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January 31, 2006

Islamic fury grows over Danish caricatures

The news pages of Jyllands-Posten (Reuters) Denmark has warned its citizens to avoid Saudi Arabia after Muslim fury mounted over newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which published the cartoons, issued an apology late on Monday in a statement to Arab countries, sent to the Jordanian news agency Petra.

The drawings, which seemed to portray the prophet as a terrorist, were published in September, but the row erupted this month after diplomatic efforts to solve the issue failed. One drawing shows Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb.

Muslims deem images of prophets disrespectful and caricatures blasphemous, and some have threatened Danes and demanded an apology. The newspaper said in a statement: "The drawings are not against the Danish law but have indisputably insulted many Muslims, for which we shall apologise."

Source: [Aljazeera]

Iraqi fighters' threat

An Iraqi fighters' group called on Monday for attacks on Danish and Norwegian targets, according to a statement attributed to the Mujahidin Army. A Norwegian paper has also run the drawings. The internet statement called on fighters to "hit whatever targets possible belonging to these two countries and others that follow their steps". It could not be authenticated.

A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police car driving in front of a Danish forces patrol, wounding one Iraqi, the Danish army said on Monday, adding it had no reason to conclude the attack was connected to the cartoon row.

As the diplomatic and economic impact has spread, Saudi Arabia has recalled its envoy from Denmark and its religious leaders called for a boycott of Danish products. Across the Gulf, several supermarkets pulled Scandinavian foods off the shelves after consumers complained.

Sudan said it had told a Danish government minister he could not make a planned visit and said it had also called for a boycott of Danish goods.

Sudanese reaction

Jamal Ibrahim, a Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: "This is an insult to the Prophet Muhammad. Furthermore, we have asked our national companies to boycott all Danish goods."

Libya has closed its Copenhagen embassy, and thousands of Palestinians marched in protest on Monday.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark's prime minister, welcomed the paper's statement but did not apologise. Rasmussen said: "The Danish government cannot apologise on behalf of a Danish newspaper. It does not work like that ... and we have explained that to the Arab countries. Independent media are not edited by the government."

Earlier on Monday, he advised colleagues in the European Union of the situation and the bloc's executive said it might complain to the World Trade Organisation about the boycott if the Saudi government had encouraged it.

Scandinavian caution

The Danish Foreign Ministry advised against non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia and urged Danes to be cautious in other Muslim countries.

"Danes who choose to stay in Saudi Arabia should show extraordinarily high watchfulness," it added on its website. The Danish Red Cross said it had pulled two employees out of Gaza and one from Yemen, and Norway's Foreign Ministry said two Norwegian aid workers in Gaza were planning to leave on Monday.

Palestinian warning

Sweden warned its citizens against travelling to Gaza and the West Bank and the Swedish consulate in Jerusalem received a fax claiming to be from Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades demanding that all Danes and Swedes should leave the area.

"All Swedes and Danes that exist on our soil have 48 hours to leave our country or else," according to the fax read to Reuters by a consulate official. Palestinians protested outside the EU headquarters in Gaza.

Dozens of Palestinians with rifles and grenade launchers rallied outside the EU headquarters in Gaza City, demanding an apology and warning Danes and Norwegians they would be at risk in Gaza. Some of the armed men fired in the air, while others burned Danish and Norwegian flags.

Hamas, the Islamic resistance group which won Palestinian elections last week, urged Muslim countries to take "deterrent steps against idiotic Danish behaviour."

Hardest hit by the boycott was Danish-Swedish dairy product maker Arla Foods, with annual sales of $487 million in the Middle East. The world's biggest maker of insulin, Novo Nordisk, also said it was affected.

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Comments

These people living in Europe, that have undergone brain-washing from the US, have no idea what they are talking about. They combine terrorism and Islam. One small request to the illiterate Danes, please read the authentic and largely-recognized books on Islam to open your eyes and understand the truth. Inevitably, they'll find a striking contrast and will realise how blinded they are, i.e if they are not drunk.

