GRAND MUFTI DENOUNCES FRENCH MAGAZINE’S CARICATURE OF PROPHET MOHAMMAD
Jerusalem, 26 Rabi’ul Awwal 1436/17 January 2015 (MINA) – The Palestinians’ leading religious figure, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Ahmad Hussein, Wednesday, denounced the publication of a satirical caricature of Prophet Mohammad by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The French newspaper caricatured Prophet Mohammed in its latest weekly edition, which was published in 16 languages, including Arabic.
Only last week, gunmen conducted an attack against Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for insulting Prophet Mohammad on its papers, WAFA Palestinian News Agency quoted By Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
The incident, which was part of a series of attacks that hit France last week, resulted in the killing of 12 French people, including five of France’s top cartoonists, who previously drew insulting drawings of the Prophet.
The Grand mufti Hussein slammed the latest publication of an insulting caricature as a total disregard to the feelings of about two billion Muslims around the world, stressing that such move is intended to outrage Muslims’ feelings.
He added that such insulting drawings harm the relations among followers of the three monotheistic religions by fueling feelings of anger, hatred and resentment.
Grand Mufti Hussein rejected the French newspaper’s excuse of claiming it is part of the freedom of opinion and expression, stressing that freedom and democracy is in direct contradiction with violating the religious rights of others and the assaults against the sanctity of religion.
He also affirmed his utmost rejection of last week’s attacks against innocent civilians in France, which took the lives of almost 20 people, condemning all terror acts and injustice in all its forms and stating that, Islam rejects all violence against innocent people regardless of their religious background.
He said that Islam refuses the unjustifiable shedding of innocents’ blood, stating that, “Islam doesn’t believe that the end justifies the means.”
The Grand Mufti urged the United Nations organizations to pass a law that prohibits insulting religions and their religious figures.
He further called on Organization of the Islamic Conference as well as Arab and Muslim Information Ministers to launch satellite channels in various foreign languages to be able to reach the western countries and explain to them the tolerance of Islam and its principles, as a mean of responding to such systematic campaigns against Islam.
According to the Guardian website, “the cover cartoon was drawn by the weekly’s cartoonist Luz, who survived the massacre because he was late arriving at the office.”
“The cover shows the prophet shedding a tear and holding up a sign reading “Je suis Charlie” in sympathy with the dead journalists. The headline says “All is forgiven,” it reported.
The news outlet read, “Zineb El Rhazoui, a surviving columnist at Charlie Hebdo magazine who worked on the new issue, said the cover was a call to forgive the terrorists who murdered her colleagues last week, saying she did not feel hate towards Chérif and Saïd Kouachi despite their deadly attack on the magazine, and urged Muslims to accept humor.”
While the Magazine’s publication of a satirical cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad gained a worldwide condemnation, controversial reactions circulated regarding the magazine’s right to freedom of expression and opinion. Take, for instance, Omer el-Hamdoon, president of the Muslim Association of Britain reaction, who said that causing offence “just for the purpose of offending” was not freedom of speech.
However, the Board of the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN), in a press statement, stated that, “We defend the right of journalists and media to work in safe conditions, safeguarding the freedom of the Press and the freedom of expression, based on democratic values.” (T/R05/R04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
