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Beirut Mob Torches Consulate

Jeremy Reynalds, Ph.D. - 2/6/2006

Muslims worldwide have been outraged by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of 12 cartoon caricatures of the Mohammed. It's been an ongoing ugly scenario. The New York Times reported (www.nytimes.com/2006/02/06/international/middleeast/06cartoon.html?hp&ex=1139202000&en=d7fd387b0985d049&ei=5094&partner=homepage) that protesters angry over the cartoons clashed with Lebanese security forces on Sunday, setting a building housing the Danish Mission on fire and attacking a nearby church.

The New York Times further reported that the sectarian tone of the violence in the predominantly Christian Achrafieh section of East Beirut on Sunday raised fears of deepening divisions in Lebanon a year after a former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was assassinated, sparking political crises in Syria and Lebanon.

An early morning march through downtown Beirut soon exploded into violence, the Times reported, when a crowd surged toward a high-rise building that houses the Austrian and Danish Missions. They chanted obscene anti-Danish slogans in Arabic and vandalized cars, office buildings and a Maronite Catholic church nearby. According to the New York Times, other protesters burned Danish flags and flags bearing images of the cross.

In addition, since the cartoon controversy exploded there have been death threats against publications that ran the cartoon and against a number of Christians and westerners in Arab countries.

Also, calls for Muslim boycotts of Danish products have been making their way around radical Islamic Internet sites.

SPILL THEIR BLOOD!

But on a Hamas web site, one writer suggested doing more than boycott (www.alqassam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3939&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=9).

He wrote, "Such measures like spilling the blood of the ones who slander or protect those who slander the prophet ... is the penalty for their crimes .Insha Allah this will unite the divided Muslims and they will see that the kuffar dare to do this because of our weakness and lack of unity. Unity can take different forms. One such unity is to agree to at least boycott them damned ones."

The writer continued, saying, "We had this BIG demonstration here on Friday. Oh if only we had some Danes in our custody to quench the crowd's blood thirst! One speaker said, ‘they hand over the person who drew those cartoons, or we kill not ten thousand but a hundred thousand instead of that ONE person!'"

Referring to the cartoon controversy, a writer on another radical Islamic site (www.thesavedsect.com/articles/CurrentAffairs/InsultingProphet.htm said, "At the time of the Messenger Muhammad ... there were individuals like these who dishonored and insulted him upon whom the Islamic judgement was executed. Such people were not tolerated in the past and throughout the history of Islam were dealt with according to the Sharee'ah (Islamic law).This is the judgement of Islam upon those who violate, dishonor and insult the Messenger Muhammad."

The writer bemoaned the fact that people have apparently forgotten the penalty for insulting Muhammad.

"Insulting the Messenger Muhammad ... is something that the Muslims cannot and will not tolerate, and the punishment in Islam for the one who does so is death. This is the Sunnah of the Prophet and the verdict of Islam upon such people, one that any Muslim is able to execute," the individual wrote.

The writer asked, "Where are (those) ... who will defend the honor of our beloved Messenger ... ?"

ARMENIAN PATRIARCH CONDEMNS PUBLICATION OF CARTOONS

Meanwhile, the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey, His Beatitude Mesrob II condemned the publication of cartoon caricatures of Muhammad.

Speaking in a news release, Mesrob II called the caricatures "openly political propaganda aimed at the adherents of the religion of Islam."

"The justification given in a French newspaper for the publication of these cartoons as ‘testing the limits of the freedom of expression' is nonsense and unacceptable," Mesrob II said. The press here has not exceeded the freedom of expression but has gone beyond what is ethical. It has hurt large numbers of people and has dealt a blow to a newly beginning and accelerating dialogue of civilizations."

The Patriarch added, "You will recall that a few years ago in Istanbul a textile company in Istanbul sold underwear with depictions of Jesus Christ on it. This type of inconsideration has no relation to modernism, one way or another. I think that this sort of behavior is something quite other than testing the reactions of radical and liberal elements; it is a serious question of human rights. The rights of religiously believing persons are as important as the freedom of the press and of commerce."

The Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul is one of the four patriarchal sees in the hierarchy of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, established in 1461.

The other two hierarchical sees of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church are the Catholicate of Cilicia and the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. There are also about 65 Armenian bishops and archbishops who serve in various capacities around the globe.