Arabs Bid Fond Farewell to Pope John Paul II and Look to the Future

Speaking in the halls of Egypt's 1,000 year-old al-Azhar University, the premier Sunni Islamic institution in the Islamic world, Grand Imam and Head Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi reacted on April 3 to news of the death of Pope John Paul II. "The passing of the pope of the Vatican represents a great loss to the Catholic Church," Tantawi intoned, adding "and to the Islamic world, for what he provided it from values such as supporting truth and peace, and establishing bonds of love and friendship between the Islamic and Christian peoples."

Two days later, popular columnist Ahmad al-Ruba'i wrote in Saudi Arabia's Asharq al-Awsat, "The widespread reactions to his loss underscore a new truth, for Pope John Paul II was not merely pope of the Catholics, but rather an international personality who succeeded in crossing obstacles and boundaries between religions."

In response to this op-ed, readers wrote letters to the newspaper using the traditional Islamic formula for the recently deceased. One letter from Kuwait simply said: "May God have mercy on him, the foremost man of peace in the world." A letter from a Qatari said, "May God have mercy on this great man who worked with all sincerity in the interest of the oppressed peoples of Earth. We implore from God that He ensure the world with a successor to him that comes close to him in his deeds."

These are not examples of hyperbole. Long before his death, many in the Arab and Islamic worlds have expressed a deep admiration of Pope John Paul II, premised on two equally important factors. The first is the pope's religious devotion, morality, and sincere attempts at interfaith dialogue. He hosted numerous Islamic delegations at the Vatican and spoke eloquently about the two faiths' shared ideals. He was the first pope to ever visit Islamic nations or enter a mosque (the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus in 2001).

The other reason Muslims and Arabs look to him so positively has to do with the pope's political record. He was a strong anti-war advocate, having opposed both the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 Iraq War. Furthermore, he criticized the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza and during his 2000 tour of the region he actually visited the Palestinian refugee camp of Dheisheh.

As the above letter indicates, not only cardinals are offering up prayers during the Vatican conclave to choose the next pope. A Muslim's supplication for a successor to Pope John Paul II who will continue in his tradition represents the positive assessment of his legacy as much as the hopes for strengthening the spiritual bridges he built during his lifetime.

According to many Arab writers, the future pope will have to contend with, and should attempt to continue, the legacy of Pope John Paul II. Taysir Amari, writing in Jordan's al-Ra'i on April 6, lays out his vision of why the pope was so great. "The inhabitants of earth differ as to their views about any leader or president in the world," Amari argues, ".except his Holiness the pope, as everybody is united in honoring and appreciating him and the reason is simple: because he represents the culture of life and not the culture of death."

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