This is too much

[mahnmut]

Dazed' teacher Gillian Gibbons left to await fate in court over

A teacher is going in front of a court in Sudan because she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad...
The charges are insult to religion and inciting hatred. WTF!?!? Can't I call my teddy bear Jesus, Buddha or whatever? And how is this connected to religion?
And what HATRED can a teddy bear incite? A teddy bear is supposed to be LOVED, right? Am I missing something?

Comments

[tvuutietyle24.livejournal.com]

What about those millions of men named Muhammad? Did their parents also commit a crime naming them like this? I hope the person who made the accusation will be able to answer this question.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Yes. Their naming as Muhammad is regarded a respect for Islam, while naming a toy as Muhammad is just the opposite? What about a pet?

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

You're both missing smth. I think our pal ramsesthesecond could explain this better than me, but unfortunately he's too busy preparing for his exams right now. So i'll try myself.

In Islam, its strictly forbidden to picture their god (small "g" here) and his prophet in any way. And in this case, a teddy bear is an object, albeit being a personification of the prophet. At least thats how the parents of those kids perceived the case (because the case was brought up by the PARENTS, not by anyone else). A toy is a soulless object, ie this is a direct blasphemy. Its like the "make no idols" commandment in Christianity.

I still think all this is outright ridiculous, but i'm talking from my *atheist* point of view. From a theist's point, particularly ultra-conservative Muslim, this is smth significant. Go figure.

In any case, i'm sure any foreign teacher whos going to any country to teach the local kids would've normally gone thru some kind of preliminary qualification regarding the local customs, before taking the responsibility.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

I don't think she was aware that they'd make such a big deal from what she imagined was just a small innocent joke. But sure, she should've known better.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

She's a teacher in a (predominantly) Islamic country. I'm sure she was very much aware of the implications. It was either a) neglect of the situation, or b) she hoped the parents wouldnt learn. In either case, its incompetence.

I think she at least knew how sensitive the Muslims have become recently on these topics...

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Neglect, that's a good version.