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Rev. Fr. Kukah’s Latest Goof By Ali Al-Hussain
Only Muslims ignorant of the background of former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger ; who is now the Pope and holy father will be surprised by his recent attack on Islam. The timing of the attack itself tells a lot; it came just after the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Although the Pope in move less than sincere puts an apology and a televised meeting with Muslim diplomats in his palace, the damage has been done and no any reasonable person will doubt that the Pope quoted the bigot ancient Emperor with full awareness of the implications. Sincere and upright men and women across Muslim and Christian world made it clear that the Pope has erred and has done a damage to the delicate issue of belief at also a delicate time in world’s history. But forgiving is a virtue encouraged by Islam. All Muslims should forgive Pope and prayer for him. Whatever he intends to achieve with that blasphemy, God is aware and will judge when it is time. At a time the Pope was feigning remorse, a figure in his church, Rev. Fr. Matthew Hasan Kukah of Nigeria once again took his pen and wrote what on can describe illogical attempt to justify the Pope’s gaffe. He wrote ‘Pope Benedict: A Bump On The Road’ The Guardian of Sunday September 24, 2006. In this essay, the man tried to once again show Nigerians that he is not only a man in cassock, but also man full of sophistry. It displays the man of God’s facility with persuasive elements. And he chooses his readers very well. Reading the essay more than once leaves one with sadness. How can a man who was trying to show that their church and religion is the bastion of peace go out of his way abusing the spiritual leader of over 130 million Muslims? By praising the President of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and at the same time reigning abuses on Grand Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, Kukah had done what the Pope is busying pretending to regret. No one doubts the good leadership Pope John Paul II gave the Catholic Church in his fruitful life. The late Pope represents everything good about faith. He never shied away from condemning acts of transgression against everyone; regardless of religion. He tried to reach out to Muslims and up to the end of his earthly life he lead the catholic church to more integrity and respect by all followers of other religions. But his replacement was not to carry on the good work. He just after taking over ventured into the latest form of Euro-American politic; the bashing of Islam. The cartoon controversy was not without a clearly defined goal. Those behind it have a goal and threw caution away on their way to achieving it. The Popes attack on Islam came at a time when the Muslim world is in pain over what Israel and America did in Lebanon and were doing in Palestine every day. America supplied Israel with the cluster bombs that killed hundreds of innocent children in Lebanon. Israel almost demolished Lebanon while everyone kept quite. One will wonder where the Pope and even Kukah were when this genocide was happening. Right now Bush and his Jewish backers are carrying out terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. All the wars Bush is waging are with the backing of his religious sect. But it was called a war against terror. Why will Israel have every kind of nuclear weapons while Iran is being threatened for developing same for civilian purposes? What kind of world is this? Where is peace? Where is justice? And where is the Pope? Now one will also wonder why every now and then blaspheming Islam’s sacred by western institutions and personalities has become a fashion. If they believe Islam is not right, why cant they keep that belief to themselves instead of going about spreading hatred? When Rev. Fr. Kukah was writing his turgid essay he must have known that Ayatullah Ali Khamenei is the spiritual leader of Iran and of the Shiat followers across the world. For Kukah to call his language in vulgar way as ‘crude’, it means even the Pope is much better than him in the art of caution. When the people of Iran rose against US imposed misrule of Shah Reza Pahlavi, America and its allies in the fight against Islam did everything within their means to ensure that an Islamic republic has not emerged in Iran. The Iranian people under the leadership of Imam Ayatullah Ruhullah Khomeini endured American conspiracy and the overpowered western Islam phobia. The Western world was not shameful to have armed and financed the now disgraced Saddam Hussein in waging the war against the Islamic republic that lasted eight years. Up to today no one is even talking about bringing the US to book, rather the world is uniting in a move to impose more sanctions on Iran. Islam is Iran’s only problem. The reaction of Ayatullah Ali Hussein Khamenei to the Popes diatribe was right and very cautious. Only people like Kukah can see anything wrong in it. Kukah doesn’t know what the Prophet (SA) stands for and therefore will not understand or may ignore the loaded implication of the Pope’s gaffe. The Pope did wronged Muslims but Kukah see nothing wrong in it, rather he launched a tirade against the leader of the Islamic Republic. In recent times Kukah has been displaying a strange kind of bigotry that often amuses. In an attempt to make the Popes goof to look like something ok, he went out of his way to give the impression that the Muslims should not have reacted to the bigotry because it came from a holy father. One will wonder where this world is heading to when clergy men become hacks and bearers of Ali Al -Hussain Kashim Ibrahim Way Wuse Zone 5 Abuja
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