Europe and the Middle East were on high alert on Friday as millions of Muslims attended weekly prayers at what appeared to be a critical moment in the international furore over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
A spasm of violence was widely feared after Muslims around the world expressed fury at the 12 drawings and some religious leaders called for a day of protests against the countries in which they appeared.
In Indonesia, a crowd of about 100 men stormed the building housing the Danish embassy, chanting ”Let’s go jihad [holy war], we’re ready for jihad,” before being ejected by security forces.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, about 20 000 Palestinians burned Danish, Norwegian and French flags, and in Gaza crowds chanted anti-Western slogans before the Parliament building.
”Those who have published these caricatures must have their heads cut,” exhorted the preacher at Gaza’s main mosque.
In Jerusalem, thousands of angry worshippers demonstrated in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, shouting: ”Condemnations are not enough, you have to reply with fire.” There were scuffles with police, but no injuries.
But by mid-afternoon there were no reports of serious unrest, raising tentative hopes that the crisis could have passed a key test.
Cultural wars
What has been widely described as a new battle in the continuing culture wars between Islam and the secular West began in September when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten commissioned cartoons of Muhammad in a deliberate affirmation of its right to free expression.
The row smouldered for several months before being reignited by republication of the drawings in Norway and France, prompting outrage among Muslim faithful, a campaign of consumer boycotts and, on Thursday, death threats from militants against nationals of the three countries.
In Europe, many newspapers leapt to the defence of their sister publications, insisting on the right to free speech. But others have been more cautious, warning that liberty must be tempered by the duty not to provoke religious sensibilities.
Governments have also been circumspect, stressing the right to free expression but also urging mutual respect. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Friday the decision to republish the cartoons was ”insulting … insensitive … disrespectful … and wrong”.
In the Middle East, there has been universal condemnation of the cartoons, which include one of the prophet in a bomb-shaped turban and another of him telling suicide bombers at the gates of heaven that there were no more virgins.
Containing the anger
But there were also calls for a measured response on Friday that suggested the anger could be contained.
In Tehran, veteran revolutionary cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani condemned the European press, but urged the faithful to respond calmly.
”We need to put forward our calm and compassionate side, our gentleness. It is enough to look at the Qur’an,” he said.
And in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said: ”We are people who by the instructions of religion are bound to take the course of forgiveness … we must have as Muslims the courage to forgive and not make it an issue of dispute between religions or cultures.”
Influential Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan, who has a large following among young European Muslims, said the reaction in the Islamic world was ”excessive” and that Muslims should take a more detached view.
”Muslims must absolutely learn to keep a critical distance. They have to get used to living in a global world. Their consciousness must be sufficiently robust to master their hurt feelings,” he said.
In Denmark, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen had an hour-long meeting with 76 foreign diplomats, including many from Muslim countries, in a bid to defuse the crisis, but insisted at the end that his government could not apologise on behalf of the press.
In France, the centre-left newspaper Liberation reprinted two of the cartoons, describing them as ”exhibits in the case”.
While criticising the caricatures as ”mediocre”, the daily said its decision was taken ”out of a concern for comprehension and for reaffirming values which … have been damaged in the crisis”.
France-Soir newspaper, which printed all 12 cartoons on Wednesday, published a message from the staff in support of editor Jacques Lefranc, who was sacked by the paper’s Egyptian-French owner Raymond Lakah.
”Let us repeat again and again: there is absolutely no question … of stigmatising Islam and Muslims. Religion is not the issue, but intolerance,” it said. — Sapa-AFP