I’ve been reading up on this whole Mohammed cartoon hub-bub going on today and I have to tell you, it’s amusing on the one hand while troubling on the other. First this morning came the news that some European newspapers were showing solidarity with the Danish by reprinting some of the cartoons:
PARIS, Feb. 1 ? Newspapers across Europe reprinted cartoons Wednesday ridiculing the prophet Muhammad, saying they wanted to support the right of Danish and Norwegian papers to publish the caricatures, which have ignited fury among Muslims throughout the world.
[..]Germany?s Die Welt daily newspaper published one of the drawings on its front page and said the ?right to blasphemy? is one of the freedoms of democracy.The appearance of 12 drawings in the Danish press provoked emotions in the Muslim world because the representation of Allah and his prophet is forbidden,? the French afternoon newspaper France Soir wrote. ?But because no religious dogma can impose itself on a democratic and secular society, France Soir is publishing the incriminating caricatures.?
The newspaper?s front-page headline declared: ?Yes, We Have the Right to Caricature God,? accompanied by a new cartoon depicting religious figures from the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Christian faiths on a cloud. The Christian is shown saying ?Don?t complain, Muhammad, we?ve all been caricatured here.?
And in typical “party of peace” fashion, the Muslims got a bit ticked off:
Outrage over the appearance of the cartoons in Danish and Norwegian newspapers ? one of which depicted Muhammad as an apparent terrorist with a bomb in his turban ? has ignited demonstrations from Turkey to the Gaza Strip, prompted a boycott of Danish products throughout the Middle East, and spurred calls for a religious decree to attack Danish troops serving in Iraq.
How dare they! How dare a free people print something they want to print! Blasphemy!
Unless the moderate Muslims start to take control of their faith there really is no hope for them. How a religion could excuse deliberately killing innocent people, treating women like dogcrap, and calling for the end to free speech, while at the same time attempting to tell people that it is the “religion of peace” is beyond me.
But I was happy to see some Europeans show the world they actually DID have some gonads.
Of course everytime you count on the Europeans you can count on being disappointed:
The owner of one of the papers to reprint – France Soir – has now sacked its managing editor over the matter.
[…]France Soir and Germany’s Die Welt were among the leading papers to reprint the cartoons, which first appeared in Denmark last September. […]But late on Wednesday its owner, Raymond Lakah, said he had removed managing editor Jacques Lefranc “as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual”.Mr Lakah said: “We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication.”
Leave it to the French.
But it seems a few of them still have a pair afterall:
Other papers stood by their publication. In Berlin, Die Welt argued there was a right to blaspheme in the West, and asked whether Islam was capable of coping with satire.
“The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical,” it wrote in an editorial.
La Stampa in Italy, El Periodico in Spain and Dutch paper Volkskrant also carried some of the drawings.
Late in the day came the really big news….the cartoons were faked:
The cartoons were published in September: Why have the protests erupted from Muslims worldwide only now? The person who knows the answer to this question is Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a man that the Washington Post has recently profiled as ?one of Denmark?s most prominent imams.?
Last November, Abu Laban, a 60-year-old Palestinian who had served as translator and assistant to top Gamaa Islamiya leader Talaal Fouad Qassimy during the mid-1990s and has been connected by Danish intelligence to other Islamists operating in the country, put together a delegation that traveled to the Middle East to discuss the issue of the cartoons with senior officials and prominent Islamic scholars. The delegation met with Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi, and Sunni Islam?s most influential scholar, Yusuf al Qaradawi. ?We want to internationalize this issue so that the Danish government will realize that the cartoons were insulting, not only to Muslims in Denmark, but also to Muslims worldwide,? said Abu Laban.
