Posted on 02/13/2006 11:41:57 AM PST by Dark Skies
The head of Calgary's Muslim community is considering a civil lawsuit against two local publishers for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad -- images that have sparked deadly riots overseas.
Syed Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, said the cartoons have caused Muslims in Calgary, and worldwide, unnecessary stress and heartache.
"We are, on Monday, going to see lawyers. We will try to find out if there is a possibility to have a civil lawsuit. That's what we're going to explore," Soharwardy said Sunday.
"We see these cartoons as racist. We see these cartoons as hurtful, and we see these cartoons as against our religion. There has been damages towards the Muslim community for their losing their peace of mind, and creating stress on people's heart."
The Jewish Free Press and Western Standard Magazine, both Calgary-based, are among the first publications in Canada to print the cartoons.
One of the drawings depicts Muhammad wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb.
While copies of Jewish Free Press have been available since last week, Western Standard Magazine is expected to hit newsstands today. Publisher Ezra Levant said the threat of a lawsuit won't deter him.
Levant said the move proves Soharwardy and other Canadian Muslims who are angry over the cartoons don't "understand Canadian values" and freedom of the press.
Around 40,000 issues of Western Standard will be published with the cartoons. The Jewish Free Press, going to 2,000 Calgary homes, ran the images in its Feb. 9 issue.
The Jewish Free Press had the front page headline, "First they came for the cartoonists. . . ." It also featured portraits of Muhammad printed over the past 200 years, including an icon now on sale on the streets of Tehran, Iran.
On page 2, the Jewish Free Press had a selection of the Danish cartoons, including the "Muhammad in a bomb-turban" print.
The Calgary Herald has decided not to publish the drawings.
Jewish Free Press publisher Richard Bronstein said reprinting the cartoons wasn't meant to offend Muslims, but instead to inform the public about the issue.
"When (the cartoons) dominate the world news for that period of time, to be an informed person you have to see what it's all about," said Bronstein.
The paper also published a selection of anti-Semitic cartoons printed in Muslim countries -- like a cartoon of hook-nosed, diabolical Jew tunnelling under Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a holy site to Muslims and Jews.
Bronstein said he will ask a member of Calgary's Muslim community to write a guest column in an upcoming edition. "I'll give them the whole front page," he said.
Bronstein would not comment on the possibility of a lawsuit.
He apologized if he insulted Muslims, but stands by his decision to reprint the cartoons.
Soharwardy refused the apology.
"Jewish Free Press, they knew that it is not acceptable, that it is offensive to Muslims, they knew it. They took a calculated risk and they went ahead," he said. "Their apology is nothing but a hypocrisy -- a preplanned apology and I don't accept their apology."
On Sunday, Soharwardy offered a free seminar on the Prophet Muhammad to members of all faiths.
More than a dozen non-Muslims showed up at the Al-Madinah Calgary Islamic Centre in Falconridge for the two-hour session.
Hal Joffe, a prominent member of Calgary's Jewish community, said he attended to have Soharwardy answer some outstanding questions.
"I was just trying to figure out if it was just Muhammad being portrayed at all or whether it was the particular characterization," Joffe said of the controversy. "It's important to see the context and then to do this and try to find a dialogue and common ground."
"One last analogy. If you go to a mall and see some young punk scream obscenities at a middle-aged guy’s wife until she starts crying, will you intervene when the guy turns out to be a kung fu artist and kicks the living daylights out of the punk? What if the middle-aged guy turns out to be a deranged poster on Kos? Whose side do you take? Why take a side at all? It’s free speech, disrespect and violence. What do you do?"
Everything is racist to these people. :(
Can I sue Palistine over 9-11? They were awful happy Americans were dying and that's pretty racist.
They keep pushing the envelope, and liberals keep caving.
Nice measure of their progress.
They are making headway.
If ktcat hangs around here enough, he or she will answer those rhetorical questions differently.
lol hilarious!!!...can I post that on my home page until I get beheaded (I will give you the credit)?
Maybe they should get the same lawyer that sued McDonalds over the scalding coffee incident. They'll be in deep doo-doo then.
No, it's not about terrorism. It's about slandering a religion. The Prophet didn't strap semtex to his body and blow anybody up. Hamas did and still does. Those cartoons single out Mohammed, not the nutjob in Iran or Palestine.
I'm Catholic. If I do something horrible, is the proper response cartoons about the Pope? Don't the people who do the Piss Christ exhibits use the same logic? Isn't this about personal responsiblity?
If you and a host of other Catholics did horrible acts in the name of the Catholic church and your fellow Catholics were at best mum and at worst complicit and cheering ...
Indeed. Here's one cartoon that kind of sums it up that everybody can understand. Well, except maybe for the stuck on stupid types.
http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/02/cartoon-that-everybody-can-understand.html
Islam considers the deity of Jesus to be blasphemy. When muslims say "there is no god but allah"...they are saying Jesus isn't God.
Jesus is crucified over and over again...crucifixes are dipped in urine and it's called art. But in no way does it diminish Him. It doesn't hurt religion to make it stand in the white hot light of reason and thought...but islam refuses it.
Some people believe islam is a demonic cult and that muslims need to be liberated. Do you say no? To you say to those imprisoned by an insane cult that "no, it isn't right that we help you find the truth."
I suggest the islamic allah is not god...indeed, he is most likely Satan...do you think we should approve of his grip on poor muslims.
Your faith says otherwise.
His examples of violence, wars for territorial conquest and spreading islam by the sword is the legacy he left for millions of his followers. To them, he is "al insan al kamil" (the "perfect man"), whose example are recorded in the hadeeth, and whom muslims are to emulate.
Does the story of Abu afak ring any bells to you?
The glove fits.
Thx USF...this is a noble cause!
Assuming for a moment that you're not a liar and a troll - a dubious assumption at best - we aren't at war with Catholicism.
Mostly because Catholicism is a civilized religion. A claim that [i]slam is incapable of making.
Cardinals and Fathers aren't flying planes into buildings, teaching hate in Vatican square, and beheading anyone they can capture who isn't a Catholic.
When at war, it is of vital importance to keep your enemy off balance at all times. Over 2100 years ago Sun-Tzu referred to it a disrupting the enemies alliances.
If your enemy is so pathetic that mildly satirical cartoons throws him off balance then, have at it. You're stupid if you don't.
We aren't at war with Islam, either. There are more than 1 billion moslems in the world. What percentage of them are strapping on the vests and blowing people up?
It always seems as though history has stopped at whatever moment we are at. Today, almost all of the wars across the globe have at least one side that is Islamic. Therefore, Islam is a religion of war and destruction.
If this were 1917, then the logical conclusion would be that Christianity is the religon of psychopathic maniacs.
I am upholding my end of the bargain...and proud of my small contribution.
BTW, great pic...thousands of islamic warriors are distracted.
lol
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