Some Muslims and the Pope

Muslims around the world on Sunday praised the late Pope John Paul’s drive to build bridges with Islam and said his death had cost both faiths a campaigner for peace and justice, according to Reuters.

Muslims said the Pope’s support for the Palestinians and opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 increased their respect for him and helped contain the idea of a “clash of civilisations” after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the Pope “a great religious figure who devoted his life to defending the values of peace, freedom, justice and equality for all races and religions, as well as our people’s right to independence”.

The grand sheikh of Egypt’s al-Azhar mosque, which the Pope visited in 2001, said his death was “a big loss for the Catholic Church and the Islamic world.” Grand Sheikh Mohamed Sayed al-Tantawi said he valued the Pope’s “moderate position supporting Arab issues in each of Palestine and Iraq.”

In Pakistan, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the Islamist Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance said the world had lost a man of peace.

“(U.S. President) George Bush’s talk of a Crusader war was a clear negation of Pope John Paul’s efforts to promote interfaith dialogue and harmony,” he said.

The Arab League lowered the flag over its Cairo headquarters to half-mast. League spokesman Hossam Zaki said the Pope had helped avoid “unnecessary misunderstandings” between Christians and Muslims over Western government policies in the region.

“BRIDGE OF UNDERSTANDING”

Afghanistan’s president commended the Pope’s support of his people’s desire for freedom, and clerics in Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh hoped his successor would build on the Pope’s efforts to strengthen ties of understanding with Islam.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said: “We remember that during the years of Afghanistan’s occupation by the Soviet Union, the Pope raised his voice of support to the Afghan people.”

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said the Pope had commanded the three paths of religious learning, philosophical thought and poetic and artistic creativity.

“This was a good man, a man of peace,” said Theirno Habibou Tall, a Muslim leader who met the Pope during his visit to predominantly Muslim Senegal in 1992.

Many Muslims hope the Pope’s successor will continue to work for understanding between the two religions. In 1986 the Pope invited Muslims and adherents of other faiths to pray together at Assisi for world peace.

In Kuala Lumpur, Azizan Razak, a cleric and senior leader of the opposition Parti Islam-se Malaysia, said: “We hope his successor will follow his footsteps to increase understanding between Muslims and Christians.”

In Bangladesh, home to nearly 140 million Muslims, Moulana Obaidul Haque of the Baitul Mokarram national mosque, said the world had lost a great religious leader. “We hope his successor will also work for world peace,” the cleric said.

In the largely Catholic Philippines, one leader of an influential group of Islamic clerics said John Paul served as a “bridge of understanding” between Christians and Muslims.

“I was touched by his gesture to pardon a Muslim who tried to assassinate him,” said Sharif Julabbi of the Ulama League.

The Pope survived the attempt on his life by a Turkish gunman in May 1981.

“We see the Pope’s death as a loss in the name of tolerance and peace,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

But not everyone of course feels the same:

But some in the Arab world had only disdain for the Pope.

“He meant nothing to me,” said Abdul Rahman al-Mashari, an engineer in Riyadh. “He was not even as important as a hair on my head.”

Also Islamonline has several stories on the pope.

Muslim scholars and leaders from the four corners of the world where united Sunday, April 3, in praising late Pope John Paul II’s tireless efforts to build bridges of confidence between the Catholic Church and Islam.

Prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi hailed the deceased pontiff as a man who served his faith with utmost sincerity.

The Dublin-based International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS), of which Qaradawi is chairman, sent a cable of condolences to Vatican Foreign Minister Angelo Sodanoand.

“He (the pontiff) was a man of peace who stood firmly against the (US-led) Iraq war and the Israeli separation wall,” read the cable, a copy of which was sent to IslamOnline.net.

The IAMS, which groups 200 Muslim scholars from around the world, prayed to God to show mercy on the pope and “reward him for the services he done to his religion and humanity.”

The pontiff, who died Saturday, April 2, in his bed surrounded by his closest Polish aides, had warned the US that its forces in Iraq were damaging efforts to bring religions together and its Mideast policies were not helping the cause of peace.

