Muhammad Cartoon Hoax

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'Moderate' Palestinian-born Danish Muslim leader, Ahmad Abu Laban, was expelled from Egypt and Kuwait for his involvement in the Muslim Brotherhood,[1]

The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad Cartoons, which resulted in more than 200 deaths and hundreds of injuries since their initial publication in September 2005,[2] is one of the most well-known examples of Muslim intolerance. However, this article discusses the lesser-known Muhammad Cartoon Hoax and its role in making the cartoons a world-wide issue.

Background

Initially following the publication of the twelve Jyllands-Posten images, the reaction from Muslims was comparably negligible. Palestinian-born Danish Muslim leader, Ahmad Abu Laban (who was expelled from Egypt and Kuwait for his involvement in the Muslim Brotherhood,[1] and has links with Egyptian terrorist group Gama'a Islamiya),[3][4][5] took it upon himself to spearhead a campaign demanding an apology from Jyllands-Posten.

Abu Laban created the Committee for the Defense of the Honor of the Prophet, which primarily consisted of extremist Imams[1] and issued a press release which was nothing more than a veiled threat towards Jyllands-Posten, "We are not threatening anybody, but when you see what happened in Holland and then still print the cartoons, that's quite stupid."[6] Unfortunately for Abu Laban, his actions seemed to be having little effect.

Undeterred, in December 2006, a delegation of Danish Muslim leaders, headed by Ahmad Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari (a Lebanese-born theological student), travelled to the Middle East to publicise and garner opposition to the offending cartoons. Ahmad Abu Laban, who was also the head of The Islamic Society of Denmark, called upon the Muslim world to "internationalize this issue so that the Danish government would realize that the cartoons were not only insulting to Muslims in Denmark but also to Muslims worldwide."[7] However, the number of images taken to the Middle East had risen considerably.

The Additional Images

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    This image allegedly depicts Muhammad as a pig.

  • Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination

    This image allegedly depicts Muhammad having sex with a dog.

  • Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination

    This image depicts Muhammad as a pedophile demon.

Commentary

The first thing you'll notice about these poor quality images is that they are a lot more offensive than any of the original twelve.

The first image is allegedly a depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a pig. This is highly offensive to Muslims due to pigs, along with urine, faeces and non-Muslims, being considered "najis" (impure).[8][9][10] It was only discovered later that it was not Danish, nor was it a cartoon at all, but a fax copy of a photo, and this photo was in fact not a depiction of the Islamic prophet, but of Jacques Barrot, a pig squealing contestant at the annual French Pig-Squealing Championships in Trie-sur-Baise.[11] The original image can be viewed here.

The second image allegedly depicts Muhammad having sex with a dog. Again, dogs are considered najis,[8][10] and although admittedly Muhammad had raped women and committed pedophilia, there is no hadith that suggest he partook in bestiality.

The third image depicts Muhammad as a pedophile demon. Interestingly, the name "Baphomet" (which is associated with the devil) is a bastardisation of his name,[12][13][14] he was also a pedophile who allowed Aisha (his child bride) to play with dolls,[15] his wet-nurse believed he was possessed by a demon,[16] and at one time even he himself believed he was possessed by a demon.[17]

The Aftermath

The extra images were accepted by several major News outlets (including the Australian network SBS and the British BBC, who later admitted their mistake)[18] as being part of the original twelve Jyllands-Posten images. It is surprising that these huge news organisations could fail to do some simple fact-checking before broadcasting factually incorrect information about such sensitive issues.

According to the BBC, the source of these images (through their own admission) has been traced back to the delegation of Danish Muslim leaders themselves.[19] The delegation claimed they were sent to Danish Muslims, but failed to verify where and to whom they were sent.

Many suspect that it was in fact the Muslim leaders who produced these images in an attempt to heighten Muslim aggression towards the original Danish publication. This would not be surprising, considering other Muslim leaders such as Omar Bakri Mohammed and Noor Ramjanally have no qualms about doing such things. Whatever the case may be, the actions of the delegation (by promoting the relatively unknown images to Muslim countries) and these additional and more offensive images, have no doubt contributed greatly to the massive world-wide death-toll.

