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Bonfire of the Pieties

(Wall Street Journal) Amir Taheri - The "rage machine" was set in motion when the Muslim Brotherhood - a political, not a religious, organization - called on sympathizers to take the field. A fatwa was issued by Yussuf al-Qaradawi, a Brotherhood sheikh with his own program on al-Jazeera. Not to be left behind, the Brotherhood's rivals, Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Liberation Party) and the Movement of the Exiles (Ghuraba), joined the fray. Believing that there might be something in it for themselves, the Syrian Baathist leaders abandoned their party's 60-year-old secular pretensions and organized attacks on the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus and Beirut. There is no Koranic injunction against images of Muhammad. Many portraits of Muhammad have been drawn by Muslim artists, often commissioned by Muslim rulers. In museums within the Muslim world are famous depictions of Muhammad riding to Jerusalem (16th century), Archangel Gabriel guiding Muhammad into Medina (16th century), and the prophet contemplating a rose (19th century). The Janissaries - the elite of the Ottoman army - carried a medallion stamped with the prophet's head. A statue of Muhammad can be seen at the U.S. Supreme Court, where the prophet is honored as one of the great "lawgivers" of mankind. Those horrified by the spectacle of rent-a-mob sackings of embassies in the name of Islam should not blame all Muslims for what is an outburst of fascist energy.
2006-02-08 00:00:00
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