Killer Plot

Police in Denmark have arrested suspects in a purported plot to kill a cartoonist who drew a controversial caricature of the prophet, Muhammad.  Drawings by several Danish cartoonists sparked outrage in the Muslim world two years ago resulting in deadly protests.  Here in Canada, the Alberta Human Rights Commission has senselessly pursued the editor of a magazine which reprinted the cartoons.

So today, I read an explanation by the editor of the newspaper which originally commissioned the series of drawings. 

The article was written in early 2006 and its author, Flemming Rose, provides much needed context and insight into the inspiration behind the project.  The cartoon which provoked the greatest outrage, depicts the prophet with a bomb in his turban.

Rose observes,   “Angry voices claim the cartoon is saying that the prophet is a terrorist or that every Muslim is a terrorist. I read it differently: Some individuals have taken the religion of Islam hostage by committing terrorist acts in the name of the prophet. They are the ones who have given the religion a bad name. The cartoon also plays into the fairy tale about Aladdin and the orange that fell into his turban and made his fortune. This suggests that the bomb comes from the outside world and is not an inherent characteristic of the prophet.”

You can view the cartoons here and make up your own mind.