I would believe everything Syed Atiq ul Hassan has said if there were movements in the Islamic world, and protests of equal voracity against the vile, far more offensive cartoons & literature in the Muslim media.

Bizarre though, that there is nothing but silence....

Further, I seem to recall that ALL Islamic leaders, at the time of John Howard's conference with Muslim 'moderates' (some of which had said outrageous things about Jews in the past) said that we should hear what the radicals like Benbrika & Omran have to say, because of.......wait for it.....freedom of speech!

Lastly, I wish to know where Syed Atiq ul Hassan stands on Sharia Law. I don't believe one can have a serious debate with any Muslim who accepts such barbarity as a divinely inspired set of beliefs that must be forced on the whole world.

I think i'll get my post in before the 100+ post, anti-muslim tirade begins.
I really don't think the law needs to come into this. Do we really want to fill our courts with people who are offended by insults towards deceased spiritual leaders? Surely God can take care of the blasphemers, or in the Hindu or Buddhist beliefs surely they'll be reborn as dung beetles in their next life?
The lessons to be learned from this cartoon caper are twofold: a) good manners are a virtue, so have respect for others beliefs and know that criticism and insults do not lead to friendship and peace and b) ignoring an instult is much more effective and powerful than getting upset, so have some self-esteem and don't submit to the will of others by reacting to everything nasty that is said. A good motto to go by is "sticks and stones will break my bones but insults to my spiritual leader will never hurt me".
Lets not go back to a primary school system where you get sent to the principles office for calling someone names.

Mr Hassan takes exception to Danish cartoons depicting Mohammad, describing them as blasphemous, yet has no qualms about calling Jesus a prophet.

According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God." To describe Jesus as just a prophet would surely imply a denial of the Holy Trinity which is a central belief of the Christian Church.

Perhaps Christians should go on the rampage about OLO publishing Mr Hassan’s article.

You still don’t get the point, do you, Syed?
But then, how can any believer in any these religions, having shown themselves to believe all this supernatural and mystical mumbo-jumbo, get it?
I’m talking not only of Islam, but all religions and belief systems, whether religious or political.
They all lead to totalitarianism, not Freedom.
How can these cartoons humiliate you? Only if you consider that there might be some element of truth in what they are saying.
And the reaction of many of the followers of Islam only goes to confirm that indeed, what the cartoons are saying, is correct.
If they are not true, then just ignore them. You surely don’t care what secular people think about your religion, do you? And are Muslims likely to be influenced against Islam because of them?
Your suggestion that these people should be punished is an extension of the same mind-set, which seeks to impose a set of beliefs on people by threats.
By all means go ahead and believe in your religion, I don’t care at all, you are welcome to it, but don’t try to impose it on other people. And don’t issue threats to try to intimidate people who are not of the same set of beliefs as you.
Muslims destroyed a set of ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan; don’t you think that is far worse case of “humiliation” to another religion? But of course, that wouldn’t occur to you, would it?
Did you see Buddhists blowing up mosques, issuing death threats, beheading people?
Because you think you are the only people that have the Truth. Just like the thousands of other religions and religious sects all claiming the same thing.
Religion has been, and is now, the major cause of trouble in the World. The sooner mankind grows up out of these primitive belief systems, the better.

The cartoons were not, in my view, “..an extreme act of promoting disharmony and humiliation worldwide.” They were part of a “service’, referred to by the author, by the press, showing us the total lack of understanding and the intolerance of certain Muslims. The fundamentalist fanatics who rioted and burned, instead of making their grievances known in a civilized manner, inflicted any “humiliation” felt by reasonable Muslims.

The author’s claim that publishing the cartoons was a “deliberate act to publish explosive material” may well be true, but not “against the Muslim community at large.” It was far more likely designed as a wake up call for the dozy left in the West, which still doesn’t see what Western civilization, and freedom is up against with regard to Islamic fanatics. These people are medieval crackpots, unlike the many Muslims who wish to bring their religion into the 21st Century.

Good on Denmark for making a long overdue statement on fundamentalism. It’s interesting to note that only one Australian newspaper had the bottle to publish the cartoons, and thereby fulfil its obligation to keep the public informed.

As a communicator, Syed Atiq ul Hassan has nothing positive to contribute to understanding between Muslims and the wider Western community.

Syed,

A one-eyed very biased view of the cartoon saga.

The writer does not differentiate between information and insult in the case of publishing the cartoons.

He denies the right of ‘western’ freedom of the press – and suggests putting limits and barriers to any matter of incitement or denigration of others (faiths).

In the case of Salman Rushdie – again information was taken by muslims as insults and blasphemy. He simply exposed some verses that the prophet mohammad himself qualified as inspired from satan (and later on abrogated them as you do).

What we clearly have here is a clash of civilisations – east meets west. Darkness exposed to the light.

Europe is the central war zone at the moment. Islam is concentrating its efforts on all fronts in all European countries.

A vistory in Europe (especially the Vatican) will mean a lot to islam morally - taking them one step closer to the next goal of aquiring the US.