One US Muslim Group Declines to Meet Pope, others warily accept

    Unease with Pope Benedict XVI’s approach to Islam has led a US Muslim group to decline to join an inter-faith event with the pope later this week. Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Los Angels based Muslim Public Affairs Council, said that the event seemed “more ceremonial than substantive” and his organization would not participate. He said he was disappointed that no time was made for even a brief private meeting with U.S. Muslim leaders during the pope’s six-day visit. Several other U.S. Muslim leaders expressed similar concerns, but pledged to participate in the Washington gathering. “Our going there is more out of respect for the Catholic Church itself,” said Muzammil H. Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America – “Popes come and go, but the church is there.” Siddiqi, who is co-chairman of the West Coast Muslim-Catholic Dialogue, is among the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Jain and Hindu leaders scheduled to meet with pope Benedict on Thursday at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

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