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Pope gets flak from across the world
Published on Sat, Sep 16, 2006 at 16:47, Updated on Sat, Sep 16, 2006 at 17:05 in 
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New Delhi: Pope Benedict XVI may not have anticipated it. But by quoting a Byzantine monarch's critical remarks about jehad, he's set off a furor among Muslims across the world.
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he was shocked.
"There is a distinct difference between the present Pope and the late Pope. This Pope has not said anything good about Islam or about the Palestinian issue. And now he has made a statement that I am afraid Muslims will not take kindly to," said Mahatir Mohammad.
In France, which recently saw riots by its depressed Algerian Muslim minority, there were demands that the Pope clarify his comments.
"Islam is a religion. Islamism is an ideology. We think maybe there is a misinterpretation that deserves an explanation. I don't ask for an excuse or an apology, no, but a clarification of the attitude of the Church," said President of the French Council of Muslim Culture, Dalil Boubakeur.
Some went so far as to say that Pope appeared to be calling on Christians for another crusade against Islam.
"He stokes the fire and accuses Islam of being irrational. It's a person who prepares a crusade, it seems, and it goes in the same tendency of Bush. And it's causing hurt around the world - for Christians, Muslims and Jews," said a French Muslim, Mohammad.
The Pope has tried to shrug off the controversy saying he was only quoting a Byzantine emperor but it'll take more than that to calm Muslim outrage.
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