[محمد الساهر]

هذا نص لرساله مأخوذة من موقع الشيخ/ الحبيب بن علي
لمن يريد أن يرسلها للبابا الفاتيكان على عنوانه الموجود في أسفل الرسالة نصرة للحبيب محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم


On the 16th of September, one of the Vatican spokespeople related to the press that the Pope was sorry for any offence caused to us as Muslims. However, this did not adequately address why the original offence took place and, as a Muslim, I remain sincerely disappointed and concerned by the Pope’s original speech. At a time when Islamophobia is recognized as a profound problem by both the United Nations and the European Union, the Pope should recall that any concept of the future of Europe must take Islam into account as a European religion, not as an alien threat.


The Pope has made it clear that his primary anxiety remains the future of Europe at a time when ethical relativism threatens to weaken its moral compass. Islam, as the religion of ‘the middle way’, celebrates diversity, within a definite ethical core. In a time when the world is searching for balance in this regard, Islam has profound lessons to teach.


In expressing his opposition to the abuse of religion for wanton violence, the Pope should have made it clear that Muslims around the world reject such acts on the basis of their own religious tradition, irrespective of sect, notwithstanding the actions of a tiny minority of illegitimate renegades who exploit Islam for their unholy ends.


As a Muslim, I am greatly sympathetic to these concerns, but I am deeply disappointed in how he responded to them. The Pope raised the right questions, but gave inadequate answers, choosing instead to allow the words of a medieval bigot to speak for him. That this extremist derided the Prophet, known as ‘a mercy to all the worlds’ by all Muslims, is particularly disconcerting.


Such statements are not befitting of his office or of his person. As a Muslim, I am well-disposed to the office of the Pope, and to this Pope in particular. He opposed the unjust war in Iraq, rejected the bigoted cartoons that emanated from Denmark, and recently supported peace in Lebanon; these were honorable political positions that Muslims will not forget.


However, instead of entertaining relative half-truths of misunderstandings and lies, he should bear witness to the absolute truth that Muslim Europeans as citizens, and Islam as a religion, are not obstacles to his mission for Europe renewal. Rather, Muslim Europeans and Islam are integral partners in that quest.

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