Although the Azhar [www.alazhar.org/] welcomed a decision by the Muslim World League [http://www.themwl.org/] to boycott Danish products in response to the cartoons that insulted the Prophet Muhammad in some European newspapers, Muftī of the Republic ‘Alī Jum‘a called for avoiding any antagonistic positions toward Denmark and Norway, or boycotting their products. The muftī urged quieter ways of thinking in order to reach a chance for dialogue and let the diplomatic channels function as the way for official protest over the press’s insults against the Prophet Muhammad in those two countries, stressing that the prophet is higher and greater in stature than those "rascals."
Jum‘a also urged the preparation for a visit by the Danish and Norwegian journalists to Islamic and Christian sites to see for themselves how Muslims and Christians are living together, adding that scholars must explain to the delegation how both Islam and its civilization are tolerant. (Rose al-Yousuf of February 1, 2006)
The Arab Islamic campaign calling for boycotting Denmark over the 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten [http://www.jp.dk/] in September 2005, did not cool down despite the official apology offered by the newspaper’s editor Carsten Juste. The apology was, however, accepted by the Islamic community in Denmark.
A Danish company, Arla foods, the second largest European group producing dairy products, with a total sale of 328 million dollars annually, announced it temporarily closed down its plant in Saudi Arabia, while the Danish government advised its nationals not to go to Arab or Muslim countries, and called for adopting measures to protect Danes abroad. (Al-Ahrām of February 1, 2006)
In a fresh escalation on the part of the European Union, the EU threatened to impose sanctions against Islamic countries encouraging the boycotting of Danish and Norwegian products. The EU Commission said that any boycott of Danish or Norwegian products by Islamic nations is going to be considered as a boycott of the EU as a whole. A spokesman said that the EU Commission has warned that it would resort to the World Trade Organization (WTO) if governments of Muslim countries kept encouraging the boycott of products from Denmark and Norway. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had recently warned in Davos, where he attended the World Economic Forum, that boycotting the products of Denmark and Norway would be considered as a boycott to the EU, which in that case would resort to the WTO.
Many Muslim countries, spearheaded by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced an organized boycott of Danish and Norwegian products. Libya closed down its embassy in Copenhagen. The ambassadors of Denmark and Norway in several Islamic countries, including Egypt, Syria and Jordan, were notified that their governments had to offer official apologies for Muslims over the Danish and Norwegian press’s attempts to insult the Prophet Muhammad.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen reiterated his position rejecting to offer an official apology from the government of Denmark over the cartoons published by the Jyllands-Posten. (Al-Ahrār of February 1, 2006)
Egypt’s Islamic Research Academy, an offshoot of the Azhar, the top Sunni institution in the Muslim world, said that the Danish ambassador in Cairo offered an apology to Grand Imām of the Azhar Shaykh Muhammad Sayyid Tantāwī. The apology came in response to a message sent earlier by the imām, who explained how the laws of Islam respect all prophets without exception and deems any insult against any prophet as harām [religiously impermissible]. (Rose al-Yousuf of February 2, 2006)
In France, the Parisian newspaper France Soir has re-published the cartoons that appeared in Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005, alleging that it did so without the aim of any provocations, but rather because the issue had triggered much international commotion. The French paper denied any racist intentions about the caricature, or a malicious desire to despise any group. It attacked what it described as intolerance on the part of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, the Islamic Jihad, the interior ministers of Arab countries, and the Organization of Islamic Conference. (Al-Ahrār of February 2, 2006)
The step has caused an outcry amongst French Muslims. Dr. Dalil Abu Bakr, dean of the Islamic institute of the Paris Mosque, described France Soir’s republishing of the anti-Islam caricature as heinous and provocative to millions of Muslims in France. A swift reaction came from Egyptian businessman Rāmī Lakah, chairman of the board of the company that owns France Soir newspaper, fired its editor-in-chief for re-publishing the cartoons. (Al-Akhbār of February 2, 2006)
Quai d’Orsay also condemned the act of France Soir on the grounds that the cartoons hurt people’s religious beliefs, coinciding with the re-publishing by some European newspapers of the cartoons in solidarity with the Danish newspaper and in defense of the freedom of opinion.
