Danish Cartoons in Egyptian Newspaper

It has come to my attention that a blogger from Egypt came across a copy of Al-Fagr, which supposedly reprinted the original, Jyllands-Posten controversial cartoons of Muhammad a month after the original caricatures were published. As you can see here, he has been kind enough to take snapshots of the newspaper, and circled the dates for our convenience. He claims Egypt should be boycotted as well by Muslims because an Egyptian newspaper had done exactly what Western Newspapers have been doing. However, what he has failed to specify is WHY Al-Fagr had printed those cartoons. I seriously doubt this newspaper printed those cartoons to make a mockery of Islam and its most valued icon, Prophet Muhammad.

I do not care if there are newspapers covering this controversy and in the process, showing these images. What I am concerned about is why they were printed in the first place. There may be some, who are against the idea of reprinting them altogether, but I believe to illustrate a news piece, it is important to add some visual aide. This is exactly what Al-Fagr and other Western newspapers may have been trying to accomplish and to protest against that is not sensible to me. The fact that the Danish newspaper printed it in the first place is most bothersome and all opposition must be against that particular newspaper, and perhaps the government, but not the media that is helping getting the word out to the rest of the world. The German, French, Norwegian newspapers are printing those cartoons to show the world what this global commotion is about, which is exactly what this issue demands.

Mr. Sandmonkey would do us all a big favor if he translated the news caption and informed us whether the cartoons were printed with the intention of mocking the religion, or to inform other Muslims about the issue. If the latter is the case, and it adds fuel to the Muslim anger, then it is serving the correct purpose, because such irreverence should not be committed by anyone, and all Muslims should be informed about it so that a united stand can be taken against such acts. Of course, pursuing violent methods to get one's point across is futile and should not be sought at all, and it is something that has simply plunged the issue from moderate to critical. Let us hope that this controversy ends soon and we can all go back to living our lives and also hope that people can be sensible and rational enough not to anger other people when they know beforehand that the repercussions of their actions may result in contention.