This page is featured in the core article, Islam and Propaganda which serves as a starting point for anyone wishing to learn more about this topic
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See Also

  • Lying - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Lying
  • Cartoons - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Cartoons

External Links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Pernille Ammitzbøll and Lorenzo Vidino - After the Danish Cartoon Controversy - Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2007, pp. 3-11
  2. ↑ Yale Removes Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad From Forthcoming Book, Citing Fears of Violence - Fox News, September 08, 2009
  3. ↑ Analysis of the June 26, 1995 searches of the Viale Jenner mosque, Direzione per le Investigazioni Generali e per le Operazioni Speciali (DIGOS), Sept. 15, 1997.
  4. ↑ Giles Foden - The hunt for 'Public Enemy No 2' - The Guardian (London), September 24, 2001.
  5. ↑ Evan F. Kohlmann, Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network (Oxford: Berg, 2004), pp. 26-7.
  6. ↑ Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, Oct. 9, 2005.
  7. ↑ Danish Muslims "Internationalize" Anti-Prophet Cartoons - IslamOnline, Nov. 18, 2005
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 (Asad) "O YOU who have attained to faith! Those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God are nothing but impure: and so they shall not approach the Inviolable House of Worship from this year onwards And should you fear poverty, then [know that] in time God will enrich you out of His bounty, if He so wills: for, verily, God is all-knowing, wise!" - Qur’an 9:28
  9. ↑ The following ten things are essentially najis [impure, unclean]: 1. Urine 2. Faeces 3. Semen 4. Dead body 5. Blood 6. Dog 7. Pig 8. Kafir [unbeliever] 9. Alcoholic liquors 10. The sweat of an animal who persistently eats najasat - Islamic Laws : Najis things » Introduction - Al-Sistani.org, Internet Archive capture dated January 19, 2010
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 “...And, that they [the dhimmis] should not enter the pool while a Muslim is bathing at the public baths. ...It is also incumbent upon Muslims that they should not accept from them victuals with which they had come into contact, such as distillates, which cannot be purified. If something can be purified, such as clothes, if they are dry, they can be accepted, they are clean. But if they [the dhimmis] had come into contact with those clothes in moisture they should be rinsed with water after being obtained. ...It would also be better if the ruler of the Muslims would establish that all infidels could not move out of their homes on days when it rains or snows because they would make Muslims impure...” - Muhammad Baqir Majlesi (1616 – 1698 AD) - Lightning Bolts Against the Jews
  11. ↑ Danish Imams Busted - Neander News,
  12. ↑ "Baphomet (bæ ·fomet). [a. F. Baphomet; cf. Pr. Bafomet, OSp. Mafomat.] a. A form of the name Mahomed used by mediæval writers. b. Alleged name of the idol which the Templars were accused of worshipping. (According to l'Abbé Constant, quoted by Littré,1 this word was cabalistically formed by writing backward tem. o. h. p. ab., abbreviation of templi omnium hominum pacis abbas, 'abbot' or 'father of the temple of peace of all men.') Hence Baphomet·ic a. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. 140 Baphomet is a secret word ascribed to the Templars. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. _VII._ xii. ii. 278 The great stress .. in the condemnation of the templars is laid on the worship of Baphomet. The talismans, bowls, symbols, are even called Baphometic. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. II. vii, My Spiritual New-birth, or Baphometic Fire-baptism." - Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984 (23rd Printing) p. 659.
  13. ↑ Peter Partner (1987). The Knights Templar and Their Myth. pp. 34–35. ISBN 0-89281-273-7. (previously titled The Murdered Magicians)
  14. ↑ Malcolm Barber, p. 321
  15. ↑ "Narrated 'Aisha: I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet, and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Apostle used to enter they used to hide themselves, but the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for 'Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.) (Fateh-al-Bari page 143, Vol.13)" - Sahih Bukhari 8:73:151
  16. ↑ "His [Muhammad's friend's] father said to me, "I am afraid that this child has had a stroke, so take him back to his family before the result appears. ..... She [Muhammad's mother] asked me what happened and gave me no peace until I told her. When she asked if I feared a demon had possessed him, I replied that I did." - The Life of Muhammad", by A. Guillaume, Oxford University Press
  17. ↑ Silas - Muhammad and the Demons - Answering-Islam
  18. ↑ BBC Admits Fatal Negligence - The Brussels Journal, February 8, 2006
  19. ↑ "...This picture, a fuzzy grey photocopy, can now be traced back (suspicion having been confirmed by an admission) to a delegation of Danish Muslim leaders who went to the Middle East in November to publicise the cartoons. The visit was organised by Abu Laban, a leading Muslim figure in Denmark..." - A clash of rights and responsibilities, Paul Reynolds, World Affairs correspondent, BBC News, February 6, 2006
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