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http://www.newsmax.com/us/pope_american_muslims/2008/04/15/88124.html
U.S. Muslim Group Declines to Meet Pope
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
NEW YORK -- Unease with Pope Benedict XVI's approach to Islam has led a U.S.
Muslim group to decline joining in an interfaith event with him later this
week.
Several other U.S. Muslim leaders expressed similar concerns about the pope,
but pledged to participate in the Washington gathering, saying the two
faiths should do everything possible to improve relations.
"Our going there is more out of respect for the Catholic Church itself,"
said Muzammil H. Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America,
which interprets Islamic law. "Popes come and go, but the church is there."
Siddiqi, co-chairman of the West Coast Muslim-Catholic Dialogue, is among
the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Jain and Hindu leaders scheduled to meet
Benedict on Thursday at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. Muslims and
Roman Catholics each have more than 1 billion followers worldwide. U.S.
Catholic and Muslim leaders started holding interfaith talks in the early
1990s, and many of the Muslim leaders invited to the event Thursday are
veterans of those discussions.
But Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs
Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, said the event seemed "more
ceremonial than substantive" and his organization would not participate. He
said he was disappointed that no time was made in the pope's six-day trip
for even a brief private meeting with U.S. Muslim leaders.
This is the first trip to the U.S. that Benedict has made since he was
elected in 2005 to succeed John Paul. He turns 81 on Wednesday.
"It would have been a good opportunity for him to have a dialogue,"
al-Marayati said.
The pope has been praised by supporters for his frankness in approaching
Islam and interfaith dialogue in general, but critics have called him
insensitive.
Muslims in many nations reacted angrily when the pope quoted a 14th century
Byzantine emperor connecting Islam with violence in a 2006 speech at
Germany's Regensburg University. Tensions eased after Benedict traveled to
Turkey that same year, visiting Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque.
The pope was applauded for organizing a Nov. 4-6 meeting in Rome with Muslim
religious leaders and scholars, as part of a push for more dialogue between
Catholics and Muslims.
But many Muslims said the pontiff insulted them on Easter Sunday in St.
Peter's Basilica, when he baptized Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born commentator
who has criticized what he called the "inherent" violence in Islam. Islamic
leaders said the prominence of the ceremony, not the conversion itself, was
troubling.
"It's true that some of the gestures, some of the statements make us
uncomfortable and we feel badly about it," said Sayyid Syeed, national
interfaith director of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest
communal group for American Muslims. "But our challenge is to not let those
challenges hamper progress." Syeed will attend the meeting Thursday.
Imam Yahya Hendi, a leading advocate of interfaith dialogue and chaplain at
the Jesuit-founded Georgetown University, had met John Paul and said he
would participate in the interfaith gathering, because "I believe in the
power of love and the power of dialogue." Hendi will also be among the
thousands of people at a ceremony for the pope Wednesday at the White House.
But Hendi said that he and other Muslims were concerned that the pope wasn't
visiting a mosque or meeting with leaders who represent the millions of
Muslims living in the U.S.
"Since he came to office, things have happened that have been used on both
sides to build up walls," Hendi said. "I think this could be a good
opportunity for Pope Benedict to help people to build bridges."
American Muslims are unlike any Islamic migrant community Benedict has
encountered in Europe. Many Muslims in the U.S. came for higher education
and are now professionals _ academics, business people, physicians and
engineers _ who are settled in the wealthier suburbs.
They've battled discrimination and intensive government scrutiny following
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Yet they have also benefited from
American constitutional protection for religious freedom. The U.S. Justice
Department, along with civil rights groups that usually represent Jews and
Christians, often help Muslims secure their religious rights in the
workplace, public schools and elsewhere.
Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core based in Chicago, said that he
was inspired as a boy by the interreligious outreach of the late Chicago
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.
Patel, a Muslim born in India, said he had no concerns at all about
participating in the Washington gathering, even though he wished the Easter
conversion hadn't been so public.
"I think that we have to find ways to cooperate on important matters
concerning the earth, including climate change, reducing disease, reducing
poverty, increasing respect," he said. "That's where our focus should be."
