[IslamCity] Furor Over Drawings Shocks Danes

[Alan Border]

"Such as took their religion to be mere amusement and play, and were deceived by the life of the world." That day shall We forget them as they forgot the meeting of this day of theirs, and as they were wont to reject Our signs.  (Al-Qur'an, 7:51 -Al-Araf [The
 Heights])  Furor Over Drawings Shocks Danes  By JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 6, 2:18 PM ET   http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2630&ncid=2630&e=55&u=/ap/20060206/ap_on_re_eu/prophet_drawings_denmark_s_dismay_1  (Comments in RED are Mine)     COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Its embassies are ablaze, its boycotted industries are losing millions of dollars a day — and Denmark is reeling with dismay. A nation that prides itself on extensive humanitarian work, and usually gets only cursory media attention, suddenly finds itself denounced as evil. In the furor over publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, Danes are groping for ways to cool the anger and are reassessing their self-image.     "Like many other young people, I traveled the world with
 a Danish flag on my rucksack. It opened doors because Denmark was known as a country that respected others, helped other countries," said Villy Soevndal, who leads the opposition Socialist People's Party. "This is scary," Lea Steen, a 28-year-old student, of TV footage of shrieking protesters throughout the Muslim world burning Danish flags and setting the Danish embassies in Damascus and Beirut on fire. "We've seen it with U.S. or Israeli flags before, but it suddenly got a lot closer to our daily lives."    
 The effects are more than psychological for much of the business community. The Denmark-based dairy group Arla Foods says a boycott of its goods in some Islamic countries is costing it $1.6 million a day. Overall, Danish industry could lose $1.6 billion a year if the boycotts in place or threatened in 20 Muslim countries hold firm, said Steen Bocian of Danske Bank. Arla spokeswoman Astrid Gade Nielsen wondered whether the company can even win back consumers. "That will be a huge task," she said.     Denmark is also examining its own
 attitudes. The country is proud of its freedom of speech laws. The last slander conviction was in 1938, when a group of Danes were found guilty of agitating against Jews. Danes also tend to regard their nation as a paragon of reason and liberalism, pointing to the many immigrants it has accepted in recent decades, its willingness to take part in peacekeeping but not combat, and the presence of Danish aid workers in some of the world's most wretched places.     But Muslims in Denmark — some 200,000 of the country's 5.4 million people — often see a much different image. They
 complain of being discriminated against and being denied jobs because of their religion. Many were distressed by statements by Queen Magrethe II in an official biography last year. There is "something scary about such totalitarianism that is also part of Islam," the queen said. "Resistance must sometimes be shown, although one risks getting a not-so-flattering label."     The remarks were widely interpreted as the queen's expressing outright opposition to Islam, although in Danish the statement implies argument rather than full opposition. Nonetheless, the comments added to tensions for Muslims in a country where the prevailing secularity, liberal sexual mores and affection for beer are deeply at odds with
 Islam.     Muslims began to feel further oppressed when immigration laws were tightened in 2002, followed by restrictions on bringing in foreign-born spouses. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's government won support for the measure in Parliament with votes from an anti-immigration party. About 15,000 Muslims — less than 10 percent of the Danish Islamic population — are loyal to a group of outspoken Copenhagen imams who were key in spreading complaints about the Muhammad drawings to Muslims in the Middle East.     The rising tensions of the last month have made some Danes question the extent to which xenophobia may lurk under the country's cheerful surface. "I don't want to live in a country that in order to love itself must look down on others," writer Carsten Jensen said at a rally Sunday outside the Copenhagen office of Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that first published the caricatures.     The newspaper said it decided to solicit and print the drawings from various cartoonists in September as a gesture against what it perceived as a tendency to avoid criticizing Islam for fear of retaliation. A year earlier, Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam by a Muslim radical because he made a film critical of Islam. The drawings touched a raw nerve, in part because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the prophet.      The newspaper has apologized for offending Muslims but not for the publication itself,
 which it justifies as permissible under freedom of _expression_ laws. That position makes too fine a distinction for many Muslims. The government, meanwhile, has said it cannot apologize on behalf of an independent newspaper — words that have seemed only to stoke anger overseas.      Associated Press correspondent Jim Heintz in Stockholm contributed to this report.     Comments – Mine  By making our displeasure very plain we are sending the message loud & clear to the Non Muslim world that they cannot hide under their “freedom of _expression_” philosophy & get away with insulting the core beliefs of the Muslims.     I believe the best way to show our displeasure is to launch an economic boycott of non essential products & services from the offending countries. If we can find alternative sources for the essential products & services imported from these countries that would be ideal.      Unfortunately some Muslims have resorted to burning embassies & other violent acts. This will not serve any purpose. An economic boycott will really hurt the purse strings of the offending countries. A peaceful protest would be acceptable. Any violent protest will only
 further tarnish the image of Islam & Muslims.     Coming back to the concept of economic boycott. It is an Effective & Non Violent Method of Showing Our Displeasure. To take an example:     If the Muslim world were to boycott the carbonized drinks imported
 from the US in protest against its policies towards Islam & Muslims it definitely will have an impact on the US carbonized drinks industry. For one thing carbonized drinks are a non essential product which the Muslim world can definitely live without. Businesses in Muslim countries which deal in these products can divert to producing substitute products or importing similar products from countries which are friendly to the Muslims. (Necessity is the Mother of All Creation).     AB  [EMAIL PROTECTED]  "For to us will be their return; then it will be for us to call them to account." (Holy Quran 88:25-26)
	
	
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{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] 
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