Ali Bardakoglu, head of Turkey's Directorate General for Religious Affairs: "A person who says the prophet is the source of violence, and that the Koran is the cause of the aberrations."
Bardakoglu: Whenever a religious leader visits other countries, it means that religious leader is ready to engage in dialogue. That's important. If we want to get a grip on the world's problems, we have to speak to each other. Our problems don't originate in the religions themselves. The leaders can help ensure that people from various cultures develop an understanding for one another.
SPIEGEL: The pope is visiting you too. You've strongly criticized his Regensburg speech.
Bardakoglu: The pope's speech wasn't a critique. It turned against fundamentally sacred elements of Islam in a condemning manner. In this sense, it was flawed. It shouldn't have been that way, as the pope himself later came to understand.
SPIEGEL: Why does the Muslim world react to criticism so intensely?
Bardakoglu: We're always open to criticism. We also criticize ourselves when necessary. Islam and rationality very much go together. We're prepared to engage in an intellectual discussion about the relationship between faith and reason, religion and violence. We would also have a lot to say to Christians about this topic.
SPIEGEL: What was wrong with the speech?
Bardakoglu: It was an attack, strongly colored by prejudice, on the three pillars of Islam: faith, the Koran and the prophet Muhammad -- without any reference to a specific event from the history of Islam. Whoever portrays the Koran and the prophet as the causes of the problems hasn't understood Islam.
SPIEGEL: You spoke of the Pope having "hatred in his heart" and accused him of cultivating a way of thinking that resembles that of the crusaders.
Bardakoglu: A person who says the prophet is the source of violence, and that the Koran is the cause of the aberrations, isn't formulating criticism but rather condemning and insulting Islam. The fact that the speaker is merely repeating a quotation does not diminish the mistake.
SPIEGEL: Why doesn't the West understand the reactions in the Muslim world, in your opinion?
Bardakoglu: People's relationship to God, to the Bible, to Jesus isn't as strong in the West as it is in Islam. That's why the reactions triggered here are altogether different. The West makes the mistake of taking the relationships of its faithful to holy institutions as a benchmark, comparing them to Islam.
SPIEGEL: What would make dialogue easier?
Bardakoglu: Mutual respect. We have a principle in Islam that requires us not to talk about another religion or a religious leader in an insulting way. We also take action when Jesus is insulted, whom we consider an important prophet.
SPIEGEL: But there are attacks on Christians and on Christianity in the Muslim world, including in Turkey.
Bardakoglu: People with little knowledge, and sometimes with little self-confidence, don't engage in theological debate; instead, they choose the simple option of attacking another religion. That's dangerous, and we condemn it. We always call on people to react moderately, never violently. But some people's exaggerated reactions are also instrumentalized by those who want to fuel Islamophobia.
SPIEGEL: Do you want to bring up the Regensburg speech again?
Bardakoglu: I want to look forward. If the Pope doesn't raise the issue himself, I won't refer to it.
Interview conducted by Annette Grossbongardt.
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