script of the speech he gave, the Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry also warned that the pope’s remarks could lead to violence in the Middle East.

“Such remarks will have negative impact on the sought efforts to support the dialogue among religions and civilisations, and will only lead to inciting sedition and sectarianism,” the ministry in a written statement issued by the country’s Information Ministry.

In Kuwait, lawmaker Daifallah Burmiyah said an apology from the pope is not enough and urged the government to issue a law that restricts new churches from opening.

“There will be no goodness expected from a nation that doesn’t protect it’s religion,” Burmiyah said in a written statement.

The Syrian grand mufti, the country’s top Sunni Muslim religious authority, sent a letter to the pope saying he feared the pontiff’s comments on Islam would worsen interfaith relations.

Sheikh Ahmad Badereddine Hassoun, a moderate cleric, said in the letter addressed to the pope and delivered to the Vatican embassy in Damascus that the comments “raise intellectual, cultural and religious problems between followers of religious faiths".

“We expect that what has been attributed to your holiness is not true and hope we can all work together on spreading divine values that call for harmony, accord and cooperation,” Hassoun wrote.

Hassoun later delivered a scathing sermon in which he denounced the pope’s remarks.

“We have heard about your extremism and hate for Arabs and Muslims. Now that you have dropped the mask from your face we see its ugliness and extremist nature. We call on you to apologise to Muslims,” he said.

In Iraq Shiite and Sunni Arabs united in condemnation of Pope Benedict XVI.

“We denounce this slander made by the pope on Islam and the figure of the Prophet Mohammed,” said Sheikh Salah al-Ubaidi, delivering a sermon to about 5,000 people in the Shiite Muslim-stronghold of Kufa, about 100 miles south of Baghdad.

“It is the second assault made on Islam and the prophet. Last year and in the same month the Danish cartoon assaulted Islam,” he said, referring to cartoons that were published in a Danish newspaper depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Sunni Arab cleric Mahmoud al-Isawi, delivering a sermon at the Abdul-Qadir al-Gilani mosque in central Baghdad, described the pontiff’s comment as a “Western aggressive attack” which was “clearly showing its hatred toward our Islamic religion".

In Iraq’s second-largest city, Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Shiite Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdul-Kareem al-Ghazi said the pope’s comments ran counter to the Christian faith.

“The Pope and Vatican proved to be Zionists and that they are far from Christianity, which does not differ from Islam. Both religions call for forgiveness, love and brotherhood,” he said, delivering his sermon to followers gathered at the offices of radical Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Although the office is not a mosque, many Muslims tend to gather there for religious services.

Al-Ghazi challenged Benedict or any other senior Vatican official to a debate, saying he would be willing to convert to Christianity if the pontiff manages to convince him of his views.