Cii News, Pic: rlisu.wordpress.com | 19 September 2012

“This is a series of attacks from the so called liberal west trying to provoke Muslims,” Moulana Ebrahim Bham, the secretary general of the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa (Council of Muslim Theologians), said in response to the publishing of another set of cartoons attempting to degrade the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

A French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, went on sale today with some  cartoons drawn of a naked person meant represent the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). French police were stationed outside the company’s building on Wednesday expecting some kind of reaction from Muslims.

The recent movie trailer, Innocence of Muslims, produced in the US, resulted in protests in over 20 countries and the deaths of dozens of people.

The latest drawings are seen as yet another attempt to incite and provoke Muslims.

Lashing out at those who see nothing wrong in repeatedly denigrating a man revered by 1,5 billion Muslims around the world, Moulana Bham said, “It is so unfortunate because in that culture, it seems nothing is sacred.”

“They are now attacking the Muslim faith, in which many things and none more than the dignity of our beloved and noble messenger, Muhammad (PBUH) is regarded as sacred.”

He called on the Muslim Ummah (nation) to unite and find a solution to the challenge facing it.

“How to deal with it is something that the Ummah needs to put its head together to come up with a solution.”

This week’s edition of Charlie Hebdo showed a Muslim in a wheelchair being pushed by an Orthodox Jew under the title “Intouchables 2″, referring to an award-winning French film about a poor black man who helped an aristocratic quadriplegic.

It also contained caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) with his derrière and other private body parts exposed.

Previously the magazine published an edition “guest-edited” by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) that it called Sharia Hebdo.

French government ministers have reportedly criticised the magazine’s decision with Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, saying, “I am against provocations” taking into account the timing of the latest publication.

The editor of the magazine, who goes by the name Charb, has again used freedom of expression, to defend his decisions, saying he does not expect those who find his publication offensive to go out and buy it.

“The freedom of the press, is that a provocation?” he asked.

France has a Muslim population of about 6 million, the largest in western Europe. The government has banned all demonstrations against the American produced film, Innocence of Muslims. This has already angered the French population who has been calling for protests to go ahead.

Agencies have quoted Dalil Boubakeur, a scholar at a Paris Masjid (mosque), appealing for calm.

“It is with astonishment, sadness and concern that I have learned that this publication is risking increasing the current outrage across the Muslim world,” he said.

“I would appeal to them not to pour oil on the fire.”