Everybody Draw Mohammed Day: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Everybody Draw Muhammad Day - May 20th.jpg|250px|thumb|right|The drawing created by Molly Norris]]'''Everybody Draw Mohammed Day''', also known as '''Draw Mohammad Day''' began with a drawing posted on the Internet on April 20, 2010. The concept of the day is to suggest that everybody should create a drawing representing [[Muhammad]], the founder of [[Islam]], on May 20, 2010, as a protest against efforts to limit [[Islam and Freedom of Speech|freedom of speech]], and the movement in support of that protest.  

==The story so far==

Cartoonist Molly Norris of Seattle, Washington, created the original piece of artwork in reaction to alleged Internet death threats that had been made against fellow cartoonists Trey Parker and Matt Stone for depicting Muhammad in an episode of South Park. Depictions of Muhammad are explicitly forbidden by a few [[hadith]] (Islamic texts), though not by the [[Qur'an]]. Postings on RevolutionMuslim.com had said that Parker and Stone could wind up like [[Theo van Gogh]], a Dutch film-maker who was brutally murdered and mutilated by a Muslim extremist. The individuals running the website later denied that the postings were intended as threats, although they were widely perceived as such.

Norris said that if millions of people draw pictures of Muhammad, Islamic terrorists would not be able to murder them all, and threats to do so would become unrealistic. Within a week, Norris' idea became popular on Facebook, was supported by numerous bloggers, and generated coverage on the blog websites of major U.S. newspapers. As the publicity mounted, Norris and the man who created the first Facebook page promoting the May 20 event, disassociated themselves from it. Nonetheless, planning for the protest continued with others taking "up the cause".  

Episode 201 of South Park, broadcast in early April 2010, featured a character in a bear costume who various other characters stated was Muhammad. Before the broadcast, news of it sparked statements on the [http://www.RevolutionMuslim.com RevolutionMuslim.com] website. The group running the website said it was not threatening Parker and Stone, however, it posted a picture of the partially decapitated body of the Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, a statement that Parker and Stone could meet the same fate, and the addresses of Comedy Central’s New York office and the California production studio where South Park is made.<ref>Griswold, Jamie (Associated Press) (April 25, 2010). "[http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=313170# Seattle cartoonist launches 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day']". MyNorthwest.com (Bonneville International).</ref> Comedy Central self-censored the episode when it was broadcast by removing the word "Muhammad" and a speech about intimidation and fear from the South Park episode

The Facebook page [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Everybody-Draw-Mohammed-Day/121369914543425 Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!] had over 100,000 people who are fans of it. The page went down briefly (perhaps an hour or two) on the morning of 5/20/2010 due to technical problems. It came back on-line and was then deleted on the evening of the same day. One of the moderators of that page had his account hacked by Islamic extremists and they had gotten hold of his personal information, due to which he backed out and deleted the page. Facebook restored the page on the morning of 5/22/2010.