The French Foreign Ministry said it did not take further measures to protect its nationals abroad after threats made by two Palestinian organizations following France Soir’s re-publishing. Foreign minister Philip-Douste Blazy said his country can never touch the freedom of the press, but at the same time called for practicing this freedom with the mentality of accepting others. (Al-Hayāt of February 3, 2006)
President Husnī Mubārak of Egypt has warned against the repercussions of the anti-Islam campaign, affirming that the highly-respected freedom of opinion, expression and the press should not be used to attack sanctities, beliefs and religions. Speaking to Egypt’s Middle East News Agency, Mubārak said that this campaign would lead to grave consequences in light of provocations meant against the Muslim world and Muslim communities in Europe and beyond. He said this ill-calculated campaign would offer more and more pretexts for the forces of extremism and terror. Mubārak praised the statements made by former US President Bill Clinton, who condemned the anti-Muslim sentiments, and expressed concern that anti-Islam would replace anti-Semitism. (Al-Akhbār of February 4, 2006)
The Jewish community in Turkey condemned some European newspapers’ re-publishing of the cartoons, affirming that democratic freedom should not give anyone the right to attack prophets and religions. Rabbi Rav Yitzhak Haliva, the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Turkey, and Silvio Ovadia, the community chief, said that they rejected any form of insult that targets the religious beliefs. They called on the European countries where the press published these cartoons, especially Denmark, to do whatever necessary to appease the situation. France’s chief rabbi said that he shares in Muslims’ anger over the published cartoons.
Meanwhile, the US mass media has declined to re-publish the controversial cartoons due to their insulting nature. A spokesman for the US State Department said that these cartoons really offend Muslims and their beliefs, adding the freedom of the press is respected by all but this freedom must be responsible.
On the other hand, the Abu Hafs al-Misri Brigades, an offshoot of Usāma Bin Lāden’s al-Qā‘ida network, threatened Denmark with a "bloody war and blessed invasions," in response to the insults against the Prophet Muhammad. In a statement sent to the London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-‘Arabī, the brigades, addressing the Danish people, said that the Danes’ antagonism of Islam and their derision about the Muslim faith would only carry them to their graves which they dug with their own hands, and that the Danish people would see a lot of blood to be shed in retaliation. (Al-‘Arabī of February 5, 2006)
The Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt under Pope Shenouda III, patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, condemned the "indecent and unacceptable" cartoons published by the press in Denmark and Norway. In statements, the pope said that it was very serious to offend the religious sentiments of people. (Rose al-Yousuf of February 5, 2006)
Angry demonstrators in the Syrian capital of Damascus set a building on fire which housed the embassies of Denmark and Norway, as the two countries advised their nationals to leave Syria "immediately." Damascus offered an apology for the harms done to the embassies.
In its first comment since the crisis unfolded, the Vatican said the freedom of expression should not involve any insults against any religious beliefs.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on Muslims to ease their anger and to accept the apologies of the Danish newspaper. (Al-Sharq al-Awsat of February 5, 2006)
One day after Syrian demonstrators burned down the Danish and Norwegian Embassies in the capital Damascus, a march of protest in the Lebanese capital Beirut developed into confrontations with the security forces, which resulted in the injury of 28 protesters and the setting ablaze of the Danish consulate building in the central Beirut district of al-Ashrafīya. The incidents prompted the Danish foreign minister to advise Danes in Lebanon to leave the country.
The Lebanese police used tear gas to disperse more than 15,000 demonstrators who tried to organize a march of protest toward the Embassy of Denmark. A Lebanese government source said that scores of Syrians and Palestinians were arrested following the riot. Lebanese Interior Minister Hasan al-Sabc offered his resignation after the riots, telling reporters that he resigned after criticisms pertaining to the burning of the Danish consulate and assaults on a church in eastern Beirut. Al-Sab‘ added that he refused to give orders to open fire on the demonstrators, as this decision could have turned the protest into a massacre. (Al-Akhbār of February 6, 2006)
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller said his government was seriously considering the resentment sensed by Muslims all over the world upon the publishing of cartoons they deemed offending, expressing regret that the cartoons were taken as an insult against the Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim faith. In a message he sent recently to his Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Abu al-Ghayt, Moller said his government hoped that the Danish newspaper’s apology would help reach a constructive settlement for this crisis, noting the Muslim community in Denmark had received the apology positively. The Danish top diplomat said that the only persons benefiting from this problem in this critical time is the fanatical extremists, stressing the majority of the Danish people’s hopes for dialogue, peaceful relations, and mutual respect. (Rose al-Yousuf of February 7, 2006)
Denmark’s Foreign Ministry warned its citizens against traveling to 16 Arab and Islamic countries for fears of retaliatory actions there. The German news agency DPA [Deutsche Press Agentur] quoted Moller as advising the citizens of Denmark to postpone or cancel their flights to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, the Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UAE. (Al-Ahrār of February 7, 2006) The Danish association of travel agents decided to cancel all tourist flights to Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco due to the latest acts of violence. The association comprises 12 travel agencies that operate 90% of charter flights from Denmark. (Al-Akhbār of February 7, 2006)
Thousands of Danes on February 6, 2006, staged a march demanding popular apology to Muslims over the cartoons published by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. The marchers, who gathered in front of the newspaper’s headquarters, raised banners reading apologies and pro-peace slogans. (Al-Jumhourīya of February 7, 2006)