On its face, it would appear as if nothing were wrong. However, the Danish Muslim delegation showed much more than the 12 cartoons published by Jyllands Posten. In the booklet it presented during its tour of the Middle East, the delegation included other cartoons of Mohammed that were highly offensive, including one where the Prophet has a pig face. But these additional pictures were NOT published by the newspaper, but were completely fabricated by the delegation and inserted in the booklet (which has been obtained and made available to me by Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet). The delegation has claimed that the differentiation was made to their interlocutors, even though the claim has not been independently verified. In any case, the action was a deliberate malicious and irresponsible deed carried out by a notorious Islamist who in another situation had said that ?mockery against Mohamed deserves death penalty.? And in a quintessential exercise in taqiya, Abu Laban has praised the boycott of Danish goods on al Jazeera, while condemning it on Danish TV.
So you have this anti-western Imam from Denmark touring the Middle East in an attempt to flame the Muslim world. And Denmark is surprised!
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said of Muslims criticising the country in the Arab territories: “I am speechless that those people, whom we have given the right to live in Denmark and where they freely have chosen to stay, are now touring Arab countries and inciting antipathy towards Denmark and the Danish people”
Curious how surprised these people get when the anger is turned towards them. Something Israel has been having to deal with for many many years with no help from these countries. But now they’re shocked. Islam = Terror as far as I’m concerned and we need to stop pussyfooting around it.
They threaten to kill those who print cartoons that depict their god in a bad light but their society allows these kind of cartoons: (Via Tom Gross)
The cartoon above, clearly depicting the railroad to the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau ? but with Israeli flags replacing the Nazi ones ? is from the Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustur (October 19, 2003). The sign in Arabic reads: ?Gaza Strip or the Israeli Annihilation Camp.? This accentuates the widespread libel that Israel?s policies towards the Palestinians have been comparable to Nazi actions towards Jews. Jordan is supposedly a moderate country at peace with Israel.
In this cartoon, from Al-Watan newspaper in Qatar (June 23, 2002), Ariel Sharon is shown watching on the sidelines as an Israeli plane crashes into New York?s World Trade Center. The Arabic words alongside the Twin Towers are ?The Peace.? This cartoon restates the widely held myth in the Arab world that Israel and the Jews were responsible for the 9/11 attacks which were in fact carried out by al-Qaeda.
The cartoon above, from Arab News (April 10, 2002), shows Ariel Sharon wielding a swastika-shaped axe to chop up Palestinian children. Arab News is a Saudi-based English language daily which is supposedly one of the Arab world?s more moderate papers.
The hypocrisy is mindboggling
So, without further ado, I am here to piss all any and all Muslims:
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oh so ur ere to pis al muslims of remember der wil be a day ul av to pay 4 dis trst me just let us find out ho u r! den i think u cn say ur a hero if nufin happens to u. i personally think ur a coward .lets meet up sum were an wel c wot ya made of! a pile of shit dats wot i think. ur futures a disgrace ur gna hav soooo many problems in lyf realy hope u do burn
Why do the Mohammedans place their women under house arrest?
Women are also human beings. Actually they are afraid of women who will take over offices and political administrations. Most Mohammedans consider Women tools of sexual pleasures; therefore women are not to be educated. Women have no chance to see the world. Their visions are blocked; their human freedoms are destroyed; their passions were stolen; their lovelihoods were hijacked. What the hell are Mohammedans doing for the women? Is it Islamic law? It is Mohammedan law? Is it so-called Allah law?
Where is the female freedom under Mohammedanism, Islam and so-called Allah?
The Muslims who are offended should also take note that even Christian figures are sometimes a subject of humor or parody and that is what civilized nations call FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. No one wants to kill Dan Brown for writing the De Vinci Code ? which to any Christian is definitely offensive.
Muslims who are offended should grow up and realize that they do not own the world nor should they make it a part of their ?faith? to control basic freedoms of other peoples.
It?s also time the world and the west shows that it will not bend its rules to please these extremists who need to grow up!
Cynthia
I?m sorry, but it sounds like you are ignoring the negative aspects of those who claim to be Muslim, yet are doing atrocious things in the name of your religion. Rather than being an apologist for them, or glossing over the facts, or just completely turning a blind eye, it would be more helpful to your religion if you would acknowledge that Islam has a very serious problem in its midst. And it?s not the fault of Christians, Jews, Europeans, or anyone else, but Muslims. It?s your problem.
wordsmith
The comments of Cynthia and Wordsmith are so impressive.
