Muslim Seminary Ends Talks With Vatican Over Pope's Comments

By Francis X. Rocca
Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The most prestigious religious university in the Sunni Muslim world has suspended dialogue with the Vatican to protest statements by Pope Benedict XVI denouncing violence against Christians in Egypt.

The move, on Thursday (Jan. 20), came only nine days after Egypt recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for the same reason.

Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar University, and members of the university's Islamic Research Center made the decision at an "emergency meeting" on Thursday, according to a statement released by the center.

"Pope Benedict's repeated criticism of Islam and his unjustified claim that Copts are persecuted in Egypt and the Middle East were behind the suspension decision," said the statement, as translated on the website of the Dubai-based Gulf News.

On Jan. 2, Benedict denounced the "vile and murderous" New Year's Day killing of at least 21 people by a car bomb outside a Christian Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt.

Al-Azhar's El-Tayeb had immediately criticized the pope's statement as "unacceptable interference in Egypt's affairs."

"I disagree with the pope's view," El-Tayeb said at the time, "and I ask why did the pope not call for the protection of Muslims when they were subjected to killings in Iraq?"

Benedict mentioned the attack again, along with other killings of Christians in the Middle East, during an address to foreign ambassadors at the Vatican on Jan. 10, when he called on "governments of the region to adopt ... effective measures for the protection of religious
minorities."

The day after Benedict's speech to the diplomats, the government of Egypt recalled its ambassador to the Vatican to protest what a spokesman called the pope's "unacceptable interference in (Egypt's) internal affairs."

Comments

[Ahmed Ahmad]

03:01 PM on 01/28/2011

How refreshing it is to hear from leaders of the "religion of pieces". Good riddance.

[Pranav1941]

01:20 AM on 01/23/2011

"The shari'ah does not authorize the killing of anyone under it's domain. And yet, killing goes on. There is no shari'ah in Egypt!"

And now it is Pakistan. Read this:

"Public reaction to Taseer’s assassination was stunning.

Pakistan’s lawyers, praised just three years ago for saving this country’s independent judiciary, showered Taseer’s assassin with rose petals on his way into court. A rally to celebrate his death attracted 40,000 in Karachi and thousands more posted tributes to the killer on their Facebook accounts.

“To be honest, I felt good when I heard he was dead; we got rid of him,” said Raghib Naeemia, an iman at Jamia Naeemia. “It’s very clear in the Holy Qur’an that if you say something nasty and harsh about the Holy Prophet, then you become a maloun (cursed) person. And we are supposed to round up those people and kill them very harshly.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/925715--some-christians-in-pakistan-convert-fear-into-safety

There is no space in Islam for religious minorities since its inception. Blaming the West is all bogus and saying that the muslim countries are not practising real Islam is plain humbug. No wonder Churchill had this to say:

"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith."

[JaxArab]

10:31 PM on 01/27/2011

These Azhar guys are searching for ways to be offended, looking for it with a microscope, but yet when a Chritian priest in Turkey was beheaded in the street you did not hear from them.
What exactly did they expect the Pope to say " We support the killing of Christians in Egypt" ?
There is no tolerance in Islam and you never hear these Azhar guys complain about violence from Moslem against non-moslem, Winston Churchill was always right in so many issues even after all these years.

[mathislaw1]

08:57 PM on 01/22/2011

“We have got to stop fighting like this. We all believe in mostly the same things.
Our stupid differences are trivial in comparison to our stupid similarities"
Bart Simpson

[Quid Tum]

03:53 PM on 01/22/2011

It seems like an overreaction on the part of Al-Azhar. Benedict did not say anything to slander Muslims, Islam, or Egyptians. He simply pointed out that the killings of Coptic Christians in Egypt and Chaldean Catholics in Iraq were deplorable, and he asked for governments to respect the well being and rights of religious minorities in under their rule. I don't see how anyone of any faith (or none at all) would disagree with that assessment.

Hopefully the administration at Al-Azhar will change their mind and reopen channels of dialogue, it is certainly needed.

[Carroll27]

11:49 AM on 01/22/2011

And Western Civilization discontinued talks with Islam after 9/11.

[JaxArab]

11:31 PM on 01/27/2011

What talks exactly ? I remember Bush went into a mosque here right after 9/11, stop that weed..

[John Ramsey001]

10:19 AM on 01/22/2011

Do you see that lovers and defenders of that eastern religion? They attacked the Pope for defending christians. For criticizing the attacks on Christians.

[B 42]

09:57 AM on 01/24/2011

There is a whole lot of overreaction going on here; But the pope did more than "defend christians".

All your comment does is polarize people on both sides of the issue... Pushing people away should not be the goal... See mathislaw1's post above!

[JaxArab]

10:44 PM on 01/27/2011

Yes, the Pope sent those vicious Vatican Brigades to settle this conflict..

