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FW: Pope asked to convert to Islam, and Al Quaeda threatens to kill all followers of the Cross
Pope asked to convert to Islam
19/09/2006 15:56 - (SA)
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2000964,00.html
Tripoli - The elder son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has called on Pope Benedict XVI to convert to Islam immediately, dismissing last week's apology from the pontiff for offending Muslims.
"If this person were really someone reasonable, he would not agree to remain at his post one minute, but would convert to Islam immediately," Mohammed Gaddafi told an awards ceremony on Monday evening for an international competition to memorise the Qur'an.
"We say to the pope - whether you apologise or not is irrelevant, as apologies make no difference to us."
Gaddafi junior also hit out at "those Muslims who look for comfort in the words of a non-Muslim".
He said Muslims "should not look for charity from the infidel... but should fight Islam's enemies who attack the faith and the Prophet Muhammad".
On Sunday, the pope said he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction to a speech he made last week in which he quoted an obscure medieval text that criticised some teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman".
The speech sparked several days of protests in Muslim countries against the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.
Although the pontiff's apology was widely rejected as insufficient, anti-pope protests seemed to subside on Tuesday with the only planned event a rally by foreign theology students in the Iranian clerical capital of Qom.
Smash the cross - al-Qaeda
18/09/2006 13:38 - (SA)
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2000367,00.html
Iraqis burn an effigy of Pope Benedict XVI during a demonstration in Basra against his remarks on Islam. (Nabil Al- Jurani, AP)
Rome - Pope Benedict XVI's personal apology for criticising Islam failed to stem anger in some parts of the Muslim world on Monday, despite calls for calm from Islamic and Western leaders.
Hundreds of angry Iraqi demonstrators burned an effigy of the pope in the southern port city of Basra, while al-Qaeda said it will wage jihad (holy war) until the "servant of the cross" (the pope), and the West, are defeated.
Iran said Benedict's apology did not go far enough and called on the 79-year-old pontiff to admit he had made a mistake.
"The pope was right to give these explanations and he said that his comments were badly reported," Tehran government spokesperson Gholam Hossein Elham said.
"These explanations were necessary but not sufficient. He needs to say more clearly that what he said was an error and correct it," he added.
Al-Qaeda threat to 'smash the cross'
An al-Qaeda statement posted on the internet on Monday threatened to "smash the cross".
"We say to the servant of the cross: wait for defeat... We say to infidels and tyrants: wait for what will afflict you," it said.
"We will smash the cross... (you will have no choice but) Islam or death," said the statement attributed to the Mujahedeen consultative council.
Two other armed groups in Iraq, Jaish al-Mujahedeen (the Mujahedeen's Army) and Asaeb al-Iraq al-Jihadiya (League of Jihadists in Iraq), have already threatened the Vatican with reprisals in statements posted on Islamist internet websites.
Apology, diplomatic offensive
In a personal apology on Sunday, the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics said he was "deeply sorry" for the offence caused by his remarks made in Germany on Tuesday in which he quoted an obscure medieval text that criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".
The Vatican meanwhile launched a diplomatic offensive to explain to Muslim countries the pope's position on Islam.
Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone told the Corriere della Sera that Vatican ambassadors had been asked to explain to political and religious authorities in Muslim countries the full text of the pope's speech, which heretofore had been taken out of context and "heavily manipulated".
Some welcome the apology
A handful of Muslim groups have welcomed the papal apology, although most Muslim nations had yet to respond early on Monday.
Mohammed Habib, a senior member of Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood, told AFP they considered the apology a retraction of the pope's statement.
In India, the powerful All India Muslim Personal Law Board based in the northern city of Lucknow called for an end to protests against the Vatican.
'Day of anger' against remarks
But in some quarters, Muslim anger appeared likely to simmer through the week after calls by an Egyptian-born Islamic scholar for followers of the faith to hold a "day of anger" on Friday against the pope's remarks.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Sunni Muslim, said on Al-Jazeera television that he considered the pope had "not apologised" on Sunday.
Speaking in the name of the "world union of scholars of Islam" al-Qaradawi called on Muslims to hold a day of "peaceful anger" on Friday, the last day of collective prayer before the start of Ramadan.
He said this should involve "demonstrations, or sit-ins in the large mosques in the hour following the prayers."