Red River
I am a dane, and I have watched this piece of absurd theater with deep wonder.
Yes, in Denmark there is laws aginst blasphemy.
So everyone could just sue the paper. But that was not done. Instead some of the local muslems choosed to make it a political case, mainly because of internal struggles among the most radical muslis in Denmark about who could be “mr. Islam”.
I think (or I hope) that they did’nt foresaw the reaction in the muslim world, before they went on their anti-danish propagandatour to the middle east.
Obviosly the situation came completely out of hand.
The bad thing about the situation is that the radical muslims confirm all our prejudices about mindless violence and hatred, the god thing is that the moderate danish muslims are beginning to manifest themselves against the radicals. That will probably give a better understanding and coexistence in the future.
One thing is important. When I am in an mosque, I follow the rules, and when I am in a church, I follow the rules; that is to show respect. But outside in the secular society I do not have to follow religios rules. If I had to do that, it would not be respect but submission, and that is something entirely different.
Mogens
Danish Law Prohibits Insult On Religion
=======================================
Danish ministers say the government can’t condemn the cartoons a daily published mocking the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and that freedom of speech is guaranteed for all and that freedom of the press is also guaranteed by the Danish constitution. This argument would have been accepted if the constitution does not state otherwise and if the Danish government can say the same thing when it comes to making anti-Semitic remarks. The Danish constitution says:
“The law prohibits publicly disseminated statements, which threaten, insult, or degrade persons based on their religion.”
And this law was used by the Danish government to condemn “anti-Semitic” activities and investigate them, as mentioned in the human rights report made by the US Department of State regarding Denmark in 2004:
“From January through June, there were five incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism, primarily graffiti, and one incident of an anti-Semitic mailing, which the government condemned and investigated.”
Why a different stand when it comes to Islam?
Give away full access? Been reading too much of the MSM I see. Nothing could be further from the truth but of course your not looking for that are you. And if you read my blog at all, there has been a rant posted. Guess you just didn’t get that far, instead you wanted to post a smartass comment that isn’t based in facts.
Glad to hear your proud of the fact you can smoke and marry anyone you want, just another reason you will always be a secondrate country that no one gives a rats ass about.
Bravo!!!
The whole thing would be high farce if Bush weren’t about to give away full access to the US through that deal with Dubai…
What the hell is going on there?!
Now there’s another thing that needs a rant!…Badly!
Thanks so much for your bang-on encapsulation of, what is I’m sure, a common sentiment amongst those in the western world.
…it’s almost enough to make me think that George Bush’s war in Iraq might be not as misguided as I have always heald.
Jasper Morgan
Vancouver, BC
Canada
where we publish, smoke and marry anyone we want!
Bravo Canada!
I feel really sorry to say that u r spreading hatred in the nime of cartoonsm but many cristians and Jews still have different ideas then urs. Try to spread love rather this this….
You r the most foolish people the world has ever seen.Y ou have disgraced the profhet of Muslims.Today the newspaper editor is on his kness.Inshallash tomorrow ur prime minester wll appolagize for what u ahve done..It is our religion teaching that we have drawn nothing about ur prophits as they our too…
Please tell me you are not referring to the terrorists as Muslims. WE dislike them just as much as you do, if not worse because of how they are not only treating Westerners but how they are causing Westerners to treat their fellow Muslims. In Islam you are supposed to do everything to help your brethren not cause trouble for them because you feel like it. If anything they respect the religion less than any anti-Islam person in the world does. Their acts are not in the religion yet everyone thinks they are because they twisted the words to make them fit their cause. And everyone believed them before the real Muslims got to denounce them and before they told the world the truth about them. By then however it was too late and we became the most disliked religion on the planet. That still has not stopped us though from speaking the truth. I’m trying to do that right now. I just hope one day the message reaches people and everyone finally understands that we are not the same as the terrorists. Thank you for respecting my opinion. And thanks for giving me somewhere to express it. Just please don’t believe everything you see or hear. Lies surround us especially in today’s world so let’s just be a bit more careful of each other and what we do and say. I don’t feel like having another 9/11 or even worse (and ever more likely) a World War III. Thank you and good day.
