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KHARTOUM (AFP) - The former right-hand-man of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir asked Pope John Paul II to convert to Islam during a 1994 papal visit to Sudan, Khartoum newspapers reported Tuesday. Bashir's ally-turned-rival Hassan al-Turabi told a political rally in east Sudan Monday that he had discussed similarities between Islam and Christianity with the Pope, the independent Al-Ayam daily reported. Turabi said that he had also complained to John Paul II that separating religion from the state had led to a worldwide spread of corruption and suggested cooperating to "prevent materialism from prevailing over piety." "The Pope was moved by this idea," said Turabi, who was a member of Sudan's Islamic government at the time the Pope visited Sudan. Religion and the state are inextricably linked in both Sudan and the Vatican. A close aide to Turabi, Mussa Hussein Dirar, then told the gathering in Kassala that Turabi had "asked [the Pope] to convert to Islam" during their meeting, Al-Ayam reported. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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