Posted by: Asim | Jan 31, 2006 3:52:21 PM

The Danish Government is acting in a just and proper manner. The ones responsible for the offensive content have apologized. What more do the Muslims want? For the rest of the world to live in the same oppressive (subjectively speaking) conditions as themselves? Or is this simply the riot de jour for the Muslim world? I know this is completely unsubstantiated, but it seems to me that they are always rioting or protesting some insult or indignity. In my opinion if you do not want to be linked to terrorism and hated around the world, police your own. Reign in and punish those responsible for terrorist acts in a public forum instead of simply expecting all other people of the world to love you and your ‘brother’ who just blew up a bus load of children…get real.

Posted by: Travis | Jan 31, 2006 5:53:14 PM

It goes well beyond Islam, the root of evil is respect to nonsensical beliefs
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_7.html#harriss
Quote from the above link:
"While religious tolerance is surely better than religious war, tolerance is not without its liabilities. Our fear of provoking religious hatred has rendered us incapable of criticizing ideas that are now patently absurd and increasingly maladaptive. It has also obliged us to lie to ourselves — repeatedly and at the highest levels — about the compatibility between religious faith and scientific rationality."

My personnal take is that nonsensical beliefs should be allowed for every person but NOT given the backing of law.
NO ONE may try to prescribe what other people are thinking and neither what they are doing UNLESS this involve an obvious damage to concerned others.
It seems beyond evidence that beheading involves an obvious damage to the beheaded while just *seeing* something you feel offensive is NOT an obvious damage, just DON'T LOOK!!!
If there is disagreement on the above then conflict cannot be avoided.

Let's roll...

Posted by: Realist | Feb 1, 2006 2:05:51 AM

If islam were a political movement it would be treated much like communism or Fascism by the world. The Islamic community needs to modernize or risk the oblitiration of their belief system.

Posted by: Ole Blue | Feb 1, 2006 5:10:13 PM

First of all, Islam does not allow any portrayal or statue of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), leave alone drawing a cartoon showing him as a terrorist. The Danish newspaper published some very revolting and distateful cartoons of him. Either they are highly ignorant or just jerks with no care or understanding of other religions/cultures.

