FRANCE: Muslims in France react to Pope's remarks on Islam

Muslims in France expressed their discontent on Friday (September 15) after Pope Benedict made remarks during a speech in Germany, where he used the terms "jihad" and "holy war". As Muslims gathered at a central mosque in Paris for Friday prayers, they commented on the latest remarks. "I think it would be better for the Pope to speak of dialogue between religions and of peace. He stokes the fire and accuses Islam of being irrational," said Mohammed, a Muslim leaving Friday prayers in Paris. "It's causing hurt around the world - for Christians, Muslims and Jews. At the University of Regensburg on Tuesday (September 12), Benedict quoted criticism of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Mohammad brought was evil and inhuman, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Benedict repeatedly quoted Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable. The reaction has been swift. "I think the Pope is a person who must have access to vast information and is able to, my God, to make the difference between Islam a religion - we just have to take the Koran and read it - and Islamism which is definitely different," said Definitely different. Islam is a religion. Islamism is an ideology. We think maybe there is a misinterpretation that deserves an explanation. I don't ask for an excuse or an apology, no, but a clarification of the attitude of the Church," said Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council of Muslim Culture. Islamic scholars say the Pontiff's comments show how little he understands Islam and some have said Islamic countries should threaten to break off relations with the Vatican. The Vatican issued a statement to say the Pope had never meant to offend Islam. France's Muslim minority, the largest in Europe, has been working for years to have Islam seen as a faith that respects both the Koran and the French constitution. Instead of being accepted as France's second religion, they fear Islam and its followers are now getting linked in public opinion with outraged Arabs who chant Islamist slogans and threaten Islam's critics. When Muslim anger flared around the world earlier this year after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, France's Muslim Council urged the nation's five million Muslims to stay calm. French Muslims, who make up 8 percent of the population, came mostly from the Maghreb, Africa and Turkey over the past half-century. Many are now born and educated in France and are full citizens. Friday mosque attendance has fallen to about 10-15 percent, about the same level of weekly worship for French Christians and Jews, and many young Muslims know little or nothing of the towns, villages and foreign tongues their ancestors left behind.

ITN Source | September 17, 2006

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