I do not see anything wrong with Mohammed cartoons. People draw all kind of cartoons. The editor of the Jyllends-posten had apologized to the Muslims. Actually, he/she did not have to apologize to any one. This is free world and people have rights to express their feelings. People depict any kind of drawings?
People draw Rama Khrishna, Budda, Mahavira, Confucius, Tao, Jesus and many others. Why are Muslims calling for Muslims to be united? I do not hear Christians call for Christians to be united, neither Buddists, Hindus and Taos.
During World War II, Japanese occupied Southeast Asia and they burned Bible, Koran and many other religious scriptures. Sometimes they cooked pigs in the moque and they used Koran as toilet papers. What Germans did in the Europe were the same what Japanese did in Asia. If they do not like that drawings, draw others. What about Salman Rushdie who wrote Satanic Verses in which he described Mohammed as a pimp sleeping with many prostitutes. Muslims, especially clerics deny altruism. Mohammedanism came from Judism and Christiany. The one God has been existed in Judiam and Christianity before since Mohammed created Allah. Why did Mohammed add another one to Koran. History repeats itself always. Now the whole world knows what Mohammed image is. I really appreciate Jyllend-posten newspaper that depicts Mohammed cartoons. In fact, in Asia, two questions for Mohammed remain always that why Mohammed ran away from Mecca to Medina because he claimed he was a prophet, and why Muslims worship the ground instead of sky-where Mohammed and Allah live: why, why, why?
ok….First off i am stating that i am a proud muslim as well as a proud american….After seeing these cartoons i have just one thing to say about it…terrorists are probably thankful they were published….none of these cartoon should offend muslim except for that mohammed/bomb one….think about it from this point now…any drawing of mohammed is probably one of the few things that would offend a real muslim not an extremist…the extremist use islam and munipulate into something they can use against the rest of the world….its bad enough these people have gotten to so many muslims but now there are gonna be more people thinking that what Osama says was right….which is straight up bullshit…You literally called Islam terrorism when in fact it is the Radical Extremist who are the terrorist..a lot of what Al-Queda did was not real islam…they just took the religion and tried to take statements they could use to limit the power of women…..I understand what freedom of speech means, i’ve lived it my whole life…and the whole fact with the other cartoons that have shown up in islamic coutries paper i get what you mean…but answer to me this…..did any of those cartoons attack the essense of the religion…no, their aimed at the prime minister of Isreal…Do you think anyone would have gotten mad about a cartoon about a leader of a muslim coutry no…and that cartoon involving palestine and alcuwitz…I get why a Jewish person would be mad about that it is very offensive…and let me also state that all this madness that has come from these muslim cartoons is a bit over dueing it….i agree, a angry letters would suffice or just speaking out against it is fine….but all this violence needs to stop….The only thing that pisses me off and should piss off everyone else is that terrorist are going to use this as a way of recruiting more suicide bombers…and it suxs because the war in Iraq may have gotten easier with a lot of these nut jobs falling shorter in numbers….Yes they are just cartoons….but you need to realize that we are at war with terrorist and your cartoons help them….nobody else but Radical extremists…Its not easy being a real muslim in the middle east with these things radicals running wild…they are killing real muslims too not just israeli and american troops…we know what their doing is wrong but all these cartoons did was put that doubt in their heads that maybe they aren’t wrong…That mohammed cartoon labels mohammed as a terrorist and in so calling the real islam terrorism…If you wish to attack Radicals make fun of Osama like we do in america….because if anyone here has read the play Othello, it only takes a little bit of doubt to make people due bad things…
Aight….im out Pe@ce
Having worked for a British company in a muslim country, I respected the laws and religious customs of that country, although I was only a visitor.Why then can muslims not return the grace and good manners and abide by our few traditions, for example freedom of speech? I cannot and will not try to understand the chaos that these cartoons have caused.As a brit ,humour was never an issue, speak to any englishman, irishman or scotsman!! Surely humour should be a uniting factor, not an excuse for fighting factions to win over what was in the end just a few cartoons?