Posted by: faith | Feb 2, 2006 1:05:34 AM

Twelve cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in different settings appeared in the Danish publication "Jyllands-Posten" on Sept 30, 2005. These cartoons were later published again by Magazinet, a Norwegian magazine on Jan 10, 2006 in the name of "freedom of _expression."
Egypt is currently in an uproar over this matter, with both its liberal and conservative facets showing indignation at the lack of disrespect of our Prophet (PBUH).
"How can you do this to our Prophet?" they say.
"you have no fear from God?'
"We must withdraw our Ambassador from Denmark, just like the Saudis did. We demand an apology!"
The tirades go on and on, but the fact of the matter is we are looking at this issue through our own Muslim eyes, and not through the eyes of the citizens that produced these cartoons. As Egyptians, we belong to an Arab Muslim society that remains weaved within its own rich heritage. We come from the heartland of Islam. We have core values that teach us to respect all religions, including those that we find disagreeable. In fact, the Prophet (PBUH) himself lived amongst Muslims, Christians and Jews and respected their differences, even when we Muslims were the powers that be back in our golden age. Why is it that we Muslims continue to be victimized while we are going through our current dark age?
The answer lies in several facts, The first one, unfortunately, is that, in the post Sept 11 world, we are still paying for the crimes committed by murderers like Bin Laden and Al-Zarqawi, even though we have nothing to do with them. Violent fanatics have gained such loud media coverage that they have dimmed our voices with their bombings. It is easy to hate and disrespect Muslims, because for all the hate propaganda that can be thrown in our direction from the West, it will not hold a candle next to the murders of innocent diplomats, journalists, truck drivers and many others going on in Iraq. If we in Egypt see religious extremists are backwards and trying, to keep us in the dark ages, it is unrealistic to expect that the Danes and Norwegians see them as vital engines of progress within the Islamic world, especially when they misuse the Prophet's name in their political causes.
Second, the interpretation of liberalism in Scandinavia far exceeds any acceptable definition of it in the Muslim world. While all democracies allow freedom of speech, many exercise some self-censorship when it comes to mailers of faith. Not Denmark, though. Their liberalism allows child pornography, racist/ anti-Semitic humor and yes, even derogatory cartoons against one of the most revered characters in human history, Muslims and non-Muslims.
In a survey taken in 2005 by "Reporters without Borders" on the countries that have the most freedom on speech, Denmark and Norway both ranked as number 1. (The United States ranked as number 44. Kuwait ranked as number 85, the highest ranking for an Arab country. The survey did specify, however, that the survey does not monitor the quality of journalism.) When a society is so obsessed with maintaining its own culture of liberalism at the expense of offending other cultures, it loses sight of what it truly means to be a liberal.
Liberalism is about personal freedom and tolerance of others, not offending others and personal prejudice. The fact that the backlash against the cartoons came from the Muslim world and not non-Muslim Danes, who should be offended in their own right at this blatant bigotry, is disheartening. Just because the Muslim world has produced some violent religious extremists, does not mean that we God-fearing hardworking Muslims should be lambasted along with them. Furthermore, just because these extremists misuse the Prophet's (PBUH) name in their crimes and murders does not mean they are following his true guidance. The Prophet (PBUH) and the vast silent majority of the Muslim world are innocent of the crimes committed by religious extremists. What the Danish publication has done is equivalent to drawing offensive cartoons of Jesus Christ, just because the Ku Klux Klan claim him as their Lord and Savior.
So, where do we go from here? Cut diplomatic ties with Denmark? That would not change the opinion of its people of us Egyptian Muslims. Boycott Danish products? It could damage the Danish economy, and it would certainly make us feel better, but then someone, else will say something offensive about our Prophet and we will be back to square one. Bum down the magazines that published the cartoons? Violence begets violence and frankly, that would just raise their publicity on the international scene and this is the last thing they deserve. So what should we do?
We should inform our Western friends, colleagues, business associates and just about everyone we know about the beauty of the Prophet, the peacefulness of his demeanor, and the complete disassociation he would have had with the violence done in his blessed name. The root of Islam is salaam, the Arabic word for peace.
This is what the Prophet preached: Peace with God and within oneself. For all the accolades that we can write about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and for the offensive cartoons in the world written against him, nothing can ever damage the purity and permanence of his message.

Posted by: Dr. Osama Hassan | Feb 2, 2006 3:09:36 PM

These Extremist Muslims are revolting. I say we revive the crusades and retake the Holy Land from the Infidels.

Posted by: Lance Ito | Feb 2, 2006 4:10:20 PM

The Muslims extremist are trying to blackmail us into submission. We have to show respect to their beliefs but they are free to disrespect our beliefs, religious or secular. All Budhist should join with the Jews & Christians to take the "Holy Land"

Posted by: Budhist Guy | Feb 2, 2006 4:13:46 PM

Right On, I'm a muslim but this is just too much, these other muslims don't represent what we really believe. So I won;t join you in your crusade, but I won't stop you. I'll even pack the sandwiches. Good Luck team!!!

Posted by: L Mintzer | Feb 2, 2006 4:17:46 PM

Muslims believe in all prophets muhammed,jesus,moshe and lot others they won't let ignorants people called educated show the public their twisted thoughts and if that happends to any of the prophets this would have happened(believe me it will happen and happened) and you all seem educated to me to realize that public people may take it too far in such issues so don't blame muslims ...but blame the flame starter.
they seem doing that issue in purpose to me..

