After yesterday's ridiculous, today's sublime...

Pope Benedict XVI and Turkey's Religious Affairs Director Ali Bardakoglu

(AP Image from Yahoo! News)

(Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press)

(Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc.)

Pope Benedict appears to be trying to soothe relations with Muslims, shaking hands with Ali Bardakoglu, head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directories and stating:

"Peace is the basis of all religions."

Let's hope that it is. Bardakoglu, anyway, doesn't object to greeting the Pope and shaking his hand, unlike this fellow who blogs at The Ignored Puzzle Pieces of Knowledge and who would refuse to shake hands with a Christian, as explained in his November 27th entry "Shaykh 'Azzam: Let Them Find Harshness In You":

[T]hey said to Ibn Hajar al-Haythami: "Is it allowed for the Muslim to extend his hand when greeting a Christian, so that he could shake it?" He answered: "No, because the Christian will feel at peace when he is shaking your hand. So, it is not allowed for you to extend your hand for him to shake." ... It was narrated to me by the leader of the Islamic Movement in Jordan -- our teacher, Muhammad 'Abd ar-Rahman Khalifah....

Not knowing anything about the teacher Muhammad 'Abd ar-Rahman Khalifah nor about Muslim views on this issue of refusing a handshake -- though it sounds Salafi to my ears -- I'll ignore the missing pieces of my knowledge in this puzzle and leave the research to others.

Why?

Because I've got other fish to fry ... such as to finish grading, by classtime this morning, the final three of those hundred essays that I've been busy with for over a week now...