Bosnian Mufti flays violent protests
2/20/2006
Source ::: The Peninsula

DOHA: The Danish cartoons controversy has given a lesson to the West on what Islam is all about and the Muslims on how they should behave on the face of such a provocative issue, according to Ceric Mustafa, Mufti of Bosnia.

Ceric Mustafa is in Doha attending the US-Islamic World Forum.

"I believe there are some positive results for this controversy. The West will now know that insulting Islam and its Prophet cannot simply go in the name of freedom of expression," Ceric Mustafa told The Peninsula, on the sidelines of the conference.

He added that the issue had helped convince the West about the limits of freedom of expression and the contradictions in their own stand on the issue.

He said Muslims, by reacting violently against the blasphemous cartoons in many countries had lost an opportunity to teach the West what the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) actually stood for.

"This is totally against Islam," he said expressing grief and surprise over the latest incidents in Libya and Nigeria where several people were killed in violent protests. He said Muslims in Bosnia also protested against the cartoons peacefully.

"The West understands Muslims more than the Muslims understand the West. But they mostly don't show the willingness to come down and interact with the Muslims," he observed.

He said the current controversy is intermingled with political issues.

"This is not the first time the Prophet was insulted in the West. Several books and articles were written for this purpose in the past. But now the situation has changed and the political elements in the Islam-West relations have contributed a lot to this controversy," he added.