For those who haven't heard about it, a British teacher working in the Sudan brought a teddy bear into a class of seven year old children and allowed the children to vote on what to name it. She intended to use the bear as the focus for a series of projects for the kids, asking them to do things like take it home for the day and write about what they did with it, for example. Some of the children were Christians, but as I understand it, most of them were Muslims. She asked the children for a selection of possible names for the bear, and they ultimately voted to name the bear Mohammed. It's a significant point that the Muslim children selected the name. The teacher didn't even choose the list of choices.
Some local Muslim adults protested when they heard about it, as using the name Mohammed for an animal could be perceived as insulting to the Muslim faith. The teacher has been charged with the crimes of insulting religion and inciting hatred. She could've been sentenced to 40 lashes, a year in prison, or a fine. She was sentenced to 15 days in prison and will be deported. Crowds of Muslims armed with clubs and knives reportedly showed up trying to find the prison in which she was being kept so they could kill her.
So let me make sure I've got this right. The teacher allowed a predominantly Muslim group of children to give a toy a potentially offensive name (assuming that she was even aware that naming an animal Mohammed could be offensive). The local people who went looking for her intended nothing less than premeditated murder. Who is insulting religion and inciting hatred?
I've tried to see this through Muslim eyes as best I can, and it still doesn't make sense to me. I understand that insulting Mohammed is one of the most blasphemous things that a person can do in the eyes of a Muslim, but isn't there any consideration of the intent of the person doing it? There's a world of difference between a person being accidentally offensive and a person intentionally insulting the local culture's most highly regarded values.
As I understand it, Muslim groups in various countries have come forward to show that not all Muslims believe this treatment of the teacher has been fair. Good! This shows us that most Muslims are decent, compassionate people, and those who were trying to kill this teacher are a misguided minority. When Muslims in Sudan are trying to kill someone over what appears to nothing more than an error made entirely in ignorance, is it any wonder that many people in the West have trouble seeing Muslims in a positive light?
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2 comments:
At first I was furious with the situation. Now I'm just sad for everyone involved.
I think you're right about extremism being the culprit. I don't think the majority of Muslims want radicals representing them. It would be like the KKK representing all Christians.
Some stories make me want to leave the planet in search of higher intelligence. This is one of them.
My sequence of reactions was similar. At first, I was simply outraged. Then I thought about it more deeply, and remembered that the parents of most of the children in the class didn't have any problem with it. It was only later, when word spread further, that enough of the more radical element got revved up enough for the situation to reach critical mass.
Your analogy with Christian extremists is apt.
I just keep trying to remember that the vast majority of people (including Muslims)thinks this is as crazy as we do.
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