The lecture given by Pope Benedict to some academicians at the University of Regensburg in his homeland Germany almost two weeks ago causing furore that generated a lot of controversy forcing the Holy Father to recant over his statement after the upsurge of violence and demonstrations in the Muslim World took every one by surprise. Pope Benedict unlike his predecessor Pope John Paul is a controversial figure when it comes to encounter with Muslims due to some un-guarded sometimes very un-diplomatic statements or comments which can be quoted either deliberately or taken out of context depending on the way every one sees it. Those defending the holiness would insist that he did not mean what he said but the Muslims would say “he has already said it” so what does it imply? So this is why the 12 September Lecture before the intellectuals on the question of God and the use of reason five years almost exactly after the September 11 was no surprise as echoing the same historical sentiments. The lecture which started very well with the Pope reminding his audience of his years of teaching at the University of Bonn in 1959 which he described as a Universe of reason at the time. Taking it lightly without any inkling the Pope might have forgotten that he was the Head of one of the largest Religious groups in the World and to quote a quote regarded as evil against another Religious group will not only be regarded as political sentiment but would obviously generate a lot of controversy. Unfortunately His holiness decided to use the chance during the interaction with his audience to impress them on a dialogue which he found very interesting and possibly amusing but the consequence and implications of the only sentence quoted had far reaching effect which he was witness .The Pope only realised  the seriousness of the matter himself when he decided to apologise personally the first time he regretted for a statement ever made by the Pope.  The controversial statement in question was a quotation which he said he read about one Emperor Manuel whom the Pope admired as an erudite. Now it was only this part of the speech which the Press found to be news worthy worth quoting dumping the rest of the speech in the dust bin which the world press accepted.. Immediately the Press quoted this part of the quotation it generated a spontaneous response kindling fire of war of words between the Muslims and the Christians especially the Roman Catholic followers leading to upsurge of protests and sometimes demonstrations all over Muslim Countries reminding us of the past and present relation of the two religions which is so frosty. Pope Benedict quoted a Byzantine Emperor in 1391 may be it was a dialogue between the Emperor and a learned Muslim a century after the notorious crusades in which the Muslims and the Christians fought for supremacy. Unfortunately the Pope did not clarify nor bothered to see the implications of that quotation at the time until it spread like wild fire generating controversy then his holiness realised he made a mistake therefore in order to calm the atmosphere he recanted and regretted the said statement. This statement in question was “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find only evil and inhuman” part which was quoted again and again by world press which generated anger and spontaneous demonstrations across the Muslim World. Initially one of the Spokes- people of the Pope here in U.K said His holiness was not going to change his statement. However many Christian leaders including Angela Merkel the German Chancellor tried to defend the Pope saying that he did not mean what he said but the tension continued. Then the Vatican made a statement regretting any offence this might have caused and in the end the Pope finally expressed his deep regret for the anger he might have caused among Muslim Nations for the statement which was deliberately quoted out of context to or only made for the consumption of his audience at that time( the intellectuals )not knowing that it would spread world wide like wild fire. The consequence of such a statement coming from no less than Pope  himself attributing evil to the Prophet was  definitely bound to generate  and ignite  controversy at the same time inflame the continued mistrust of the love hate encounter between the Muslims and the Christians. The Pope himself is no new to this kind of verbiage when he was reported to have told a French Newspaper Le Figaro at the time when he was known as Cardinal Rat zinger. In the controversial statement he said that Turkey should not be admitted into the European Union on the grounds that it is a Muslim Nation which according to him has always represented another continent in history in contrast with Europe.

Now going back to the remarks quoted which gave rise to the protest perhaps the Pope was quoting the encounter between Emperor Manuel in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara between an educated Muslim and the Emperor on the relationship between Christianity and Islam almost a century after the last major crusade. The question is who was this Emperor.? According to sources he was the Greek Emperor known as  Manuel 2 who unfortunately lost his throne in 1376 in favour of his brother. He attempted to get back to power but he could not .So the only way he could get back his throne was to call for the help of the Muslims Turks in 1379 who responded favourably which was reasonable. As human being ever ungrateful it was said he rebelled against the Turks provoking disastrous war with the Muslims resulting in serious consequence eruditely disparaging the Muslims and the Islam quoting the above quotation during an encounter with the educated Muslim. According Encyclopaedia Britannica a treaty in 1403 kept peace between Manuel the 2nd until 1421 when John V111 son of Manuel the second decided to meddle in the Turkish Affairs then the Turks besieged Constantinople and took the Southern Greece forcing Manuel to sign a treaty ending up in Monastery .According to a Writer Gary Leupp  “Maybe it had not been so reasonable at that time to meddle with the Muslims which the Pope could have mentioned  in his speech. The Writer on the Middle Easton Line asked “When did the Byzantine Empire ever tolerate dialogue of cultures or applied reasons to religious issues?” The Emperors from the thirteenth Century persecuted religious minorities including the Jews and dissident Christians at the time when Islamic World was showing relative tolerance. Many Byzantine Jews welcomed the Muslim advance which provided relief for them from the Christian persecution. Unfortunately it was a historical distortion and fallacy linking and portraying Islam with violence even attributing it to the Prophet as quoted by the Pope which is unfortunate. Although it is the Muslims who are presently suffering in the hands of their invaders and occupiers all in the name of spreading democracy and freedom which has no end yet the initiators of this war wanted to portray the Muslims every where as violent and intolerant.. So the struggle christened initially as crusade but quickly changed to war on terror and recently dubbed as war against Islamofacism it is no wonder linking even the Prophet himself with this kind of attitude as echoed in the Popes comment would generate spontaneous response which would unfortunately be seen by Non-Muslims as another act of violence distorting more historical facts. Reasonable debates on reasonable things objectively and impartially is the only solution to the current impasse not the type of comment seen as another opprobrium regarded as distasteful and disrespectful to Islam and the Muslims .Such comment would do no good to the current Muslim/Christian relation and dialogue which is desperately needed at this time seen as ripe when all the main players are seen as competing for cultural dominance and supremacy due to clash of  civilisations which is why the Pope added his voice. The struggle seen by the  followers of the two Religions as the only way to counter the other’s argument would continue unabated until they attain victory. As the struggle continues each  side accuses the other as the one fermenting trouble by trying to dominate the world spreading what each  sees as evil ideology according to their perception as seen from the arguments and counter arguments coming from political and religious leaders of the two Divine Religions.

Wa Akhiri Daawana Anil Hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen.