Islam, religion of Peace

Outrage Spreads Over Muhammad Caricature

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Armed militants angered by a cartoon drawing of the Prophet Muhammad published in European newspapers surrounded EU offices in Gaza on Thursday and threatened to kidnap foreigners as outrage over the caricatures spread across the Islamic world.

. . . A Jordanian newspaper took the bold step of running some of the drawings, saying it wanted to show its readers how offensive the cartoons were but also urging the world's Muslims to "be reasonable." Hours later, the owners of the weekly, Shihan, said they had fired its editor and withdrawn the issue from sale, and the government threatened legal action.

Foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers began leaving Gaza as gunmen there threatened to kidnap citizens of France, Norway, Denmark and Germany unless those governments apologize for the cartoon.

Gunmen in the West Bank city of Nablus entered four hotels to search for foreigners to abduct and warned their owners not to host guests from several European countries. Gunmen said they were also searching apartments in Nablus for Europeans.

Militants in Gaza said they would shut down media offices from France, Norway, Denmark and Germany, singling out the French news agency Agence France-Presse.

"Any citizens of these countries, who are present in Gaza, will put themselves in danger," a Fatah-affiliated gunman said outside the EU Commission's office in Gaza, flanked by two masked men holding rifles. [In case you thought Fatah was more moderate . . .]

. . . The furor over the drawings, which first ran in the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten in September, cuts to the question of which is more sacred in the Western world — freedom of expression or respect for religious beliefs. The cartoons include an image of Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.

Islamic law, based on clerics' interpretation of the Quran and the sayings of the prophet, absolutely forbids depictions, even positive ones, of the Prophet Muhammad in order to prevent idolatry.

I apologize if I've gone over the maximum quotage allowed for fair use; I'd quote more, but, really, go read the rest. It's even worse.

Still don't know what all this is about? Check it out here:
Michelle Malkin: SUPPORT DENMARK: WHY THE FORBIDDEN CARTOONS MATTER

To me, the craziest thing is that some of these are, literally, cartoons, or cariacatures, of Mohammed, not cartoons á la editorial cartoons. Not terribly reverent, but he doesn't get treated much differently than Jesus does these days, in Europe - especially considering it's not Jesus' followers flying planes into buildings or setting off bombs on trains.