Pope Benedict XVI has hit the Muslim hot button:
(CNN) — Pope Benedict XVI came under a hail of criticism from the Islamic world Friday for comments he made earlier in the week regarding the Prophet Mohammed and the Muslim faith, in some cities provoking street protests.
A growing chorus of Muslim leaders have called on the pope to apologize for the remarks he made in a speech in Germany on Tuesday when he used the terms “jihad” and “holy war.”
[snip]
“The emperor certainly knew that Sura 2, 256, reads: ‘No force in matters of faith’. It is one of the early suras, from a time — as experts say — in which Mohammed himself was still powerless and threatened.
“However, the emperor of course also knew the requirements about the holy war that were later formulated in the Quran. Without going into details like the handling of the owners of the scriptures, or non-believers, he (the emperor) turned to his interlocutors — in a surprisingly brusque way — with the central question after the relationship between religion and violence.
“He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Muhammed 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.'”
Considering the reactions to the Danish cartoons (which were, after all, from a secular source), the repercussions from remarks made by the head of the Catholic church are likely to be very bad… because no matter how strenuously moderates, secularists, and the rational religious try to separate the religion from the issue of Islamic fanaticism, it will be interpreted as a Christian, and thus a Western, insult.
And that’s a first.
Stratfor’s analysis of the situation also notes the escalation risks posed by the need for a distraction, and/or a catalyst, depending on specific political need (by subscription):
Coming at a time of heightened feelings of religiosity among Muslims in the lead-up to Ramadan, the pope’s remarks are bound to kick up a massive sandstorm — inspiring fiery speeches during Friday prayers on the U.S.-led “war on terror” being the new Crusade against Islam. The size and intensity of protests in different places will, of course, depend upon whatever local issues are currently in play that might distract attention from this issue. Protests might also be limited by a certain degree of “outrage fatigue” in places where Muslims have already been protesting the West for other reasons. But in the eyes of many Muslims now catching wind of the protests, the pope’s speech is far more damning than, for instance, the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed; a religious official of the highest order in the Christian West has publicly called Islam an inferior religion.
Will it escalate tensions beyond repair?
While Stratfor’s analyst concludes that the Vatican can probably defuse the situation if it desires with an apology, I’m somewhat skeptical. It’s very easy, as we all know, for someone with a political agenda to spin interpret situations to a gullible populace.
This could turn very nasty.
Links and further information:
You’ll find the Pope’s complete (translated) address here.
Professor Bainbridge has a post on what the Pope might actually have meant.
Google news coverage here.
Hit and Run provides a few more ways to think about things.
Al Jazeera’s story here.
The BBC reports that Muslim leaders are not soothed by the Vatican’s conciliatory statement.