January 15, 2008
Syria's Grand Mufti Says Outcry over Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad Provoked by Media
by
The Associated Press
STRASBOURG, France (AP) - Syria's grand mufti, the country's top Sunni Muslim religious authority, accused the media Tuesday of unleashing a conflict over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad two years ago, saying the drawings received undue attention.
"It was a conflict between a painter and certain individuals. Certain mass media invested in this topic and turned it from a singular case concerning one newspaper into a request for apology from Denmark," Sheik Ahmad Badereddine Hassoun, a moderate cleric, told journalists after addressing the European Parliament.
Fiery protests swept Muslim countries in January and February 2006 in reaction to a Danish newspaper's decision to publish 12 caricatures of Muhammad. The newspaper said the exercise had been a challenge to self-censorship among artists dealing with Islamic issues.
Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.
"Who scheduled these demonstrations? There are media in Europe and the Islamic world who would like to see a conflict," he said, without giving details. "These cartoons have been given greater importance than needed."
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