Is there ANYONE who still thinks that the whole mideast should not be nuked into the stone age??
Pope asked to convert to Islam
19/09/2006 15:56 - (SA)
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2000964,00.html
Tripoli - The elder son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has called on Pope Benedict XVI to convert to Islam immediately, dismissing last week's apology from the pontiff for offending Muslims.
"If this person were really someone reasonable, he would not agree to remain at his post one minute, but would convert to Islam immediately," Mohammed Gaddafi told an awards ceremony on Monday evening for an international competition to memorise the Qur'an.
"We say to the pope - whether you apologise or not is irrelevant, as apologies make no difference to us."
Gaddafi junior also hit out at "those Muslims who look for comfort in the words of a non-Muslim".
He said Muslims "should not look for charity from the infidel... but should fight Islam's enemies who attack the faith and the Prophet Muhammad".
On Sunday, the pope said he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction to a speech he made last week in which he quoted an obscure medieval text that criticised some teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman".
The speech sparked several days of protests in Muslim countries against the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.
Although the pontiff's apology was widely rejected as insufficient, anti-pope protests seemed to subside on Tuesday with the only planned event a rally by foreign theology students in the Iranian clerical capital of Qom.
Smash the cross - al-Qaeda
18/09/2006 13:38 - (SA)
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2000367,00.html
Iraqis burn an effigy of Pope Benedict XVI during a demonstration in Basra against his remarks on Islam. (Nabil Al- Jurani, AP)
Rome - Pope Benedict XVI's personal apology for criticising Islam failed to stem anger in some parts of the Muslim world on Monday, despite calls for calm from Islamic and Western leaders.
Hundreds of angry Iraqi demonstrators burned an effigy of the pope in the southern port city of Basra, while al-Qaeda said it will wage jihad (holy war) until the "servant of the cross" (the pope), and the West, are defeated.
Iran said Benedict's apology did not go far enough and called on the 79-year-old pontiff to admit he had made a mistake.
"The pope was right to give these explanations and he said that his comments were badly reported," Tehran government spokesperson Gholam Hossein Elham said.
"These explanations were necessary but not sufficient. He needs to say more clearly that what he said was an error and correct it," he added.
Al-Qaeda threat to 'smash the cross'
An al-Qaeda statement posted on the internet on Monday threatened to "smash the cross".
"We say to the servant of the cross: wait for defeat... We say to infidels and tyrants: wait for what will afflict you," it said.
"We will smash the cross... (you will have no choice but) Islam or death," said the statement attributed to the Mujahedeen consultative council.
Two other armed groups in Iraq, Jaish al-Mujahedeen (the Mujahedeen's Army) and Asaeb al-Iraq al-Jihadiya (League of Jihadists in Iraq), have already threatened the Vatican with reprisals in statements posted on Islamist internet websites.
Apology, diplomatic offensive
In a personal apology on Sunday, the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics said he was "deeply sorry" for the offence caused by his remarks made in Germany on Tuesday in which he quoted an obscure medieval text that criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".
The Vatican meanwhile launched a diplomatic offensive to explain to Muslim countries the pope's position on Islam.
Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone told the Corriere della Sera that Vatican ambassadors had been asked to explain to political and religious authorities in Muslim countries the full text of the pope's speech, which heretofore had been taken out of context and "heavily manipulated".
Some welcome the apology
A handful of Muslim groups have welcomed the papal apology, although most Muslim nations had yet to respond early on Monday.
Mohammed Habib, a senior member of Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood, told AFP they considered the apology a retraction of the pope's statement.
In India, the powerful All India Muslim Personal Law Board based in the northern city of Lucknow called for an end to protests against the Vatican.
'Day of anger' against remarks
But in some quarters, Muslim anger appeared likely to simmer through the week after calls by an Egyptian-born Islamic scholar for followers of the faith to hold a "day of anger" on Friday against the pope's remarks.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Sunni Muslim, said on Al-Jazeera television that he considered the pope had "not apologised" on Sunday.
Speaking in the name of the "world union of scholars of Islam" al-Qaradawi called on Muslims to hold a day of "peaceful anger" on Friday, the last day of collective prayer before the start of Ramadan.
He said this should involve "demonstrations, or sit-ins in the large mosques in the hour following the prayers."
Is there ANYONE who still thinks that the whole mideast should not be nuked into the stone age??