U.S. Muslim Group Declines to Meet Pope
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
NEW YORK -- Unease with Pope Benedict XVI's approach to Islam has led a U.S.
Muslim group to decline joining in an interfaith event with him later this
week.
Several other U.S. Muslim leaders expressed similar concerns about the pope,
but pledged to participate in the Washington gathering, saying the two
faiths should do everything possible to improve relations.
"Our going there is more out of respect for the Catholic Church itself,"
said Muzammil H. Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America,
which interprets Islamic law. "Popes come and go, but the church is there."
Siddiqi, co-chairman of the West Coast Muslim-Catholic Dialogue, is among
the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Jain and Hindu leaders scheduled to meet
Benedict on Thursday at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. Muslims and
Roman Catholics each have more than 1 billion followers worldwide. U.S.
Catholic and Muslim leaders started holding interfaith talks in the early
1990s, and many of the Muslim leaders invited to the event Thursday are
veterans of those discussions.
But Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs
Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, said the event seemed "more
ceremonial than substantive" and his organization would not participate. He
said he was disappointed that no time was made in the pope's six-day trip
for even a brief private meeting with U.S. Muslim leaders.
This is the first trip to the U.S. that Benedict has made since he was
elected in 2005 to succeed John Paul. He turns 81 on Wednesday.
"It would have been a good opportunity for him to have a dialogue,"
al-Marayati said.
The pope has been praised by supporters for his frankness in approaching
Islam and interfaith dialogue in general, but critics have called him
insensitive.
Muslims in many nations reacted angrily when the pope quoted a 14th century
Byzantine emperor connecting Islam with violence in a 2006 speech at
Germany's Regensburg University. Tensions eased after Benedict traveled to
Turkey that same year, visiting Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque.
The pope was applauded for organizing a Nov. 4-6 meeting in Rome with Muslim
religious leaders and scholars, as part of a push for more dialogue between
Catholics and Muslims.
But many Muslims said the pontiff insulted them on Easter Sunday in St.
Peter's Basilica, when he baptized Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born commentator
who has criticized what he called the "inherent" violence in Islam. Islamic
leaders said the prominence of the ceremony, not the conversion itself, was
troubling.
"It's true that some of the gestures, some of the statements make us
uncomfortable and we feel badly about it," said Sayyid Syeed, national
interfaith director of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest
communal group for American Muslims. "But our challenge is to not let those
challenges hamper progress." Syeed will attend the meeting Thursday.
Imam Yahya Hendi, a leading advocate of interfaith dialogue and chaplain at
the Jesuit-founded Georgetown University, had met John Paul and said he
would participate in the interfaith gathering, because "I believe in the
power of love and the power of dialogue." Hendi will also be among the
thousands of people at a ceremony for the pope Wednesday at the White House.
But Hendi said that he and other Muslims were concerned that the pope wasn't
visiting a mosque or meeting with leaders who represent the millions of
Muslims living in the U.S.
"Since he came to office, things have happened that have been used on both
sides to build up walls," Hendi said. "I think this could be a good
opportunity for Pope Benedict to help people to build bridges."
American Muslims are unlike any Islamic migrant community Benedict has
encountered in Europe. Many Muslims in the U.S. came for higher education
and are now professionals _ academics, business people, physicians and
engineers _ who are settled in the wealthier suburbs.
They've battled discrimination and intensive government scrutiny following
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Yet they have also benefited from
American constitutional protection for religious freedom. The U.S. Justice
Department, along with civil rights groups that usually represent Jews and
Christians, often help Muslims secure their religious rights in the
workplace, public schools and elsewhere.
Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core based in Chicago, said that he
was inspired as a boy by the interreligious outreach of the late Chicago
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.
Patel, a Muslim born in India, said he had no concerns at all about
participating in the Washington gathering, even though he wished the Easter
conversion hadn't been so public.
"I think that we have to find ways to cooperate on important matters
concerning the earth, including climate change, reducing disease, reducing
poverty, increasing respect," he said. "That's where our focus should be."