Posted by: A muslim | Feb 2, 2006 7:30:55 PM

The Prophet Cartoon Struggle seemingly was triggerd by fraudulent falsification of a pig-drawing by a danish Iman.
http://home.arcor.de/martinberlin2006/
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/02/islamic-society-of-denmark-used-fake.html
http://www.gegenstimme.net/wp-content/themes/gegenstimme/images/moha1.jpg
http://www.gegenstimme.net/wp-content/themes/gegenstimme/images/moha2.jpg
http://www.gegenstimme.net/wp-content/themes/gegenstimme/images/moha3.jpg

Im convinced nobody intended to offend Mohammed, in the contrary, there was a picture of Mohmanned as sympathic teacher, best promotion for Islam.

But this danish Iman didn't like the pictures cause strict Islam doesn't allow pictures of their God. So he created a realy offending cartoon to get arabic back-up for his wrong doing. This seems to be the story.

Anyway islamic reaction is totally inacceptable, its pure middle age attitude.

Its a pity, islamic culture got some great values. I would like to take my moslem friends along to a common future.

But before beeing forced back to the middle ages I prefer to plan my future alone.

So Im about to cut dependencies. Oilprice is high enough to get alternatives working within years and then I say good-bye Islam, if Islam still behaves inacceptable.

So Islam has to come to a decision, go back to the middle ages alone or plan its future as part of a modern society.

I hope Islam will find the better way.

Martin

Posted by: Martin | Feb 3, 2006 9:25:58 AM

hepinizin karılarına canı gönülden selam eder sizleride üzermlerine koyarak TÜRKLER OLARAK SİKERİZ

Posted by: ANANIZ | Feb 4, 2006 12:36:40 PM

To all those radical muslims out here: Retaliate by publishing some cartoons of your own depicting "discusting" Danish people in your state censored newspapers and get it over with. Stop crying! Don't vandalize property or kill people because you don't agree with them. If you don't like something published, express it in print not in FIRE, murder or censorship. It's that simple. Don't you get it? Has the Islam burnt your brain?

Another option would be to not do anything at all. By doing all the crap that you are doing you are actually promoting the paper and the cartoons. Had you not made a big issue about it, I would not be writing this, you would not be reading this and less people in the world would have seen these cartoons. Grow up! Have some tolerace. I hope some other media publishes mohamad being raped by a BIG gay man.

To those muslims who say Islam is a PEACE religion: PEACE MY A$$.

Posted by: muslim focker | Feb 5, 2006 1:17:58 AM

the principles of my pure religion teaches me not to use dirty words even if those people like you deserve to be told off .

anyways i just wanna tell u that moslims love their prophet and i am sure they are right . u pigs have lost all dignity and ur madness as well as ur rudeness made u blind enough to rebuke divine figures like mohammad ( peace be upon him) and i pray to God that He will transform all of u into apes and pigs.

Posted by: A Proud Muslim | Feb 5, 2006 7:28:54 AM

This is an example of misuse of religion and the insistence on keeping medieval ways of thinking in a modern world. Is the Prophet in any way diminished by anything negative anyone says about him? Is his reality and the truth of his wisdom in any way even remotely affected by those cartoons? No. What IS affected is men's false pride, which calls for violence to restore it. If Islam cannot progress, it will destroy itself -- and yes, maybe the entire planet as well. All that will be left is the question: is this what the Prophet wanted?

Posted by: Katya | Feb 5, 2006 11:20:45 PM

How come Muslims are so self righteous. They say we should not make fun of Muhammad because he is divine.

First of all, 84% of the world does not believe in Muhammad's teaching so why should we have to follow what he says, let alone care what he says.

Second, Muhammad is not divine, he is a prophet. A prophet is someone who SPEAKS by divine inspiration; someone who is an interpreter of the will of God. That is not the same as being God.

I can safely say that the rest of the entire world can really tell now what the Muslim radicals want. They want to take over the world and if we don't walk to their drum beat then we are infidels and deserve to die. My question to all Muslims is "Why are your voices silent againts the radicals? Silence can be mistaken for approval." Why does printed work deserve murder by your hands and burning of buildings and pain and suffering for the rest of the world. IS THIS WHAT YOUR PROPHET WANTS?

