Press Interpreter

02/02/06 -- Twelve drawings, published on September 30, 2005, by the Danish weekly Jyllands-Posten and entitled “The 12 faces of Mahommed� are stirring up emotions amongst Muslims and anger in Arab countries. One of the caricatures depicts the head of the Prophet sporting a bomb-shaped turban. Dalil Boubakeur, who directs the Muslim Council of France (Conseil français du culte musulman - CFCM), sees it as a new sign of “islamophobia towards Muslims and their religion.� Whilst it has not taken on the stature of the Salman Rushdie affair, when the author became the subject of a fatwa in 1988 condemning him to death for his interpretation of the Koran, the controversy is still swelling, such that some of the Arab countries have demanded - fortunately in vain - that Denmark “sanction� the caricaturists.

Beyond the unjust and injurious combination of Islam and terrorism in some of the cartoons, it is the prohibition on the Prophet Muhammad's corporeal representation that is at issue. For Islam, all effigies of the Prophet amount to idolatory and violating this taboo is blaphemous. In secular democracies which have fully ratified the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Man, freedom of expression is the only principle that the law must respect.

For France, it is all said in the first article of the Constitution: "France is an indivisible Republic, secular, social and democratic. It guarantees equality before the law for all citizens without distinction on grounds of origin, race or religion. It respects all beliefs.� Religious commandments and prohibitions thus cannot be placed above republican laws, without risking the worst abuses and inquisitions.

Religions are systems of thought, spiritual constructions, involving beliefs which are powerful, but which can be freely analyzed, criticized and even ridiculed. They are in the same position as political ideologies. The secular republic espouses religious neutrality and tolerance. It is therefore necessary to distinguish religions themselves from the people who practice them. The latter must be protected from all discrimination and against all harmful intentions based on their religious affiliations.

As with racism, anti-Semitism, sexism and homophobia, freedom of expression finds here its limits; these are fixed by the law and by justice. Thus in 2005, a publicity campaign for a brand of clothing which included twelve women and a man positioned in erotic poses in the setting of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper fresco, was considered injurious to Christians, and therefore the Court banned its display.

One Muslim could be offended by a particularly malevolent drawing of Muhammad. But, a democracy cannot comprehend acting as a police force of opinion without treading on the toes of human rights.

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[This is a translation of a Le Monde editorial; The views in this editorial do not necessarily reflect those of the translator or of Pressinterpreter.]

--Translated by Katherine Apps

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http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3214,36-737156@51-735567,0.html