JEDDAH, 17 September 2006 — Saudi Arabia yesterday urged Pope Benedict XVI to issue a statement clarifying his stand on Islam and its teachings after his provocative statement on Tuesday denigrating Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
In a message to his Vatican counterpart, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal denounced the pope’s allegation that the Prophet spread Islam with sword and his move to justify Crusade wars launched against Muslims.
In his speech, Benedict cited an obscure Medieval text that characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.”
Prince Saud said the Muslim nation has always tried to open effective dialogue with other religions and cultures, especially Christianity. “I write to you this message at a time when international relations are going through a difficult phase ... with the hope of finding solutions to overcome such difficulties,” the prince said.
“We were hurt by the pope’s statement on Islam and on the personality of the Prophet, particularly his comment that the Prophet spread Islam with the sword,” Saud said.
The Saudi minister referred to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s opening address at the Islamic summit in Makkah on Dec. 7-8, 2005. In his speech, the king said Islam is a moderate religion and rejects extremism and isolationism. The king had called for confronting deviant thoughts using all available means.
A final communiqué issued after the summit emphasized the need for dialogue with other cultures, based on mutual respect and understanding, in order to build a world of tolerance, cooperation and peace.
The 10-point program approved by the leaders of Islamic countries during the summit condemned all forms of extremism that does not match with Islamic values and its humane nature, the prince said.
The summit emphasized the responsibility of the international community and governments in ensuring respect for all religions and confront moves to denigrate them.
Prince Saud said the references made by the pope against Islam and the Prophet, during his speech at a German university, was unnecessary. He reminded the pope that Muslims hold Jesus Christ and his mother Mary in high esteem as their faith would not be complete without believing in Jesus as a prophet.
Prince Saud said he believed that the pope’s statement would not indicate a change in Vatican’s policy toward Islam after decades of dialogues between leaders of the two great religions. He said the angry Muslim reaction toward the statement demanded a quick response from the pope.
