CAIRO, February 3, 2006 - The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has called worldwide Muslim protests Friday, February 3, in protest of the blasphemous cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) published by several European newspapers.

"Let us make Friday, February 3, a day for worldwide Muslim protests over the insulting campaigns against Allah and His Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), all messengers and religious sanctities," IUMS said in a statement.

"Let all Muslim scholars and preachers in all mosques make their sermons focus on the issue," said the IUMS, headed by prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi.

Last September, Denmark's Jyllands-Posten published twelve drawings that included portrayals of a man assumed to be the Prophet wearing a time-bomb shaped turban and showed him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

Several European newspapers, in the name of freedom of the press, reprinted some or all of the blasphemous cartoons, including the French daily France-Soir and Germany's Die Welt.

Day of Anger

The French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM) echoed similar calls for world protests over the insulting drawings.

"The CFCM has called for making Friday a day to highlight the merciful traditions and biography of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and to protest the provocative anti-Prophet allegations," the CFCM leader Zuhair Breik told IOL.

The Muslim anger over the insulting caricatures also continued to rage on in many Muslim countries.

Pakistan's Islamic parties urged a second day of protests over the drawings, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

"We have given a call for nationwide protests after Friday prayers to condemn the publication of the cartoons," said Shahid Shamsi, spokesman for Pakistan's main alliance of Islamic parties, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

The alliance said the demonstrations would call for the Pakistani government and all Islamic countries to withdraw their diplomats from France, Norway and Denmark until Copenhagen apologizes.

Massive protests were also expected in Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai late Thursday branded the cartoons an insult to more than one billion Muslims across the world.

At least 15 people were killed in Afghanistan in May, 2004, in protests erupted after US magazine Newsweek reported that the Noble Qur'an had been mistreated by US jailers in the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In Malaysia, the opposition Islamic party (PAS) said it would present a protest letter to the Danish embassy in Kuala Lumpur after Friday prayers.

Jyllands-Posten editor-in-chief Carsten Juste said Thursday that he would not have published the cartoons if he had known the consequences.

Firestorm
 
The firestorm of reaction over the cartoons also spread throughout the Middle East and other Asian countries.

In the occupied Palestinian territories, a German national was briefly seized by two masked gunmen from a hotel in the West Bank town of Nablus "thinking he was French or Danish, and handed him over to police after realizing their mistake," said a source from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

In Jakarta, around 100 demonstrators forced their way into the building where the Danish mission is located, pelting the embassy's external coat of arms with eggs.

The demonstrators were quickly ejected by police and their own leaders.

Maksuni, the leader of the protesters, said the Danish ambassador met with representatives of the group and promised to issue an apology.

"If they don't apologize as they promised we will kick them out of the country, and we will ask the government to withdraw its ambassador from Denmark," he added.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned Thursday that the insistence of European newspapers on printing the cartoons risked provoking what he termed as "a terrorist backlash".

      Something Out of Danish Character
      Muhammad M. Al-Harbi, [log in to unmask] 
        
      It came as a rude shock not only to the people of Saudi Arabia or the Muslim world, but to the entire sane and civilized society that adhered to the right to worship and sanctity of the religious faith. There is no denying the fact that Islam has always been subject of wrath from certain groups in Europe and the Americas. Even before the tragedy of Sept. 11, Islam was subjected to such insults and humiliation from certain groups of so-called intellectuals and political organizations. Sept. 11 ratcheted up such tirades and provided a justified reason for a sustained campaign against Islam.

      If we go by the logic that states that Islam caused Sept. 11 then would it be justified to blame Christianity for the Holocaust? Certainly not.

      What has pained the Arab and Muslim world as well as the civilized society is the fact that until now all such campaigns against Islam was more or less on an individual basis. But here is case where the Fourth Estate, which is considered to be void of any such social and political influence, was inviting general people to indulge in the game of abusing Islam. No doubt media has its own slant and its own angle and its own biases and prejudices but it has never invited the public so blatantly to come out with their anti-Islamic imagination.

      The Danes are generally a polite and courteous people. Denmark has a long history of pacifism and it has never ever taken sides in political and social turmoil despite having its own political and social philosophy. Such a campaign by certain quarters of media to tarnish the image of Islam and insult Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) defies and contradicts all values and ethics embedded in Danish society.

      Danes must put their hand on their heart and ask a question: If people elsewhere in the world drew caricatures and perverted cartoons of their national heroes, how they would react?

