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Teddy Muhammad

Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."

The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.
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Hm. They went to their prayer services, then came out demanding death for Gibbons.

Anyone care to hazard a guess what their imams were telling them inside the mosques?

From selected suras of the Koran:

2.173 "Allah is Forgiving"
2.182 "Allah is Forgiving"
2.192 "Allah is Forgiving"
2.199 "Allah is Forgiving"
2.218 "Allah is Forgiving"
2.225 "Allah is Forgiving"
2.235 "Allah is Forgiving"
3.31 "Allah is Forgiving"
3.89 "Allah is Forgiving"
3.129 "Allah is Forgiving"
3.155 "Allah is Forgiving"
4.23 "Allah is Forgiving"
4.25 "Allah is Forgiving"
4.96 "Allah is Forgiving"
4.100 "Allah is Forgiving"
4.106 "Allah is Forgiving"
4.129 "Allah is Forgiving"
4.152 "Allah is Forgiving"
5.3 "Allah is Forgiving"
5.34 "Allah is Forgiving"
5.39 "Allah is Forgiving"
5.74 "Allah is Forgiving"
5.98 "Allah is Forgiving"
5.101 "Allah is Forgiving"
8.69 "Allah is Forgiving"
8.70 "Allah is Forgiving"
9.5 "Allah is Forgiving"
9.27 "Allah is Forgiving"
9.91 "Allah is Forgiving"
9.99 "Allah is Forgiving"
9.102 "Allah is Forgiving"
16.18 "Allah is Forgiving"
16.115 "Allah is Forgiving"
24.5 "Allah is Forgiving"
24.22 "Allah is Forgiving"
24.33 "Allah is Forgiving"
24.62 "Allah is Forgiving"
25.70 "Allah is Forgiving"
33.5 "Allah is Forgiving"
33.24 "Allah is Forgiving"
33.50 "Allah is Forgiving"
33.59 "Allah is Forgiving"
33.73 "Allah is Forgiving"
42.23 "Allah is Forgiving"
48.14 "Allah is Forgiving"
49.5 "Allah is Forgiving"
49.14 "Allah is Forgiving"
57.28 "Allah is Forgiving"
58.12 "Allah is Forgiving"
60.7 "Allah is Forgiving"
60.12 "Allah is Forgiving"
64.14 "Allah is Forgiving"

One must conclude from these people's behavior on leaving their mosques that the above suras are held up as examples of sarcasm.
 
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SomeGuy said:
The fact that people here are so much more outraged over this, compared to the raped women getting whipped, is because she's one of us.

The outrage is overly selective, biassed, racistic and intolerant (though admittedly not on par with the intolerance of the Sudan court).
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Illogical and ridiculous. I'm British, so Ms Gibbons is 'one of us'. That may be the reason I've bothered to post about this case (I don't post much), but there is absolutely no justification for inferring that I, or others here, feel less outrage about other instances of appalling treatment of women by Islamic regimes.


SomeGuy said:
That doesn't count according to Mummymonkey, there would have to have been a stuffy toy related incident for her to be able to conclude that some people in Sudan appoint ridiculous significance to the name Mohammed.

Heck, I live in Europe and I knew (before all this crap got in the news) how touchy some Muslims are about anything called Mohammed.
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The information we have makes it clear that the charges, the 'spontaneous' protests, the sentence, and the rabble baying for blood, are an anti-Western demonstration and a show of strength, ordered by the clerics (just as with the Mohammad cartoons). It's a bit gullible to believe that anyone's religious sensibilities have actually been offended.

Muslim organisations and scholars here have made it clear that the charges are utterly nonsensical, that there is no religious justification for them. Ms Gibbons had no reason to think that allowing her class to give the name Mohammad to a toy would be construed as insulting Islam - except, of course, that anything she, as a Westerner, did in Sudan could be construed that way. Her actual mistake was to go to Sudan at all, where any Westerner is liable to be arrested on trumped up anti-Islamic charges for political reasons.


NeilC said:
The MCB say the prosecution is bad because there was no intention to insult islam. Does that imply that they would support this sort of action if she had deliberately done it?

