BAMAKO, Mali, April 11 (UPI) -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi called for allowing Christians and Jews to perform pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holiest place.
Speaking following prayers with the presidents of Mali, Sierra Leone, Niger, Mauritania and Senegal on the occasion of the Prophet Mohammed's birthday in Tombouctou, Mali late Monday, Gadhafi said "Mecca should be a meeting point to all people except heretics and impure."
He said Christians and Jews are not heretics or impure and "believe in God" and should be allowed to go to pilgrimage in Mecca.
Gadhafi challenged Muslim religious leaders to allow U.S. President George Bush to enter the main mosque in Mecca and pray there, while considering him impure or a heretic.
"If (Muslim leaders) consider him impure, why do they befriend him and eat with him," Gadhafi asked.
He said the West committed a mistake by considering Prophet Mohammed as the guide of Muslims only.
"Those who slandered the Prophet in Scandinavia were wrong and committed a mistake because they did not consider Mohammed as their prophet as well due to the wrong teachings that incite hatred," Gadhafi said.
He said U.S. and European foreign policy encourage hatred "which is a corrupt and non-humanitarian system."
Gadhafi also called for reviewing the Bible which he considers to be "false and phony."
