Maulanas lash out at Pope Benedict XVI for blasphemy

Lucknow: The recent statements by Pope Benedict XVI criticising Islam and the Prophet at a public function in Germany have evoked a severe backlash from Muslim clerics here.

Muslims also burnt an effigy of the Pope in Varanasi. Hundreds of Muslims gathered in the Saraiyyan locality in the heart of the city after the Friday prayers and raised slogans decrying the Pope. They later burnt the effigy. They were dispersed by the local police and there was no violence.

Meanwhile, in Lucknow, much revered Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad has asked the Pope to tender an unqualified apology for his statements in which he reportedly said, among other things, that Islam had been propagated through violent means.

“The Pope is himself supporting US-sponsored Christian terrorism,” the Maulana said while addressing a gathering of hundreds of Muslims after the ‘Juma ki namaz’ (Friday prayers) at the Asafi Imambara.

Later, talking to DNA, Maulana Jawwad said the clarification issued by the Vatican was not enough. “Pope apne bayaan ke liye maafi maange nahin to duniya bhar ke Mussalmaan unke virodh mein sadkon par utrenge,” he declared. (The Pope should apologise otherwise Muslims of the world will take to the streets in protest.)

Another respected Maulana, Khalid Rasheed, senior member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Imam of the Lucknow ‘idgah’, also lashed out at the Pope.

Speaking to reporters here, the Imam said: “The Pope talks about Islamic violence… what about the violence perpetrated by America against Afghanistan and Iraq?”
“America is the biggest terrorist today… it supports Israel when it (Israel) bombs Lebanon and Palestine, isn’t that Christian terrorism?” the Imam continued angrily.

He said that Muslims all over the world had been enraged by the Pope’s unprovoked comments against Islam. He said this could lead to “devastating results” if the Pope did not apologise.

“Unhein iska bada khaamiyaza bhugatna pad sakta hai,” he said, meaning to say that the Christian world may have to pay heavily for this indiscretion.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people, including lawyers, held angry protests in Jammu and Kashmir against the Pope’s statement, even as police placed two senior separatist leaders under house arrest.

Chairman of the hard line Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Geelani and Shabir Ahmed Shah, chairman of the Democratic Freedom Party, were placed under house arrest here on Friday morning in the wake of tension in the city over the pontiff’s remarks.

The protesting lawyers, who were joined by many locals, termed the remarks of the pope as “highly irresponsible” and as “reflecting the hatred against Islam and Muslims”.