Free Republic

Denmark’s integration minister, Inger Støjberg, took to Facebook on Tuesday to praise the Mohammed cartoons that a dozen years ago plunged her country into its most severe international crisis ever. Støjberg shared a screenshot of her iPad background displaying cartoonist Kurt Westergaard’s drawing of the prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb in his turban. She did so in response to the decision by Skovgaard Museum in Viborg to not display the 12 caricatures of Mohammed published by Jyllands-Posten newspaper as part of an exhibition on blasphemy. The integration minister said that the drawings, particularly the one by Westergaard that has led...

Bill Maher spoke with Ayaan Hirsi Ali tonight about a recurring topic of his, radical Islam, and spent quite a lot talking about liberal reactions to it. Maher brought up how liberals have targeted Hirsi Ali and may have also had the Muhammad cartoon contest on the brain when he asked why so many liberals, who normally “hate blaming the victim,” do so when it comes to radical Islam. Hirsi Ali said she’s not sure why liberals do that

A picture is worth a thousand words

A former Danish Islamist who seven years ago traveled the Muslim world fueling the uproar over newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad is back in the headlines in Denmark after doing an about-face on the issue. Once a leading critic of the Danish cartoons, which sparked fiery protests in Muslim countries, Lebanese-born Ahmad Akkari now says the Jyllands-Posten newspaper had the right to print them. His unexpected change of heart has received praise from pundits and politicians in recent weeks, though some question his sincerity. It has also disappointed some in the country’s Muslim minority who were deeply offended by...

A satirical magazine in France once firebombed for its portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed has published a 65-page cartoon biography of the Islamic holy figure. Charlie Hebdo put together a 65-page comic book, which went on sale yesterday. The magazine’s website claims the publication is “halal”, insisting that Muslim scholars and historians researched and edited the cartoon book. But it is likely to cause offense to some Muslims, and pictures include Mohammed naked as a baby as well as violent images and other explicit scenes. …

Sarjex's entry in Everybody Draw Mohammad Day... (Link directly to the YouTube link for video)

COPENHAGEN – Police foiled an attempt to kill an artist who drew cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that sparked outrage in the Muslim world, the head of Denmark's intelligence service said Saturday. Jakob Scharf, who heads the PET intelligence service, said a 28-year-old Somalia man was armed with an ax and a knife when he attempted to enter Kurt Westergaard's home in Aarhus shortly after 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) on Friday.

The editors of The Dominion Post and The Press have apologised for the offence caused after they published pictures of the prophet Mohammed. A group of 17 news executives and religious leaders met in Wellington this afternoon over the fall-out from the publication of caricatures first published in Denmark. The two newspaper editors told the meeting they did not set out to insult or offend Muslims, and both have apologised. However, they have not resiled from the decision to publish the cartoons in the first place. Federation of Islamic Associations president Javad Khan says the meeting has opened up dialogue...

Last week newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, in a gesture of solidarity with Denmark, reprinted the Danish cartoons that have enraged the Islamic world because one of them depicts the Prophet Mohammad, and any depiction of him is considered blasphemy in Islam. In Paris, the newspaper France Soir added a cartoon of its own of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian gods seated on a cloud under a headline saying ‘Yes we Have the Right to Caricature God’. In Europe, from where I write this piece, the controversy made headlines but could have been played down...

Protests have spread across the Muslim world over the publication in Europe of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The drawings, first printed in Denmark, sparked a fresh row when they were re-run in several newspapers, leading to the sacking of a French editor. The man named to replace the France Soir editor has now resigned.