On the radio this morning they were speaking to muslims off the street (in London I think). A fair few of them were saying that some sort of punishment was deserved but the sentence was a bit harsh. WTF?!
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We have no way of knowing how representative those Muslims are, as no doubt the interviewers, in standard irresponsible media fashion, were after a 'balance of views'.

In an interview with two Muslim 'representatives' a few days ago, one of them (some barmy cleric) was saying that Ms Gibbons should not be punished at all in this case, as it wasn't an intentional insult, but if it had been then the authorities in Sudan had every right to punish her as they saw fit. The other one, from the MCB, said that was ridiculous, and that kind of statement was harmful to Islam and to British Muslims.
 
I think she needs to come back home for her own safety, once this is over. I would also like to know what the british diplomatic contacts are doing for her out there? Are they negotiating early release? Are they ensuring her safe passage after? Are they doing anything to support her, or fight her cause at all?
 
SomeGuy said:
That doesn't count according to Mummymonkey, there would have to have been a stuffy toy related incident for her to be able to conclude that some people in Sudan appoint ridiculous significance to the name Mohammed.
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I'm sure she was aware of and tried to be respectful to the religous customs of the Sudanese people. I'm quite sure also it wouldn't have crossed her mind that naming a teddybear Mohammed was a disrespectful act. I lived in the region for four years and I wouldn't have given it a second thought.
Everyone was taught that images of the prophet Mohammed are forbidden but no warning was given about the use of the name. The name's everywhere over there. Mohammed's Taxis, Mohammed's Bakery whatever. On billboards, shop fronts and in magazines and newspapers. It's a nonsense to suggest that she "should" have known this would have happened.
It's likely she's the victim of circumstance and is caught up in some local political/religious game to do with the school.
 
I have a question. Why would a non resident non muslim go to the Sudan in the first place? I bet after this episode there will be an exodus of foreign teachers and other non muslims leaving the country and in the future only the suicidal will go there.
 
Sudan is one of those countries that desperately needs teachers (as well as a comprehensive educational system), lots of people want to help such a society.
 
chillzero said:
I think she needs to come back home for her own safety, once this is over.
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It occurs to me to wonder if she'll be all that safe even when she does get home. There seems to be quite a supply of extremists who might go after her :(
 
I can see local yobs throwing teddy bear heads into Mosque's now instead of pig's.More hygenic at least.
 
Cainkane1 said:
I have a question. Why would a non resident non muslim go to the Sudan in the first place? I bet after this episode there will be an exodus of foreign teachers and other non muslims leaving the country and in the future only the suicidal will go there.
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She is teaching in a program called TEFL, "Teaching English as a Foreign Language". Apparently it is quite remunerative.

Head of teacher recruitment Janet Tufnell says: "We tell our teachers to respect the culture of the country." I'll bet they didn't say anything about naming teddy bears.

I doubt that the teddy bear was much of a problem until a bigwig imam decided that this would be a good way to put western civ in it's place once again. And so, once again, the government gets to look good by letting her off easy in the face of populistic death threats, and simultaneously pass a message to other foreigners about how they must tread in the future.

I think they ought to require Sudanese who want to learn English move to England.
 
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Tokenconservative said:
This isn't the libs fault of course, but you will not see any leftist org decrying this, just as here in the USofA NOW has been utterly silent on the suffering of women in "original" cultures (such as Sudan's) while shrieking ceaselessly about men looking at women and the non-existent "glass ceiling" etc., etc.
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Tokie, it'd greatly help your cause if you'd just shut the hell up for once. It's getting on my nerves, really; this endless bickering about liberals, leftists, whatever -- in this case even in a thread where everyone essentially agrees on the main point. Bashing leftists can be great fun, but your angry and bitter rants certainly aren't.

Sorry for getting personal. Back to topic: I agree with everyone else, it's an abomination, and I couldn't care less about the precise count of lashes. I also agree there is no need to exaggerate, unless of course your aim is to come off as an moronic bigot.

Rant over.

