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OIC PRESS RELEASE
In the framework of the ramifications of the Danish Newspaper JILLANDS-POSTENs publication of offensive drawings depicting the Prophet Mohamed (Peace Be Upon Him) and the indifference with which the Danish authorities addressed this issue, the Organization of the Islamic Conference has decided to boycott the project Images of the Middle East which will be organized by the Danish Center for Culture and Development, partially financed by the Danish Government.
The OIC General Secretariat had addressed a memorandum to the aforementioned Center to the effect that the publication of those pictures has offended hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world. More, the Danish authorities handling of this issue has fueled the sentiments of discontent and anger in the Muslim world. The memorandum added that the deliberate publication of the said pictures was meant to disturb and infuriate Muslims, and could not be considered as an innocent behavior falling within the scope of freedom of _expression_ in which everyone believes.
The memorandum mentioned that the 3rd Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held recently in Makkah Al-Mukarramah addressed this issue and stressed in its Final Communiqué the responsibility of all governments to ensure full respect of all religions and religious symbols, stating that the freedom of _expression_ does not justify in any way whatsoever the defamation of religions.
The memorandum informed the Danish Center for Culture and Development that the OIC has requested all its Member States and cultural institutions to boycott the activities of the aforementioned Danish cultural project as an _expression_ of its protest against this improper conduct.
Jeddah, 1 January 2006
*************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
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