CAIRO: The Islamic Research Center is expected on Thursday to discuss in a meeting headed by Mohamed Said Tantawy, president of the Al Azhar Institution, the final position of the religious authority regarding comments about Islam made in the Vatican. The meeting is considered the first attempt to organize a formal response to Pope Benedict XVI's September speech on Islam in which he referred to Islam as a faith spread by the sword, quoting 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus. Muslim countries called the Pope's speech deeply offensive and Islamophobic. The Pope has since apologized for offending Muslims but has not retracted his speech. The Al Azhar Institution has reportedly mulled opening channels of dialogue with the Holy See in hopes of breaching the misunderstandings and Western ignorance of Islam. But Gamal El Bana, an Islamic scholar, expressed his discontent with Al-Azhar reaction. The Pope has a very wrong idea about Islam and with this ideology, there is no possibility for any dialogue to be performed, El Bana told The Daily Star Egypt. The Pope believes that God in Islam is presented in an irrational way and that Islam has spread by wars...and all of that is not true, he added. El Bana also stated that the Pope's opinion does not represent the Vatican council, which he said has to issue their official opinion and if it is similar to that of the Pope then, no dialogue with them too. No discussion should be held with these ideologies in their minds, they should change those opinions and acknowledge that they erred in their assessment of Islam before we can even approach the issue of dialogue, he added. The scholar, who holds interpretations of Islam Al Azhar considers controversial, believes the level of ignorance of the Islamic faith in the west is In the West, there is complete and scandalous ignorance of Islam, says Islamic scholar Gamal El-Banna. El-Banna believes ignorance of Islam is not limited to the West and stresses that there is also a misunderstanding of Islam among Muslims and local communities. "Islam intersects with international human rights doctrines on freedom of conviction . But who understands this? he said, adding that "Muslims don't understand the language of logic that the West speaks. Sheikh Saber Taalab, former head of the Islamic Research Center, believes the Muslim world must look inward before it chooses to target its anger at the West. "We have to see what we as Muslims have done to ourselves, he says. Disunity among Muslim countries and the minimal level of cooperation are among the reasons why Muslim societies are facing hurdles in their socio-economic development. Diaa Rashwan, an expert in Islamic studies at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, thinks all Muslim countries are facing a common challenge - the perception that Muslims are a threat to the West and that Muslim countries are the source of terrorism is having its effect on politics, he says. Rashwan suggests enhancing the role of Islamic regional and international organizations. "They should have a more effective role internationally. But this won't happen overnight.
