The pope's controversial remarks came during a speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany on Tuesday. He quoted a 14th-century Byzantine ruler during a speech at Regensburg University as saying: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Imam Al Hussein from the Islamic Foundation of Ireland believes that these lines reflect the pope's attitude to Islam. "Why would you quote someone else, what was he trying to say? If you wanted to say something, that's what you would do. He didn't want to say it himself, so he quoted someone else."

Al Hussein, who said he was upset by the pope's remarks, did not condemn the Muslim reaction, which included students in Allahabad in India burning an effigy of the pope.

"I think most of the people are quite upset and disappointed, they want him to admit that he made a mistake, " he said.

Yesterday, in a statement issued by the Vatican, the pope expressed his respect for Muslims and said that he hoped they would understand the true sense of his words. His original remarks have put in doubt a planned visit to Turkey next month.

Ali Selim, resident theologian at the Islamic Cultural Centre, described the Pope's original speech as regrettable. "It comes at a time where there is a call for dialogue among civilisations, so it is not very helpfulf I think that people did not expect such remarks and they were shocked." Selim said that the situation will be remedied if Pope Benedict XVI "explains to the people" why he made the remarks.