Popemania: “Moderate” cleric Qaradawi calls for peaceful “day of anger”

posted at 4:20 pm on September 18, 2006 by Allahpundit
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They’re just going to try it out, see how it flies. Just to vent some of those grievances they keep bottled up inside the other 364 days of the year. What could go wrong?

It’s scheduled for Friday, of course. After prayers, when everyone’s feeling extra “pious.” Say what you will about the Middle East being behind in education and economic development and human rights, but man, they can organize a protest like nobody’s business, huh?

The Vatican’s planning some kind of diplomatic grovelfest to heal the wounds. Muslim clerics in Gaza are doing their part, too: they’ve called on the Pope to “accept Islam.” Centanni-style, presumably:

One of them, Dr. Imad Hamto, called on the pope to “repent and ask for forgiveness.” He added: “We want to use the words of the Prophet Muhammad and tell the pope: ‘Aslim Taslam’” Aslim Taslam is a phrase that was taken from the letters sent by the Prophet Muhammad to the chiefs of tribes in his times in which he reportedly urged them to convert to Islam to spare their lives.

Some Muslim scholars, however, have endorsed a more moderate interpretation of the term, arguing that its real meaning was that those who surrendered to the will of God would find peace.

Reaction roundup. The good: steely Aussie George Cardinal Pell and Archbishop Christodoulos of the Greek Orthodox Church refusing to flinch, and German prelate Walter Cardinal Kasper sounding a lot like Ayaan Hirsi Ali in his interview with Spiegel.

The bad: Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, hoping that Benedict’s apology puts an end to all this unpleasantness; Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Church saying don’t look at me; Israel’s chief Sephardic rabbi sending an embarrassing friendship letter to Jew-hating nutjob Yusuf “Day of Anger” Qaradawi, of all people; and Jacques Chirac, refusing to choose as usual:

“It is not my role or my intention to comment on the Pope’s statements. I simply want to say, on a general level … that we must avoid anything that excites tensions between peoples or between religions,” Chirac said on Europe 1 radio.

“We must avoid making any link between Islam, which is a great, respected and respectable religion, and radical Islamism, which is a totally different activity and one of a political nature,” Chirac added.

The ugly: Khamenei behaving like Khamenei, Al Qaeda behaving like Al Qaeda, British Wahhabists behaving like British Wahhabists. LGF has video on that last point, and Rusty has an (unsurprising) inside scoop.

Finally, the uncategorizable: Sister Leonella’s reaction upon being shot. Remarkable and moving, but not a sentiment I share, I confess. And not one which, I dare say, should be encouraged.

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