Pope Benedict XVI Watch: Taliban Demands Pope Apologize for Speech

Palestinians look at a fire at the gate of an Anglican church after it was hit by a firebomb in the West Bank city of Nablus September 16, 2006. Palestinian gunmen attacked churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Saturday after a day of protests against comments Pope Benedict made about Islam. Five churches came under attack in the West Bank city of Nablus, where militant groups have long been the dominating force.

AFP: Taliban demands Pope to apologise for anti-Islam remarks

Afghanistan’s Taliban on Saturday demanded Pope Benedict XVI to apologise for remarks linking Islam with violence, adding the comment showed the Christian West was waging war against Muslims.

“We strongly condemn it,” Mohammad Hanif, who regularly speaks to the media on behalf of the extremist insurgent group, said.

“We also want the Pope to apologise before the Muslim Umma (nation),” he said.

The remarks were “obviously part of a crusader war that the West, chiefly America and (President) Bush, is waging against Islam and Muslims,” he said.

Apologize for what?

What Pope Benedict said was true. The entire text of the speech is here.

Arab op-ed: Pope’s remarks may lead to war

Muslim world newspapers filled with articles slamming pope’s remarks; ‘it is clear that such remarks only contribute to the fueling of the fire raging between Islam and the West,’ op-ed published in al-Sharq al-Awsat says

If world Islam wants a crusade war, then Flap says bring it on.

The first nuclear armed ICBM’s should target Mecca and Medina.

End of story.

In the meantime, Somali cleric calls for pope’s death

A HARDLINE cleric linked to Somalia’s powerful Islamist movement has called for Muslims to “hunt down” and kill Pope Benedict XVI for his controversial comments about Islam.

Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin urged Muslims to find the pontiff and punish him for insulting the Prophet Mohammed and Allah in a speech that he said was as offensive as author Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses.

The Pope’s point exactly. But, Christianity will NOT submit to Islam.

And inter-faith reconciliation/dialogue? Uh – NO!

Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti: Pope’s comments lies

Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority, Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, said in remarks published Saturday that the pope’s comments on Islam were “all lies.”

“These are all lies. The prophet (Muhammad), peace be upon him, came as a mercy to the world,” the daily al-Riyadh newspaper quoted al-Sheik as saying.

He said the pontiff’s remarks showed reconciliation between religions was impossible
.
“Everybody should know by now that all claims about religions’ reconciliation have just been proven to be lies in reality,” al-Sheik said. “How can they think of reconciliation while insulting Islam and the prophet?”

Michelle Malkin has The Religion of Peace Firebombs & Fatwas

Sheikh Abubakar Hassan Malin’s fatwa:

“Whoever offends our Prophet Muhammad should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim.”

Iraqi jihadi threat.

Father Raymond de Souza speaks out in the National Post: “Rioters’ madness shames Muslim world” (hat tip: Jihad Watch).

Father Samir K. Samir also speaks out.

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Pope Benedict XVI Watch: The Speech at the University of Regensburg

Pope Benedict XVI Watch: Pope Sorry Muslims Have Found Speech Offensive

Pope Benedict XVI Watch: The Papal Islamic Comment FLAP

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