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"The only way-out is an unambiguous apology from the pope," Tantawi told a Catholic delegation. |
CAIRO — Insisting on a clear-cut apology from Pope Benedict XVI for his anti-Islam jibe, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world has snubbed a papal invitation to visit the Vatican and a proposal to invite the pontiff to deliver a lecture on Islam.
"The only way-out is an unambiguous apology from the pope," said Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi emerging from a meeting with a visiting Catholic delegation on Tuesday, September 19.
The pope has quoted criticism of Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Muhammad brought was evil and inhuman, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
"The pope should have followed the quote with a clear comment that he disagrees with it and that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance.
"Citing this irrelevant fiction and making on comment suggests that the pope support the allegations of the Byzantine emperor," insisted Tantawi.
"This was a huge religious and scholarly mistake."
Pope Benedict XVI insisted Wednesday, September 20, that worldwide Muslim anger over his speech was the result of an "unfortunate misunderstanding".
He stressed that the controversial quotes did not reflect his personal opinion, and hoped it could yet lead to dialogue between religions.
The leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics had come under increasing pressure to make an unequivocal apology.
A personal expression of regret on Sunday in which he said he was "deeply sorry" for causing offense failed to fully appease Muslim leaders.
Strange
Ahmed Al-Tayyib, the president of Al-Azhar University and a former mufti of Egypt, also questioned the invitation rational.
"It is extremely weird to see someone who insulted you asking for a delegation to go to him to explain reasons behind his insults," he said.
A Vatican proposal to invite Pope Benedict to Cairo to deliver a speech on Islam was also rejected by Al-Azhar.
"The pope must first apologize before coming to Al-Azhar," said Al-Azhar Deputy Sheikh Omar al-Deeb.
"The pontiff's apology is necessary to help appease the Muslim anger toward the Vatican.
"No dialogue could be established with the Vatican before that," he insisted.
The Vatican has launched a diplomatic offensive to contain the crisis after church experts warned that the pope's remarks probably set back relations between the two faiths by decades.
Analysts say Pope Benedict should use a planned trip to Turkey in November, his first as pope to a Muslim land, to rebuild ties with the Muslim world, badly strained by his comments.
Some say he should even rethink his opposition to Turkish membership of the European Union as a way of helping to narrow the gap between the Western and Islamic worlds and thus reducing the risk of a "clash of civilizations".
The pope's comments had triggered widespread condemnation from Muslim scholars, religious authorities, high-level officials, inter-faith experts and Egypt's Christians.
Prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi has called on Muslims worldwide to hold a day of "peaceful" anger next Friday to protest the pope's offensive remarks.
He warned against attacking churches, individuals or property, regretting that some Christian places of worship had been attacked over the past few days.
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