Posted by: An Asia Guy | Feb 7, 2006 5:23:34 PM

hi
please send me muhammad cartoons

Posted by: dan | Feb 8, 2006 5:09:19 AM

peace be upon he who had followed the right way of islam,and peace and blessings be upon MOHAMMAD,
I only wanted to tell you that you all don't know your real religions( Christianity, Judaism)or even your prophets if you admit so.
So m how come you talk and discuss and put yourselves in the place of judges and relegion men ..and only accusing Islam and Muslims, as if christians and jews are pure of sins... see yourselves first!!

Posted by: bint al Islam | Sep 19, 2006 3:22:33 PM

I certainly think there are limits to what is acceptable in free-speech and what is unacceptable. First off, I perfectly understand how drawings of Muhammed in his portrayal as a terrorist and scoundrel can greatly offend and upset the Muslim population, which is just over 1.4 billion. I mean, if Jesus Christ or Buddha or Abraham were drawn in such a compromising way, it would also be offensive. However, Islam appears to have a far more violent reaction clad in threats, fire, and weapons. Muhammed is a peacemaker. He preaches love and compassion. If he were to be here today and offended in such a way, he would NEVER resort to violence and threats. He would act peacefully. The fact that many violent acts are done in the name of Allah and Muhammed completely goes against the whole idea of religion: peace. Free-speech and democracy are there so that anarchy and terrorism could be neutralized. A violent response to such things very unfortunately only reflects the validity of the caricatures. Apparently, saying anything against Muhammed would give you 70 years in Hell. I can say with great conviction that such violent protests in the Muslim world are acted out against their own people as well. There are always things to fight about and no one will be satisfied. The thing is, no one claims responsibility, and even if they do, the events repeat over and over again. To claim responsibility is one thing, but to prevent such breakouts from happening is another. If a journalist in the Islamic world were being threatened, oppressed and terrorized by violent groups, then he or she would very likely resort to similar socio-political means of communication. Here is where the line is drawn, however. Christians, Buddhists, and Jews are made caricatures all the time. All their prophets and holy figures are made fun of, and that's fine. As an almost spiteful act, as if making fun of free-speech, Islamists proposed to make Caricatures portraying the Holocaust as a false and humorous event. Now THIS I find offensive and unacceptable. The fact is, making fun of a violent group of people is one thing, but making fun of the suffering, torture and deaths of millions of people is another. "Moses had a pig-herd" is one thing, but "hee-hee your ancestors never died; what liars" is another. Spiteful, seriously -- and instantly against Jewish people, which isn't surprising. (I thought Muslims were against Zionists, not Jews...) I am a religious person but not necessarily Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, or any other religion per se. I believe in and respect all of the fundamental beliefs of religion. I respect compassion, love, peace, laughter, family, truth: all the qualities respected by the prophets therein. I do not respect, however, that which goes against those qualities. I do not respect hypocrites, yes even in Islam. Fundamentally, I would very much disagree with the Muhammed caricatures, but when I saw the reactions and when I thought about the aggression of the people, I became worried for the safety and unification of humankind and convinced that the caricatures were making (unfortunately) a valid statement. Muhammed, of course, is not a terrorist, but it appears that the violent and threatening actions in His name are what offend Him, not the caricatures. There is a saying: "If you see the Buddha, Kill the Buddha". Is it offensive? No. When people think of Buddha, they think: "He is great, all-knowing, all-powerful". When the person reaches a high rank of power in the religion, getting closer to that image of Buddha, then he or she must kill that image of the all-great, all-knowing and powerful being. If he doesn't kill that image, if he thinks so highly of Buddha, then he will think very highly of himself. If that happens, he will be ready to kill, to destroy, to oppress all in Buddha's name. What one must do is look at the fundamental things: love and compassion. By forgetting what Buddha stands for, the practitioner would go against his God, his religion, and humanity. All the prophets and Gods preach peace, humility, and love. It appears that many people, especially in Islam, have forsaken what Muhammed truly stands for. They view him highly (as they should) but at the cost of principles. They view their religious position so highly that it is easy to forget that what they do in the name of Allah or Muhammed goes against Him and His views of love, peace, and compassion. Do not get me wrong, I've met numerous Muslims who are absolutely wonderful, generous, kind people. However, on a large scale, based on what I have witnessed, I do not see this. And it really upsets me. I told this to a Muslim acquaintance recently, and he said to me: "Well, do you not think that it is the world that has forsaken what Muhammed stands for?" And I said: "Yes, I do. The world really has forgotten how great He is. And that is because, I think His image has been ruined. But it is the job of your people to show what you've learned from Him. So far it appears what you've learned from Him is aggression. But drain it and the world will respond accordingly and peacefully. This doesn't go just to you, but to many other people. Just don't wait for others to do it; it's better to act instead of react." He seemed a bit troubled for a moment, but then he nodded and we shook hands. He may or may not have agreed with me, but we resolved our differences in the best way. That gave me great joy.

