The underlying principle of asking any party to retract his statement is merely to emphasise that he no longer believes in the veracity of the statements previously made.

That said, at the end of the day, I think what is simply required is to consider whether Prophet Muhammad clearly enjoined Muslims to spread Islam 'by the sword'. In that respect, I think no Muslim worth his salt would disregard one of the clearest edicts of the Islamic faith 'There is no compulsion in religion'. Yet, interestingly, the Pope has appeared to provide a limited context to that verse as being one which was revealed and implicitly only applicable when Islam was still in its infancy. However, when allusions are made as to jihad, no context is provided.

All said and done, the issue is simply this, do the verses relating to jihad envisage ONLY spreading the faith through war or as the Pope puts it 'by the sword'? Douglas E. Streusand, the author of The Formation of the Mughal Empire and The Islamic Gunpowder Empires in World History puts it best when he asserts that 'A non-Muslim cannot assert that jihad always means violence or that all Muslims believe in jihad as warfare. Conversely, ... A Muslim can honestly dismiss jihad as warfare, but he cannot deny the existence of this concept.' (See http://tinyurl.co.uk/9gve)

In other words, jihad as war may be exercisable but only in certain circumstances. For that reason and I say this most respectfully, when jihad in the sense of a struggle through war is highlighted by the Pope without similarly pointing out those circumstances, it is akin to selective quoting. A point has been made but perhaps somewhat unfairly and by not providing a context.

In any event, if you wish to consider this issue more fully, kindly see http://nizambashir.com/?p=64 but irrespective of our deliberations on this issue, I share the sentiments you expressed in the 2nd last paragraph of your post.

By the way, in case I am misunderstood by those who chose to read the comment and not go further, I don't really see a need to 'condemn' the Pope. My sole intent was simply to point out the basis of the concerns expressed by some Muslims. If the leared gentleman made a honest mistake etc and he says sorry, lets move on. There are too many other pressing concerns in this world. Poverty and starvation being right up there as far as lists are concerned and I am sure enjoining the good is something common to all faiths.

nizam : Glad you are back, Nizam. And thanks for your sharing. At least you have demonstrated that there are Muslims out there who are peace loving and prepared to share and have a dialogue in a civic manner. Of course, knowing you since the "Elite" days, I know you are someone whom I can always talk and approach to :)