Muslim Leaders Call Pope's Remarks Anti-Islamic
Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter (AHN) - Muslim leaders are angry over remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI during a speech at a German university this week, saying they were anti-Islamic. The pontiff quoted a 14th-Century Christian emperor who said Muhammad brought only "evil and inhuman" things to the world. Benedict went over the historical and philosophical differences between Islam and Christianity and explored the concept of holy war, or jihad. He stressed that the words of Emperor Manual II Paleologos of Byzantine were not his own. The Pope quoted him as saying: "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." Javed Ahmed Gami, a senior Pakistani Islamic scholar, says jihad does not mean spreading Islam through war. Turkey's top religious official, Ali Badda Kolu, demanded an apology for the "abhorrent, hostile and prejudiced point of view". The Pope is scheduled to visit Turkey in November. According to BBC News, many Turks view Benedict as anti-Turkish. Police in Indian-administered Kashmir confiscated copies of newspapers which reported the Pope's comments to prevent any violence. Father Frederico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, says he did not believe the Pope's comments were intended to harshly criticize Islam.
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