Muslims want further apology from pope.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Benedict’s expression of regret was acceptable. Malaysia — which chairs the world’s largest Muslim bloc, the Organization of the Islamic Conference — had demanded the pope offer a full apology and retract what he said.

“I think we can accept it and we hope there are no more statements that can anger the Muslims,” Abdullah told Malaysian journalists late Monday in New York, where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly. His comments came after he met with President Bush, who told the Malaysian leader he believed that Benedict was sincere in apologizing.

In Turkey, however, protesters said Benedict must make full amends before a planned November trip that would be his papacy’s first visit to a Muslim nation. “Either apologize, or do not come,” read a banner carried by a group of demonstrators from a religious workers’ union.

Iraq’s parliament also rejected Benedict’s explanation of his remarks, saying it was insufficiently clear. The parliament “demands the pope take practical steps to restore respect to the Islamic world and its religion, and a clear-cut apology for what he said,” lawmakers said in a statement read at a press conference.

The top Muslim clergyman in the Palestinian territories similarly demanded that Benedict offer a “clear apology.” The mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein, urged Palestinians to halt attacks on churches in the territories, but held the pontiff responsible for the outpouring of anger.

“So far, we consider the apology of the Vatican Pope insufficient,” Hussein told reporters. “We firmly ask the Vatican Pope to offer a personal, public and clear apology to the 1.5 billion Muslims in this world.”