      If supposedly New York Times initiates a cartoon competition in which they ask their readers to draw a cartoon of Niels Ebbessen, a Danish national hero who assassinated the tyrant Count Gerhard of Holstein in 1340, how would they react? Would it hurt their national pride and generate anger? Here the attempt is not to draw a parallel between the Prophet and the Danish national hero. The example is just to let the Danes reflect on a mirror turned upon them. Now if they could feel hurt and angry because their national hero is being insulted, what would happen to the civilized world in general and the Islamic world in particular if any such attempt is made on the Prophet?

      Difference of opinion and disagreement on ideological level is a healthy sign of a society, but humiliating a race, religion or a caste purely out of biases and prejudices is nothing but a reflection of a perverted mind.

      At a time when we are looking to the world as one global village cutting across the national and social barriers, such campaigns will eventually isolate the perpetrators of such hateful campaigns.

      Islam, its leaders and the followers have been victim of such campaigns from time immemorial and history has proven that Islam has always emerged stronger and stronger unscathed, unperturbed and faith unshaken.

      The Islamic world is not worried about the image of Islam or the image of its prophets, as they will remain untarnished. But, yes, those who perpetrate such campaigns are exposed and eventually they will be isolated. History has proven this.

      * * *

      (Muhammad M. Al-Harbi is a Saudi writer. He is based in Dammam.)

      Opinion.

      The Power of the Muslim and Arab Worlds
      This week, we witnessed the power of the Islamic and Arab worlds to bring a Western nation virtually to its knees. I was amazed at that power. This is over an issue that the nation's government had nothing to do with. All I can wonder is why the Islamic and Arab world doesn't harness that power more effectively and change policies that directly impact our causes and our beliefs?

      A newspaper in Denmark, Jyllands-Posten, published a series of cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a derogatory and libelous manner. Few Arabs or Muslims had ever heard of the newspaper before the controversy, yet they were rightly angered.

      Ironically, the cartoons were published in September 2005, more than five months ago. But this week, the issue came to a head after it surfaced in the Arab world media.

      Arabs and Muslims are justified in their anger against the action of the newspaper. The publication of the cartoons may constitute a hate crime, which is considered an offense in most Western countries. They certainly should not have been brushed off as being protected under the universal right of free speech as they were initially by the Danish government.

      In justified anger, Muslims and Arabs have begun boycotting not only the newspaper but also many products that are produced in Denmark. That power has caused many of Denmark's largest corporations to reel in shock, forcing many to absorb massive profit losses and to even lay-off their employees.

      That power to act was mobilized in less than two weeks, although it should have begun as soon as the offensive material was first published five months ago.

      In response the newspaper offered a lukewarm apology. The government of Denmark also claimed it had no power over the newspaper. But we know that is not true.

      Sadly, many innocent companies and people who might otherwise support the just causes of the Muslim and Arab worlds have also been punished. And that is unfair. And against the spirit of Islam. The Arab and Muslim worlds, despite being the target of a constant and unyielding campaign of hatred in the Western media, should stand as examples of how right and wrong can be addressed.

      The entire episode reminds me of when the Arab and Islamic worlds joined together one other time many decades ago to launch an embargo of oil against what was clearly then unfair foreign policies against the rights of the Palestinian people and the Arab world. With the power of unity, the Arab and Islamic oil producers put great pressure on the world's greatest powers, reminding all that right is not always based on might but is instead based on justice and fairness.

      Today, Arabs and Muslims are plagued by disunity. The only time we come together to exercise our moral and principled strength is when emotion has overcome our reasoning and we act to punish everyone. Unplanned and spontaneous acts of anger and emotion are not strategic. They may even cause a backlash.

      The protests and boycott against the Danish newspaper are the result of spontaneous emotion rather than strategic action. We reacted rather than acted.

      Everyday, newspapers throughout the world libel not only Islam but everything that the Arab world stands for that is principled and just. Everyday, the righteous Palestinian cause is victimized by hate crimes in newspapers all around the world, especially in the United States where free speech has exceptions when it comes to Arab and Muslim voices.

      Yet we do nothing about these offenses.

      Ironically, we sometimes help the offenders in their libel. In several major American cities, mainstream newspapers are often sold to the American public over the counters of hundreds of thousands of Arab- and Muslim-owned stores. These newspapers depend on us to help them sustain their circulations.

      In some places like Chicago, newspapers could not survive without the support of Arab- and Muslim-owned grocery stores located in the inner city. The reality is that Chicago newspapers depend these grocery stores to sell their newspapers in poor communities because the newspaper owners fear that their newspapers will be stolen from news boxes placed on the streets of those communities. The sales policy of the newspapers in inner cities is itself racist.