By the way, as much as I'm skeptical of Muslim organizations in Europe (I just had to endure a talk at university where I was told how devilishly the media portraits the poor Muslims and that nobody with any knowledge of the religion would associate it with violence, blah, blah, whine, whine, etc.) -- I think it's great that they immediately denounced this silliness. I can't find the quote right now, but I think I remember a tone of exasperation, which is definitely appropriate. It's just mindbogglingly mad, as though Sudan were located in a weird parallel universe or something. Right now I'm reading that the mob now demands her death. WTF?! How brainwashed can these people be? It's a frickin' teddy-bear!

OK, second rant over. I feel better now.
 
Lothian said:
and that is what is most shocking about this case to us Brits. A scouser arrested for something other than theft.
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That is most politically incorrect, so it didn't make me smile.

I see our government is still expressing "in the strongest terms" that it's a wee bit miffed. Sadly, Ms Gibbons' MP, Louise Ellman, is a bit limited in what she can do to help. According to those less than charming folks from Respect and the Muslim Association of Britain (not to be confused with the Muslim Council of Britain), Ms Ellman is "Israel's MP on Merseyside" (she's Jewish).

Anyway, this affair has solved the problem of what to call my new kittens. We were thinking about Moshi and Miri (Moses and Miriam), but now it's Mohammad and Miri.
 
Bearing in mind she's still incarcerated in a Sudanese jail cell, the British government can only tread carefully. As soon as she's back home, though, they'd better advise all British subjects in Sudan to leave, and then cut off all aid. According to Richard Littlejohn, we've given them £326 million over the last five years, with £114 million more to come, so it would definitely hurt.
 
danielk said:
Tokie, it'd greatly help your cause if you'd just shut the hell up for once.
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Apart from anything else, he's wrong - Amnesty International for one have said that it is "mockery of justice" and are calling for her immediate and unconditional release. Damn those liberals :mad:

Lucky said:
now it's Mohammad and Miri.
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Have you considered Mohammed and Khadijah for the full effect?
 
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SomeGuy said:
I'm a bit appalled by all the outrage here.

Of course, the sentence is ridiculous and nonsensical.

It's a country where women can get punished (more severely) for being raped. She should have known that the name muhamed could have given her trouble, of course it shouldn't have, but she could have known.

The fact that people here are so much more outraged over this, compared to the raped women getting whipped, is because she's one of us.

The outrage is overly selective, biassed, racistic and intolerant (though admittedly not on par with the intolerance of the Sudan court).
.
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Tokie, this would have been your queue.
 
Ian Osborne said:
Bearing in mind she's still incarcerated in a Sudanese jail cell, the British government can only tread carefully. As soon as she's back home, though, they'd better advise all British subjects in Sudan to leave, and then cut off all aid. According to Richard Littlejohn, we've given them £326 million over the last five years, with £114 million more to come, so it would definitely hurt.
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This is more than a Sudan thing. A lot of people fail to realize it is a Shari'a thing, a Pan-Islamic thing. Sure a lot of Muslims are appalled but until or unless Islam rids itself of shari'a and its fanatical clergy it is a religion that will suffer for its excesses. Here's a late report from the NY Daily News of the rising tensions in Sudan over this Teddy Bear insult:

Thousands of protesters, many brandishing clubs and swords, took to the streets of Sudan’s capital Friday, demanding the execution of a British teacher who let her students name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, was moved from the women’s prison near Khartoum to a secret location for her protection, her lawyer said.

Gibbons was found guilty Thursday of insulting Islam and sentenced to 15 days in jail. She was spared the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.

That angered many in Khartoum, who rallied in Martyrs Square outside the presidential palace. Protesters waved sticks, knives, axes and swords.

“Kill her, kill her by firing squad!” they chanted. “No tolerance, execution!”
Others shouted, “Shame, shame on the U.K.”

A cleric at Khartoum’s main Martyrs Mosque claimed Gibbons had intentionally insulted the Muslim faith.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_...sudanese_call_for_teddy_bear_teachers_de.html

One picture, unfortunately, in this case, is worth a 1000 words. It is truly hard to believe that all these people are taking to the street with their swords unsheathed veying for the privilege of cutting this lady's head off. Clearly the rage that is apparent on the faces of the rioters is the result of them being worked up into a frenzied state by their illustrous imams.
 

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