Sudan Accuses Teacher of Islam Insult

[Psycho4Bud]

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov. 26 â?? The Sudanese police arrested a British schoolteacher and accused her of insulting Islam after she allowed her 7-year-old pupils to name a class teddy bear Muhammad, Sudanese officials said Monday.

The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, was arrested Sunday in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, after a number of parents complained, said Rabie A. Atti, a government spokesman. â??How can you call a bear Muhammad?â?� he said. â??Muhammad is the holy prophet of Islam.â?�

Dr. Rabie said the authorities had obtained a letter Ms. Gibbons sent home with students explaining that her primary school class was doing a project on animals and had adopted a teddy bear named Muhammad.

â??Her letter said there was an intelligent bear named Muhammad, and the letter instructed parents to take pictures with this bear,â?� Dr. Rabie said. â??This is not acceptable, according to the general opinion of our society.â?�

In Islam, insulting the Prophet Muhammad is considered a grave offense, and the law of northern Sudan, where Khartoum lies, makes this a crime.

Unity School, where Ms. Gibbons taught, is known as one of the more expensive private schools in Khartoum. The students are the children of wealthy Sudanese families and foreign diplomats, a mix of mostly Muslims and Christians, and the lessons are in English.

Ms. Gibbons is in jail, pending further investigation, Dr. Rabie said. â??If she is innocent, she will be set free,â?� he said.

If she is guilty, Dr. Rabie said, she will face punishment, possibly including lashes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/wo...tml?ref=africa

Lashings for naming a Teddy Bear Muhammad. What's next?

Have a good one!:s4:

Psycho4Bud Reviewed by Psycho4Bud on 11-27-2007. Sudan Accuses Teacher of Islam Insult NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov. 26 â?? The Sudanese police arrested a British schoolteacher and accused her of insulting Islam after she allowed her 7-year-old pupils to name a class teddy bear Muhammad, Sudanese officials said Monday. The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, was arrested Sunday in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, after a number of parents complained, said Rabie A. Atti, a government spokesman. â??How can you call a bear Muhammad?â?� he said. â??Muhammad is the holy prophet of Islam.â?� Dr. Rating: 5

[R.H]

I don't want to appear racist, but Islam is probably the most outrageous and ridiculous religion out there. Come to think of it, all religion is ridiculous. We're nothing but organisms that happen to have evolved on one of the millions of planets in the universe. Structuring law on religion is insane - especially Islam. What was it, a few years ago a 9-year-old girl was raped and went to the authorities, and because she couldn't stop them she was stoned to death!

A peaceful religion it is.

[yokinazu]

why is it wrong to name a teddy bear muhammed but you can call your children muhammed?

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

why is it wrong to name a teddy bear muhammed but you can call your children muhammed?

Just what I was thinking. Is a teadybear some kind of derogatory symbol? I think not. They didn't even ask her, once, to change the teadybear's name. *sigh* fanaticism is getting really old; there's a reason we separate religion and government here in the west.

[Psycho4Bud]

The way it sounds she let her class of 7 year olds vote on a name for the teddy bear.....they voted for Mohammad. One of the parents turned her in because it's "somehow" an insult to Islam.

The scary thing is that these people have the mind set of the middle ages with the technology of today.

Have a good one!:s4:

[Nightcrewman]

This is a problem that could be sorted out with a well placed nuclear bomb.

NCM

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

This is a problem that could be sorted out with a well placed nuclear bomb.

NCM

Oh yeah, that'll hinder fanaticism and snuff out the flames of hatred

[Breukelen advocaat]

The BBC has this story, and the responses from some of the Muslims are in favor of the punishment.
BBC NEWS | Africa | Sudan teddy insult teacher: Readers' views

They need to learn how to live and act like civilized people in the present, not in the world of a thousand years ago.

It boggles the mind as to why a non-Muslim from England would want to go there. Another case of do-gooderism, I guess.

[birdgirl73]

It only boggles your mind, which is why you have to call it do-gooderism instead of conceiving that someone might be interested in learning another culture or influencing it positively in some way.

[NorthBrook19]

The Old Testament in the Bible talks about stoning witches,adulterers,homosexuals to death. Muslims are more "true" to their holy texts; they actually carry out the penalties their religion prescribes. The sad thing is that this still happens because the religion's grip on society is so tight as to not have allowed anything different in the past. Westerners had the Crusades and learned they hated it. Hopefully Muslims will get through this Medieval mindset and start inventing again. What wonders the Muslim world brought us at its peak.:jointsmile: