Quod Erat Demonstrandum
In one of his latest statements Pope Benedict said

``I hope that in several occasions during the visit ... my deep respect for great religions, in particular for Muslims — who worship the one God and with whom we are engaged in defending and promoting together social justice, moral values, peace and freedom for all men — has emerged clearly,'' he said at the Vatican.

However

The grand sheik of Al-Azhar Mosque, the Sunni Arab world's most powerful institution, has demanded that the Pope apologize more clearly.

``The Pope has to apologize frankly and justify what he said,'' Grand Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi told papal and Egyptian Catholic representatives in Cairo on Tuesday. — AP

This is probably in the spirit of his efforts at ecumenical harmony

A New Recommendation by Al-Azhar: Stop Calling Jews 'Apes and Pigs'

In March 2003, Al-Azhar University's Institute for Islamic Research issued a recommendation not to describe contemporary Jews as "apes and pigs." The meeting during which the recommendation was drafted was headed by Sunni Islam's highest-ranking cleric, the sheikh of Al-Azhar, Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi.

Calling Jews "apes and pigs" is very common in the antisemitic discourse of the Arab world, particularly in Islamist circles. For the most part, the term is used as a synonym for Jews, or in strings of epithets originating in the Koran and Muslim tradition regarding Jews.[25]Sheikh Tantawi himself, in an April 2002 sermon, called Jews "the enemies of Allah, the sons of apes and pigs."[26]

Categorising Non-believers as sub-human is not a case of isolated events in Islam the Imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca has in the past made his opinions clear. The Free Muslims Coalition relates this in



Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca preaches hate and intolerance

June 19, 2004
Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, the Saudi government appointed imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, will give a series of lectures in Canada next week and attend the Islamic Society of North America conference in Toronto. Al-Sudayyis's position is one of the most prestigious in Sunni Islam. Thus, his sermons hold significant weight throughout the Islamic world.

The themes of his sermons are characterized by confrontation toward non-Muslims. Al-Sudayyis calls Jews "scum of the earth" and "monkeys and pigs" who should be "annihilated." Other enemies of Islam, he says, are "worshipers of the cross" and "idol-worshiping Hindus" who should be fought. Al-Sudayyis has been consistent in calling for jihad in Kashmir and Chechnya, for Jerusalem to be liberated, and for the "occupiers in Iraq" to also be fought. He often claims that Islam is superior to Western culture.

At the Grand Mosque in Mecca on February 1, 2004, Sheikh Al-Sudayyis called on Muslims everywhere to unite to defeat the world's occupiers and oppressors. "History has never known a cause in which our religious principles, historical rights, and past glories are so clearly challenged.... The conflict between us and the Jews is one of creed, identity, and existence." He told those listening to "read history," in order "to know that yesterday's Jews were bad predecessors and today's Jews are worse successors. They are killers of prophets and the scum of the earth. Allah hurled his curses and indignation on them and made them monkeys and pigs and worshipers of tyrants. These are the Jews, a continuous lineage of meanness, cunning, obstinacy, tyranny, evil, and corruption...."

As to Pope Benedict apologizing? I have a suggestion. Why not be a gentleman and let Islam go first?
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