Posted by: om | Dec 4, 2007 4:35:32 PM

You cannot understand muslims anger just because you don't have the same feelings of respect and love towards your prophets as muslims do.Their prophet is not devine,but he is a prophet this is not sufficient to be respected!!?
Aprophet is not a normal person you can insult or
show disrespect to,he is s/o who represents an entire religion,an entire ideology,civilization,culture....
If you can't respect others just because they are different of you don't expect the other side to be so understanding and comprehensive to your harsh words or prejudices.
Muslims did not print bad pictures for the christ as a response simply because they believe in him and respect him as well as other prophets and not because they are not free or feared from their governments.
These cartoons are a sort of provocation to all muslims,what you expect in return?
If you can't accept me as i'am,and you can't respect me because i'm not identical to you,so what kind of reaction you want?
a nice tender words saying thank you,you are teaching us how nice to have a freedom of speech!!!
As USA teaching us how beautiful to have democracy!!
Is this the image of your non violent civilization?!!

Posted by: sinda | Feb 27, 2008 5:41:29 AM

sham upon all of those who attack prophet Muhammed,I'm very proud of being on the mohamed religion a man who up to date has this equally influances on both prudents and imprudents whilist he passed away over thousond of years,can you imagine how great is he?this question is for judicious people only,and I'm calling a wise muslims that the prophet muhamed don't waiting from you to defend him, he is in the exalted level of the paradize but to defend your doctrine from frivolous action which indiscreet person dared to commited for disparagement.

Posted by: nabil | Jun 26, 2008 7:37:53 PM

Personal pride was and still is the reason why some muslims became angry with the cartoons. Muhammed couldn't care less about those cartoons, only man does, and justify his actions by claiming he is "defending" Muhammed.
The anger towards Denmark came out of no where. Denmark was most probably unknown to most people in the predominatly muslim countries, eventhough Denmark traditionally favours Palestine in the Isreal-Palestine conflict.
Denmark is a small country, but a member of the coalition, and was probably considered an easy target by the authorities in the Middle Eastern countries trying to show the public how rightious they were in order to gain public support. And it became a symbol of being a rightious muslim if hating Denmark and treating Denmark with disrespect.

The most amazing thing about this whole situation is the lack of understanding and tolerance towards a secular country governed by men elected by the people. Its hilarious to watch people living under oppression (in countries where corruption, intolerance and ineffectivity is standart) paroting their "leaders" commands and tell Denmark how its leaders are to act upon a published cartoon.
Why don't you puppets turn your anger in the right direction for a change? You've been pointing your finger in the direction of the west for so long you've probably forgotten why the west were to blame in the first place. It doesn't really matter, does it? Its so convinient to blame the west and claim it responsible for the stagnation in the Middle East - you wouldn't want to blame those really holding power, because you might get hurt!.

Posted by: non muslim | Nov 9, 2008 5:44:47 PM

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