Pope Benedict XVI is being urged to retract comments he made linking Islam with violence after they provoked a wave a condemnation from across the Muslim world.

The pope provoked anger after criticising Islam and its concept of jihad on Tuesday during a six-day visit to his native Germany, citing a 14th-century Christian emperor who said that Prophet Mohammed had brought the world "evil and inhuman" things.

A statement issued by the Vatican on Thursday, saying the pope had never meant to offend Islam, failed to resolve the furore.

The Pakistani national assembly, parliament's lower house, unanimously passed a resolution on Friday demanding the Pope retract his remarks "in the interest of harmony among different religions of the world".

"The derogatory remarks of the pope about the philosophy of  jihad and Prophet Mohammed have injured sentiments across the Muslim world and pose the danger of spreading acrimony among the  religions," the resolution said.

In Qatar, prominent Muslim scholar shaikh Youssef al-Qaradawi rejected the Pope's comments and said Islam was a religion of peace and reason.

In Indonesia, Din Syamsuddin, the chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Islamic organisation, said: "The pope's statements reflect his lack of wisdom.

"It is obvious from the statements that the Pope doesn't have a correct understanding of Islam."

In Egypt, Muhammad Mahdi Akif, the leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, called for an apology.

"The remarks do not express correct understanding of Islam and are merely wrong and distorted beliefs being repeated in the West," Akif said in a statement.

Akif said the pope's comments "pour oil on the fire and ignite the wrath of the whole Islamic world to prove the claims of enmity of politicians and religious men in the West to whatever is Islamic".

Hamid Ansari, chairman of the Indian National Commission for Minorities said: "The language used by the pope sounds like that of his  12th-century counterpart who ordered the crusades."

Ali Bardakoglu, head of the state-run religious affairs directorate in Turkey, said on Thursday that Pope Benedict XVI was "full of enmity and grudge" against Islam. He opposed the pontiff's planned visit to Turkey in November.

In Kuwait, two high-ranking Islamist officials also called on Pope Benedict XVI to apologise for his remarks.

PHOTO CAPTION

Muslims in India.

News Agencies