Mohammed cartoons again

[LeedsRhinos]

Why has the Muslim world taken until now to demonstrate against the Danish cartoons when they were published way back in September last year?

[*ALFIE*]

were they published last year ???????????????

[*ALFIE*]

oh i see....I thought it was just published recently :p

[alanmcn2005]

i can understand why the muslims are upset but if someone made a cartoon about Jesus (i'm a christian) i certainly wouldnt want to behead them

[Bluemukka]

I have to agree. I think it is highly suspicious that such a hugely radical reaction had just happened now - it seems to me that the extremists have manipulated an awful lot of people.

Things like this do cause civil unrest and I think this is high on the agenda for the extremists.

[Drisgirl]

Just the same reason Kilroy -Silk lost his job on TV because of comments he re-iterated in his column in a paper (havent googled-from memory) which he had had first printed about a year before with no furore.Someone else will recall the exact details.The time was just right!!!

P.S for the rogerthomases of AB - I purposely duplicated had as that is proper grammar:)

PPS - I'm not fond of Kilroy-Silk either - but he was hung.drawn and quartered for an old comment.

[Grunty]

My copy of the Koran says nothing about pictures of the Prophet, just as it says nothing about women keeping their heads covered. It also says nothing about bullying non-Moslems into keeping to Moslem rules. One of the many things it does say is about treating non-believers with respect.

As has been said, this is a prime case of rabble rousing.

[bernardo]

Because they didn't know about them until they were reproduced in French newspapers last week.

[stevie21]

Drisgirl - Kilroy-Silk said that Arabs were suicide bombers, women repressers and limb amputators. With such a hot topic he could have at least said that "some Arabs" were rather than leaving the implication that they all were.
If those are his true feelings then he got what was coming to him even if there was a delay.

As an aside, the news has reported that any graphical representation of Mohammed is forbidden by the religion. Grunty here says otherwise.
Any more bids on that?

[Dolly1308]

Have any of these people who protest got a job.I don't remember ever having any time to do the kind of things that people get up to today ,I was too busy working and bringing up a family of four .They also are too busy working to go round causing trouble and no we don't go about tugging forelocks to those in charge .Problems are dealt with as they arise and in a civilised manner .

[Drisgirl]

Stevie21 - it was really the delay I was highlighting and the fact that something should have been said at the time if it were so offensive (which I agree it was).Just like the cartoons.I was only using it as an example of how things can be dredged up to suit the occasion.

[WaldoMcFroog]

There was some protest in November, 2 weeks after they were originally published - 3,500 people in Copenhagen. It's possible that had nothing further happened, it would have blown over.

Then, European newspapers re-published the cartoons, citing freedom of speech, and starting a further round of protests. It's likely that it was at this point that the whole thing became a cause celebre, who felt that not only had their faith been insulted, but once they had made their displeasure known, the further publications could only (in their eyes) be seen as deliberate mocking of their faith. And then it's got worse from there with more extreme elements and people with ulterior motives getting involved in the protests.

[Pajama Girl]

The cartoons were first published 30 September 05.

A group of Danish Islamic clerics did not get the response that they demanded from the newspaper and from the Danish governmentr and decided to create a GLOBAL furor to put pressure on the Danish government to bow to Islamic demands to punish the free speech of the Danish newspaper and the cartoonist.

Abu-Laban, the danish cleric at the forefront of the campaign, prepared a dossier of the catroons and sent delegations to the Middle East to incite tempers against Denmark.

The dossier was in excess of 30 pages and contained additional insulting pictures not published by the Danish newspaper and are now thought to have been added by Mr. Abu-Laban himself so that Arab feelings would be FURTHER incited to violence. This addidtional material in the dossier I believe shows that the Isamic cleric Mr. Abu-Ladan was determined to make up stories to incite people to violence.

Protests everywhere are being fanned by both Islamists and secular forces eager to prove their "Islamic purity" and to prove that Islamics have the power to make Europe bow to their demands.

I think that Europe WILL bow to the demands of the Islamics and Europe will see this kind pressure increase.

Very sad.

[Gnisy]

Mohammed was the prophet of the Islamic God, Allah. He had four wives and he was the first khalifah of the Islamic world. The religion which was supposedly started by him didn't do so well in his homeland therefore he had to venture to new lands to be received by a new and more accepting public. This land is known as Madinah, a home away from home. He practised Islamic banking where no interest were charged on loans and such, and passed on moral teachings and had four wives. He can be referred to as the root of all Islamic teachings that is practised in the world today. Therefore, he is pretty much worshipped on a pedestal, figuratively speaking, but he is not a statue. He is a real-life man who can walk, talk and mingle with his people. Or at least he did.

If freedom of speech constitutes the right to make fun of a religious leader, so be it. If freedom of speech reserves the right to make a cartoon out of a religious person, so be it. If freedom of speech gives the speaker the right to intrude into the private lives of others who do not share the beliefs and principles that the speakers do not live by, so be it.

But why let a simple phrase as 'freedom of speech' make us ignore the fact that we should be tolerant of one another, of the differences of cultures and religions and of the necessity to accept the differences of people everywhere in this world? It is just a phrase, at most.. a belief. But it has let the press walk over a religion, a system of beliefs practised by millions of ppl in the world. Which side do you think is going to win?

I am a free thinker but I believe there is a God and I believe in the power of religion. I am against acts of terror and war but there is a thin line between acts of terrorism and acts of retaliation. Fights don't start out of the blue. Someone has to start it.

[kaktus]

Just wanted to say that Pajama Girl is spot on with her discription of why it suddenly went from a internal Danish debate (in september/november) to this...

[freedy]

where were the worldwide riots when The Life Of Brian was first shown??

[birdie1971]

I can't be bothered to answer this question fully myself (it's late and I've got to be up for work in the morning), but for those who what an answer to why some Muslems think pictures of their God and Prophet are wrong see the following website...

http://www.answering-islam.org/Muhammad/pictures.html

[bcfclennon]

Muslim people are too sensitive. All it is is a few pictures. They need to have a day off and chill out a bit. Catholics, Protestants and Christians would look at the funny side but oh not muslims they just think that everything revolves around them and the world is against them. Imagine working on a building site - they wouldnt last with all the banter that goes on. They need to calm down a bit. Keep Right ON