Pope Ratzinger ने पढी नमाज़ मस्जिद में

हरेक को अपनी तरफ आकर्षित करती है. पिछले दिनों सुदर्शन जी नमाज़ अदा करने के लिये मस्जिद चल दिये थे. यह तो सब जानते ही हैं लेकिन यह बात कम लोग जानते हैं कि ईसाई जगत के सर्वोच्च धर्मगुरु पोप साहब भी मस्जिद में इमाम साहब के पीछे नमाज़ अदा कर चुके हैं. देखिये एक पुरानी रिपोर्ट अंग्रेज़ी में ज्यों की त्यों:

The Pope at the Mosque – A Scandal   Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.

Like so many Catholics regrettably accustomed to ecumenical gestures, my friend Jan made light of Benedict XVI’s prayer at the Blue Mosque on November 30, 2006 in Turkey. “He wasn’t really praying with the Muslims,” she affirmed. “He was just meditating. There’s nothing wrong with that.” 

This is also the spin the Catholic media are putting on the symbolic act of Pope Ratzinger. Even before the visit was over, papal spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi was pointing out to journalists that the Pope had not actually prayed, but was “in meditation.” 

Barefoot and facing Mecca, Benedict joined the Muslim mufti in prayer  - AP photo  [more pictures]

Who can judge the intentions of the Pontiff when he turned east and joined in prayer with the Istanbul mufti? This question of private intentions, in my opinion, is fundamentally wrong. We are not dealing with private intentions, everything about that visit was open, symbolic and quite clear in its main goal: Benedict intended to humiliate himself – and with him the Papacy – before the Muslim religion. This intention is quite unambiguous. 

First, he went to the mosque. 

Second, before entering it, he removed his shoes. 

Third, he humbly received “instruction” from Mustafa Cagriche on the basics of Muslim prayer. 

Fourth, he meekly followed the Muslim’s command to turn toward “the Kiblah” – the direction of Mecca. Then the prayer began. 

Fifth, he did not even make the Sign of the Cross or give any external sign that he was making a Catholic prayer. On the contrary, he imitated the mufti, crossing his hands on his stomach in a classical Muslim prayer attitude known as “the posture of tranquility.” Eyes closed, they prayed together for several minutes.