And Peace To All ….. except..
Does any one see that the Radical Islamists who have conducted various terrorist activities, slit throats of journalists and attacked embassies have defaced both Mohammed and Islam more than any cartoon.
Also when looking at an article from a different culture, you have to see their prospective, in west it is OK to ridicule religious symbols why should be Islam exempted from that.
Hasan: Memory a little shaky is it?
Did Christians take to the streets after Palestinian Moslems seized control of the Church of the Nativity and used the altar for a lavatory?
Have you ever tried to take a bible into Saudi Arabia, or openly hold a religious service there?
What about all those cartoons and news reports showing Jews drinking the blood of Arabs?
Until YOU get a grip on reality and work with other Moslems to rejoin civilization and renounce violence I don’t want to hear about your sensitivity.
While I am at it, I propose the National Endowment for the Arts provide grant money for works of “art” depicting Mohammed in the same way that the Virgin Mary has been depicted.
I don’t know about others, but I see a pun here…is it possible that all this controversy has been generated by CONARTISTS. The arab world is famous for scamming the world with made up incidents to incite one group against another, ie. IDF suppositely shooting a young boy when it was a staged event by the arabs/palestinians. The fact that this works is a monument to the intelligence of all who believe these scams. Oh, by the way, I have some stock in a large bridge in Nigeria for sale if anyone is interested.
Kudos to you for an excellent post and a brave stand.
Have you ever seen a muslim disgracing Christ, Virgin Mary or Moses?????????? Why? Because its in our religion to give respect to both and respect other religions.
How about this for starters?
The cartoons are NOTHING and please do NOT talk about religious sensitivities at this point.The problem with so-called “”peaceful” Muslims is that they do not denounce the “extremists” who hang bombs on themselves for some paradise with 72 virgins!!!! I do not see how cartoons can be offensive, after all, the cartoons did NOT kill anyone — the cartoons are GREAT in fact! The cartoonist should be given a Nobel Peace Prize !!! (Claps)) Hey…. why all the offense AFTER extremists actually keep killing people for no reason at all? Heck, did anyone ever forget 9/11 or the Bali bombings or the numerous crimes done in the name of the so-called peaceful (duh?) Muslim faith?
The Muslims who are offended should also take note that even Christian figures are sometimes a subject of humor or parody and that is what civilized nations call FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. No one wants to kill Dan Brown for writing the De Vinci Code — which to any Christian is definitely offensive.
Muslims who are offended should grow up and realize that they do not own the world nor should they make it a part of their “faith” to control basic freedoms of other peoples.
It’s also time the world and the west shows that it will not bend its rules to please these extremists who need to grow up!
The cartoon stint is part of the world wide terrorism started against the Muslim community after 9/11. Have you ever seen a muslim disgracing Christ, Virgin Mary or Moses?????????? Why? Because its in our religion to give respect to both and respect other religions. Why dont you see such cartoons of Christ or Moses we can be more creative than your western cartoonist who depicted Prophet Muhammad. I believe that such cartoons are the figment of a defeated mind and lost souls. Muslims should exercise restrain and patience… the intention of such cartoons remain to aid in creating another wave of crusades. Another point worth mentioning is that Muslims have never done any harm to Christians, infact they consider the Christians to be closest to them even then we have seen crusades and media wars against Muslims…Nonetheless, i feel that only love and caring can remove differences amongst us. I believe America started it and then spread it throughout Europe and now the europeans, possesing a history of religious extremism and passion for ethnic cleansing, are at it again.
Curt,
Have you been to Big Pharaoh to his take on this. He has some really great posts.
http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com
Dangerous Dan
The West Must Take a Stand…
There’s all sorts of uproar among many Muslims about the cartoons of Mohammed that were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September. It’s supposedly against the Koran or a surah or some such to produce visual representations of…