The chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, has said that Muslims are obligated to accept Pope Benedict XVI's apology according to Islamic teachings.
"As long as it (the Pope's remarks) was made out of negligence, we are obliged to accept the apology," explained Hasyim Muzadi at a religious conference Monday in Jakarta.
"If the rage continues, perhaps what the pope said is true," he added.
Muslims around the world have condemned comments linking Islam to violence that Benedict made last week in a speech to the University of Regensburg in Germany.
The Vatican issued a statement on Saturday announcing the Pope's "sincere regret" over his remarks, hoping to mollify the outcry. On Sunday, the Pope himself stressed publicly that the quotation used in his speech did not reflect his personal views.
Also at the religious conference, the chairman of the Indonesian Bishops Conference, Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja, made a formal statement of apology to Indonesia's Muslim community.
Hasyim insisted that it would take more than a few days of tension to destroy the relationship between Islam and the Vatican in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Havana, Cuba, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, urged Indonesian Muslims to refrain from violence or anything that could destroy the spirit of religious tolerance in Indonesia.
Yudhoyono said he appreciated the efforts of Muslim leaders like Hasyim, Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, and others regarding the Pope's statement.
Abdurrahman Wahid, former Indonesian president and an influential Muslim leader who is highly committed to tolerance and pluralism in Indonesia, said there was nothing in the pope's statement to humiliate Islam.
Several militant Muslim organizations, however, were still questioning the Pope's remarks and urging him to apologize directly. The Islamic Defender Front has asked the Indonesian government to sever diplomatic relations with the Vatican if he failed to do so.
Meanwhile, an e-mail from an Indonesian priest was widely distributed on mailing lists and among the catholic community. It explained what had actually happened and in what context Indonesian Catholics should understand the Pope's remark.
The pope was giving a speech on Theology. He was speaking in German and quoting a statement purported to have been made by a 14th century Byzantine emperor. It was not the pope's words, or an expression of his viewpoint.
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