All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Thanks for your question, and we implore Allah to guide all the followers of divine religions to the straight path.

As Muslims, we are ordered by Islam to respect others regardless of their faith, race, color, or geographical location. If we study the legacy of Prophet Muhammad without bias, we will surely understand the light he came with, the peace he called for, the mercy he applied, and the compassion he disseminated.

With this in mind, we do admit that the feelings of 1.4 billion of the world's population are hurt and deeply affected by the recent offensive remarks made by Pope Benedict VXI, but this should not give a free rein for Muslims to go and backlash in a similar manner. Muslims should express their anger in a peaceful and rational manner. They should be wise in their anger. Muslims have their own way of reacting to abuse against them. Islam orders Muslims not to respond with something similar as a way of revenge. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said, "Fear Allah wherever you are and follow up bad deeds with good ones in order to wipe them out, and deal with everyone with excellent morals" (Muslim).

Responding to the question, Sheikh Muhammad Nur Abdullah, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and member of the Fiqh Council of North America, states the following:

As the pope is the top Christian authority in the world, it was not proper for him to cite such an offensive text that labels Islam and Prophet Muhammad with violence and inhumanity. That was totally unacceptable. The pope is expected to play a role of building bridges of understanding and dialogue with people of different faiths, and not to desecrate the Prophet respected by 1.4 billion Muslims in the world.

On the other hand, Muslims should react in a positive and constructive way. Muslims should never use violence to react to such insult, and spreading hatred and animosity is totally unacceptable. Holding dialogues and meetings with Christian leaders, expressing our concern and disappointment in a civilized manner, and educating people about the legacy of Prophet Muhammad and the civilized teachings of Islam are the best ways to react to such offensive remarks.