[Elzabieta Kraszewski]

06:30 AM on 01/22/2011

One group of creepy old guys fights with another group of creepy old guys over whose book of fairytales the Sky Daddy actually likes.Yeah,that about covers it.
The Pope is correct about the abuse of Egyptian Christians.However,every time I hear or read his thoughts on Islam,I am left with the distinct impression that he envies the power Islam exerts upon its followers, and he wishes that Christianity still had that kind of control of the lives of its members.It's just like Communism.The Church didn't oppose it because it was evil.Rather,they opposed it because it was the state and secular government having power over the common people which the Church viewed should only be in their hands.

[marknez21]

12:28 PM on 01/22/2011

Guys , do not fight. Politician and corporation LOVE it, they are exploiting people all over the world, and many people are fighting for their faits not for freedom.
All of us are EQUAL. If we become CIVILIZED, we will have a better world.
Poor/Rich=White/Black=Christian/Muslims= GAY/Straight ,...
MUBARK and all other dictators will gain in Egypt not Christians nor Muslims.

[nasthikcoward]

02:19 AM on 01/23/2011

"creepy old guys... sky daddy"... you nailed it. Hilarious description. Completely agree with you. People need to grow up instead of fighting over whose sky daddy is better.

[Pranav1941]

01:12 AM on 01/22/2011

"The shari'ah does not authorize the killing of anyone under it's domain. And yet, killing goes on. There is no shari'ah in Egypt!"

Rubbish. If you desire, I will give some more quotes. Read this:

"What is the goal of Jihad? It was articulated concisely by the scholar Ibn Khaldun: "In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the (Muslim) mission and the (obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force .... Islam is under obligation to gain power over nations."

[Talab]

10:46 AM on 01/24/2011

As a Muslim i recon i should tell you sommething about Islam. Islam does not have "Leaders" in the same sense that most religions do . Each Muslim is responsible for his actions to God alone. A scholar is someone that has studied Islam but could have gotten it wrong either accidently or intentionally for reasons outside of religion. Each muslim is to LEARN his religion himself , but are some people lazy or followers or ignorant ....yes . Another thing , sometimes scholars make their judgements based on what is happening in a specific place and time and does not necessarily hold true for all places or all times . Lastly there is no compulsion in Islam , Our actions are judged by God based on our intentions.so if you were making your prayers to not get killed they would not be valid anyway . Islam can be like any other religion in that there are overzealous practicioners. Almost always there are local reasons for rulings by scholars . This would be like Muslims judging all of christianity over the utterings of Pat Robertson alone

[JaxArab]

10:38 PM on 01/27/2011

Utterings or Beheadings ? pick one would you pick ?

[Pranav1941]

12:24 AM on 01/22/2011

"I ask why did the pope not call for the protection of Muslims when they were subjected to killings in Iraq?"

Wars are rare occurance. Persecution and physical eliminatioon of religious minorities in muslim countries is an ongoing affair and is religiously ordained. It can never be ended, unless the religion reforms and it will never.

[ManiDeli]

12:01 AM on 01/22/2011

Now they can all go home and laugh at one another until they have to put on a solemn face for the next such gathering.

[Pranav1941]

11:03 PM on 01/21/2011

The attack on the Christians in Egypt and on the Christians ands the Hindus in South Asian Muslim countries is part of the onlaught by the Islam for world domination; it is their core ingedient. Read this:

"In the historical imagination of many Muslims, bin Laden represents nothing short of the new incarnation of Saladin, defeater of the Crusaders and conqueror of Jerusalem. In this sense, the House of Islam’s war for world mastery is a traditional, indeed venerable, quest that is far from over. If, today, America is reviled in the Muslim world, it is not because of its specific policies but because, as the preeminent world power, it blocks the final realization of this same age-old dream of a universal Islamic community, or umma.

It is the failure to recognize this state of affairs that accounts for the resounding lack of success of Obama’s policies toward the Middle East and the Muslim World.”

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2011/01/21/why-outreach-to-the-muslim-world-is-always-doomed-to-failure/

[Chris Morrison]

07:28 PM on 01/27/2011

What about China? How do they figure in to all this?

[eric14]

04:54 PM on 01/21/2011

Brilliant photograph. Looks like a cropped orientalist painting.

[Prousa]

04:45 PM on 01/21/2011

One must not expect statements of reason or reasoned responses to such from representative of any religion.

[JaxArab]

10:53 PM on 01/27/2011

You don't look too reasonable yourself..

[MyNameIsKarsten]

01:42 PM on 01/21/2011

Let's keep in mind we're dealing with a government that claims the Mossad strategically let loose dangerous sharks along its coast because Israel wants to harm Egypt's tourist economy.

Paranoia and conspiracies is what they do best. Self-criticism, on the other hand, isn't.

[GeorgieMark]

01:26 PM on 01/21/2011

Far be it from to support the Pope, but for once he is right.

any wayward worship is not tolerated in Egypt.