On the US war on terror, he said: “The fight against terrorism must not be purely repressive and punitive” but “must also proceed from the elimination of its causes, which are rooted in injustice.”

Inter-Faith Advocate

“The death of the pope is a great loss for the Catholic Church and the Muslim world,” said Sheikh Tantawi.

Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi hailed the late pope as a partner in promoting inter-faith dialogue.

“The death of the pope is a great loss for the Catholic Church and the Muslim world,” said Tantawi, who heads the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world.

“He was a man who defended the values of justice and peace and worked for the victory of relations between the Muslim and Christian peoples based on friendship and love,” he added in a statement.

“We supported the pontiff’s in many of his wise stances, especially his firm opposition to the war on Iraq,” said Tantawi.

“The pope stressed during a visit to Al-Azhar that all divine faiths advocate peace work for the security and welfare for all people.”

Sheikh Tantawi hoped Pope John Paul’s successor would pursue the same path of peace and justice.

Grieving the loss of the pope, Al-Azhar reaffirmed commitment to dialogue with Vatican on promoting understanding between Islam and Christianity.

“Pope John Paul II was a unique example in spreading peace and tolerance among all peoples. He was also a staunch supporter of justice and peace,” Sheikh Fawzi El-Zefzaf, the chair of Al-Azhar Inter-Faith Permanent Committee, told IOL.

He said the pontiff’s death “should not influence dialogue between Al-Azhar and the Vatican as the two sides are still committed by their 1998 agreement”.

He also visited Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Egypt during his 26-year-tenure.

Bridges of Trust

In May 2001 Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to make an official visit to a mosque.

Hasyim Muzadi, leader of the Indonesian Nahdlatul Ulama, the biggest Muslim group in the world with 40 million members, praised the pontiff’s role in building bridges of trust with Islam reported Reuters.

“We…certainly feel sorrow for the passing away of the Pope because he has dedicated himself all his life to humanitarian and peace efforts,” he added.

The late pope spearheaded a campaign over the past two decades to promote cooperation between the world Muslims and the Catholics.

“He was also right at the forefront of the protest against the war on Iraq,” said Malaysian political analyst Chandra Muzaffar. “That showed he was committed to global justice and peace.”

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of Pakistan’s Islamist Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance echoed similar assessments.

“Bush’s talk of a Crusader war was a clear negation of Pope John Paul’s efforts to promote interfaith dialogue and harmony”.

Palestinian President Mamoud Abbas called the pope “a great religious figure who devoted his life to defending the values of peace, freedom, justice and equality for all races and religions, as well as our people’s right to independence”.

The late pontiff was also known for his vigorous opposition to the construction of Israel’s separation wall in the West Bank, saying the Middle East “does not need walls but bridges.”

Path of Understanding

Many Muslims hope that the pope’s successor will follow the path chalked out by the late pontiff to enhance the understanding between Islam and Christianity.

“The pope’s successor must continue what this pope has begun,” Egyptian Minister of Awkaf (religious endowments) Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk told Reuters.

“This would contribute to peace.”

Zaki Badawi, principal of London’s Muslim College, echoed similar hopes.

“Hopefully his successors will continue his policy of creating an understanding and furthering cooperation with Muslims”.

French Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the Vatican’s Council for Culture, said enhancing the Muslim-Catholic relations would be a major issue for the next pontiff.

“You saw the pope’s position during the war in Iraq. He wanted to avoid at all costs having this be seen as a war of religions, which it wasn’t, and he made desperate efforts to do that. This is crucial for the future.”

In 1986, the late pope invited Muslims and followers of other faiths to Assisi to pray together for world peace.

In May 2001 he became the first pontiff to make an official visit to a mosque in the Syrian capital Damascus.

“It is my ardent hope that Muslim and Christian religious leaders and teachers will present our two great religious communities as communities in respectful dialogue, never more as communities in conflict,” the pope said at the Umayyad Mosque.

“For all the times that Muslims and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek forgiveness from the Almighty and to offer each other forgiveness,” he said.