Muslim anger over Muhammad cartoons grows
CTV.ca News
A controversial cartoon, first published in a Danish newspaper, continues to fuel protests by Muslims around the world, including large rallies in the Gaza Strip and Iraq and raucous demonstrations outside the Danish embassies in Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia.
One of the cartoons depicts the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a burning fuse. In another, a Soviet star and crescent moon are superimposed over his face.
Droves of Muslims marched through Palestinian cities on Friday burning the Danish flag and threatening repercussions for the European countries where the cartoons were published.
"Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protestors in Ramallah shouted, Associated Press reported.
An imam at a Gaza City mosque told all 9,000 worshippers that the people behind the cartoons should all have their heads cut off.
The Palestinian legislature was taken over by Hamas gunmen as 10,000 demonstrators chanted "Down, down Denmark," AP reported.
Thousands protested in other Palestinian cities including Nablus and Jenin where Danish flags and product imports were burned.
After weekly prayer services in Iraq, about 4,500 people held a rally in Basra while hundreds in Baghdad demonstrated outside of a mosque, AP reported. The protestors burned the Danish flag and threw Danish-made products into the flames.
Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, condemned the cartoon depictions in a posting on his website Jan. 31.
"We strongly denounce and condemn this horrific action," al-Sistani said.
However, the cleric did not encourage any protests and he even placed some responsibility on militant Muslims for the negative way that Islam is depicted, AP reported.
He said some segments of the Muslim community were "misguided and oppressive" and that their actions "projected a distorted and dark image of the faith of justice, love and brotherhood."
At the Danish embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, more than 150 protestors pushed passed security into the building's lobby demanding an apology for the cartoons.
They were unable to get up to the embassy on the 25th floor but they did tear the Danish flag down and set it on fire. They also pelted the embassy with eggs.
"We are not terrorists, we are not anarchists, but we are against those people who blaspheme Islam," one protestor shouted, AP said.
In Islamabad, Pakistan, about 800 people shouted "Death to Denmark" and "Death to France" while around 1,200 people demonstrated in the southern city of Karachi.
The country's parliament condemned the drawings as "vicious" in a unanimous vote.
In Turkey, hundreds protested in Istanbul, with many making their way to the Danish consulate.
"Hands that reach Islam must be broken," a group of muslims chanted outside of an Istanbul mosque, AP reported.
At Islam's third holiest site, Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, Israel banned access to Palestinians aged 45 and under.
About 100 men did protest outside Jerusalem's Old City on Friday chanting Islamic slogans and carrying Hamas flags. Israeli police broke up the protest along with another one at Damascus Gate using tear gas and stun grenades, AP reported.
The caricatures of the Prophet were first published by Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, in September. They were republished in papers in France, Norway, Germany, Switzerland and Hungary this week, causing tension that quickly spread around the Muslim world.
On Friday, Belgium, Italy and Spain's leading newspaper, El Pais, became the latest papers to run the images.
"What shame, Europe gives into Islam and apologizes for the satire of Allah," Libero, an Italian right-wing paper, wrote in a Friday headline.
Muslims worldwide are outraged as Islam strictly forbids any depiction of the revered father of the religion. Even positive images of the Prophet Muhammad are not allowed to prevent idolatry in the religion.
Canadian reaction
Syed Soharwardy, of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, appeared on Canada AM Friday saying that Canadian Muslims were upset but that they were dealing with the situation constructively, by emailing and phoning officials.
"The Muslims in Canada, they are outraged," Soharwardy said. "They are expressing their anger through peaceful means… they are protesting against these horrible cartoons that have offended Muslims around the world."
Soharwardy said he received an email from a Danish media watch group, dated Dec. 14, that outlined peaceful ways that the international Muslim community initially tried to deal with the situation.
"They tried very hard to ask them to withdraw the cartoons and apologize, nothing happened," he said. "They contacted us in December and said that we should do something about it."
Globe and Mail cartoon columnist, Brian Gable, said that the debate lies between freedom of expression and the freedom not to be offended. He said that one taboo area is religious faith, but not how people use their faith.
"If someone of any faith chooses to proceed with a violent act, I feel that's fair game," Gable said.
But Soharwardy said there has to some restrictions.
"The freedom of expression has to have some limits," Soharwardy said. "Would they make fun of any ethic group in Canada? Aboriginal people, South Asians, Chinese community?"
With files from Associated Press
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The freedom not to be offended? Mealy-mouthed liberal apologists offend me. Can I exercise my freedoms? Liberalism is a philosophy of comfort for the West as it commits suicide.
The whole issue simply underlines that many people don't understand freedom of speech, the muslim arab majority in particular. A Danish cartoon comes out satirizing the link between Islam and violence...and their answer is that the people responsible for the cartoon should have their heads cut off. Sounds like a reasonable, measured response to me...really underlines the peace-loving aspects of the religion they claim has been slighted and shows us all how wrong the cartoonist was....
And they wonder why they aren't widely respected, when "Islamic terrorist" is a word on the nightly news...How much have we heard about Muslim charities lately, beside that they are often fronts for terrorists? According to their book, they're supposed to be about charity, among other things...yet I don't hear about them helping out the poor or downtrodden (apart from poor and downtrodden Islamic radicals), I hear about bombs and bullets. Is it ONLY the news outlets? Because the news makes you wonder which people of which book aren't reading their books...as the Prophet has alluded to....
) from Wikipedia about it all.