      Why do we allow this? Why do we allow the newspapers that we sell to Americans continue to slander us, defame us and essentially commit unpunished acts of hate crimes?

      Emotion and anger are easy. Planning and strategic unity is more difficult and requires effort. We need to come together not simply to punish those who offend us, but to also strengthen our community and insure that our voices are included in the American mainstream news media.

      The controversy in Denmark should remind Arabs and Muslims that we have the power to make a difference. But can we harness that power when it really counts?

      - Ray Hanania is an award winning Palestinian American journalist and author. He can be reached at www.hanania.com.



      Muslims Deserve the Same Respect as Christians or Jews
      By Edgar M. Bronfman. 

      Although freedom of religion and freedom of speech are both fundamental rights, they sometimes come into conflict with each other, as is the case with the caricatures recently published in the Danish newspaper "Jyllands-Posten" depicting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This has provoked uproar among Muslims, not just in Denmark, but across the Islamic world as it is widely understood that Islam forbids the depicting of Muhammad.

      The issue at stake here is not "self-censorship", which Flemming Rose, the newspaper's culture editor, claims has befallen Europe since the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. It is whether respect for other religious beliefs, traditions and practices really applies to everybody, including Muslims.

      We prefer the word "respect" to "tolerance" because to be "tolerated" is not a positive notion, and in addition "respect" is not a one-way concept; it is mutual. If the cartoons in question were deliberately made and published to provoke Muslims and to stir up public opinion in Denmark, as Rose seems to suggest, something has gone wrong.

      What the cartoons managed to do was to offend all Muslims instead of focusing on those fanatics that actually merit criticism.

      Sometimes, provocations are necessary to wake people up. Over the past 30 years, the World Jewish Congress has been no stranger to that. But religious customs, practices, beliefs, should be respected by followers of other religions and nonbelievers alike, because this is a prerequisite for being respected oneself.

      Although freedom of speech is an indivisible right, the law may make it an offense to shout "Fire!" in a crowded auditorium as this might cause a panic and physical harm. Words and actions which predictably provoke strong reactions and anger - however unjustified this may be - should be limited at least when it comes to religious beliefs.

      Mutual respect and understanding between members of different religions is the key to ending hatred and to creating a better world. We consider desecration of any holy book an insult to ourselves. Desecration of the Qur'an, the Torah, or the Christian Bible, or any religious site should be offensive to all of us. Mutual respect means just that: You respect me and what I stand for, and I respect you and what you stand for.

      To consciously provoke and offend the fairly small Muslim minority in Denmark was wrong. Yes, immigrants must integrate in their host societies, be they Muslims, Jews or Christians, while retaining their own identities, beliefs, customs and faiths. Parallel societies can easily become a breeding ground for fanatics, zealots and, ultimately, terrorists. Immigration sometimes fails because immigrants do not make enough effort. But sometimes, it is also made harder because of an intolerant and harsh host country.

      It is the job of governments and lawmakers to make sure that immigrants are not treated as newly conquered (as some populists suggest), but with respect. Those who make an effort to integrate should be welcomed with open arms and they should be allowed to make more than just financial contributions to their new countries' tax coffers.

      Over the last two thousand years and until the creation of the State of Israel, Jews have always been a small minority in every country they have settled in. Our ancestors have suffered from pogroms, rampant anti-Semitism and finally the Holocaust.

      Lies about Jews, the Jewish faith and traditions have never disappeared. In fact, they are staging a comeback, especially in "Western democracies" which we thought had become immune to anti-Semitism after the horrors of the Holocaust.

      Nonetheless, Jewish intellectuals and politicians have always been at the forefront of fighting for human rights, democracy and free speech. But there are limits to the letter that should be respected, and publishing materials considered offensive by a small religious minority is going too far. Democracies are tested on how they treat their minorities.

      Over the decades since the publication of the Second Vatican Council declaration "Nostra Aetate", the Catholic Church and the Jewish community have been engaged in dialogue with each other. This is a successful example for how centuries-old prejudices and hatred can be overcome by listening to one another instead of just talking about the other. Christians, Jews and Muslims are all children of Abraham, and we should learn what we have in common. After that, our differences might look less significant.

      We need to restrain ourselves in what we say about other religions, in how we judge other faiths. We don't need new laws. We cannot restrict freedom of speech. We need to restrict ourselves. Otherwise, in the end, we will be restricted.

      - Edgar M. Bronfman is New York president of the World Jewish Congress. 
      Source:The Times Newspaper of London of 1/2/2006(Letters to the Editor Section) 

     


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