Somali Cleric Calls for Pope's Death

The Age ^ | 9/17/06

[bnelson44]

A HARDLINE cleric linked to Somalia's powerful Islamist movement has called for Muslims to "hunt down" and kill Pope Benedict XVI for his controversial comments about Islam.

Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin urged Muslims to find the pontiff and punish him for insulting the Prophet Mohammed and Allah in a speech that he said was as offensive as author Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses.

"We urge you Muslims wherever you are to hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements as you have pursued Salman Rushdie, the enemy of Allah who offended our religion," he said in Friday evening prayers.

"Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim," Malin, a prominent cleric in the Somali capital, told worshippers at a mosque in southern Mogadishu.

"We call on all Islamic Communities across the world to take revenge on the baseless critic called the pope," he said.

Reached by telephone on Saturday, Malin confirmed making the remarks that were echoed in less strident form by other senior clerics in the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).

Another SICS executive member, Sheikh Ahmed Abdullahi, vented similar anger at the pope's "barbarous criticism" but stopped short of calling for his murder.

"He must apologise because he has offended the most honorable person who ever lived in the world," Abdullahi said.

The German-born leader of the Roman Catholic Church has been condemned in the Muslim world for comments he made at a Tuesday lecture, in which he implicitly denounced links between Islam and violence, particularly with reference to jihad, or "holy war."

The pope also quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who said innovations introduced by the Prophet Mohammed were "evil and inhuman."

Somalia, a Horn of Africa nation of some 10 million mainly moderate Muslims, has been wracked by instability for the past 16 years but has recently seen the rise of fundamentalist Islamists who seized the capital in June.

[gaijin]

They sure are great at marketing, aren't they?

The pope's got a FATWAH..! I AM SOOO JEALOUS!!!

[SittinYonder]

A HARDLINE cleric linked to Somalia's powerful Islamist movement has called for Muslims to "hunt down" and kill Pope Benedict XVI for his controversial comments about Islam.

Sounds like somebody's begging for a crusade.

[Bushwacker777]

Death to those who say Islam is not a peaceful religion.

[darkangel82]

Somalia, a Horn of Africa nation of some 10 million mainly moderate Muslims,

"Moderate", my @$$.

[gotribe]

We're the religion of peace, we hate that you associated our peaceful religion with irrational violence, so we intend to kill you.

What a mess these people are.

[lightman]

Once again "the religion of pieces" shows the truth of the Holy Father's words.

[woofer2425]

That's it!!!!....It's off to the crusades!!!

[Dark Skies]

How dare the Pope suggest that islam is violent! Now he must die!

[Shadowstrike]

And once again the 'Religion of Peace' rears its ugly head.

[NewCenturions]

Islam is a religion of death. and so it continues...

[AFPhys]

How to start WW3 - the real "shooting" one, not one of the "Cold" ones...

[Clara Lou]

Gee. This sounds like a job for the World Court. Right? This Somali cleric is calling for violence to be done to a world leader.

[SittinYonder]

hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements as you have pursued Salman Rushdie

The headline is misleading. If he wants them to go after the Pope the way they went after Salman Rushdie, then I think he's actually saying ... "leave the Pope alone."

[backhoe]

This just in from MM:

Pope Rage on the Internet;
church bombings in Gaza

By Michelle Malkin   ·   September 16, 2006 09:12 AM

***update: an apology...but of course it's never enough***

My friend Lorenzo Vidino, counterterrorism expert and author of al Qaeda in Europe, sent the above photo and this note:

Attached is a picture of the Pope that is circulating in Qaeda-friendly chat rooms and websites. Lovely (and predictable) that they call for his beheading.

The script in red calls for the Pope's beheading. The rest of the translation:

"Swine and servant of the cross, worships a monkey on a cross, hateful evil man, stoned Satan, may Allah curse him, blood-sucking vampire."

[outdriving]

"Don't call Islam a violent ideology or we'll kill you."

[docman57]

If these idiots Martyr a Pope, they have no clue as to what kind of a can of woop ass is gonna' be opended up on them.

[Mark was here]

Islam reacts violently to prove it is not violent.

Kinda like a pervert molesting a young child to prove he is not perverted.

[JellyJam]

I'm sure the Pope is quaking in his boots. The religion of death is a joke. Long live the Pope!

[Americanexpat]

Well, that didn´t take the sorry bas$$rds long did it.