2005-12-28
Pictures of Mohammed
Peder Bundgaard
Peder Bundgaard likes to use the broad ink-brush. As his drawing shows, Bundgaard usually works with design and poster-art. Is this drawing insulting? Only because it was made by an unclean Infidel.
Poul Erik Poulsen
Poul Erik Poulsen has combined Jesus' halo with the crescent moon. Jesus is considered one of the great prophets within Islam and appears several times in the al-Quran under the name Isa.
Some people - who want to be insulted - may claim that the two tips of the crescent moon resemble horns. I honestly don't believe this was Poulsen's intention. Horns are not yellow and shining, and horns are not located 10 centimeters over the back of the head.
In my opinion Poul Erik Poulsen has simply tried to emphasize the similarities between the two "great" religions.
2005-12-27
Drawings of the Prophet Mohammed
Claus Seidel
Claus Seidel has drawn a humble prophet in simple clothes. Isn't this what we normally imagine Mohammed to have looked like? Where's the crime?
Remember, there's a reward for killing all of the artists. What is it in this drawing that could justify a murder?
Don't believe the explanation that all drawings of the prophet are prohibited. The icon to the right was bought on the streets of Iran in 1999 be the Norwegian scholar Indvild Flaskerud. Read the story (in Danish) here: Vrede over islamisk kunst (Jyllands-Posten). There's a larger copy of the image here.
How come some people are allowed, while others are not?
Update: I'm informed that the icon to the right is a not a picture of Mohammed, but rather his cousin Ali - the founder of the Shiite branch of Islam.
Added update: JyllandsPosten have announced that the whole thing is a terrible mistake and that their own 12 drawings are in fact also drawings of Mohammed's cousin Ali. Muslims worldwide are laying down their weapons and start having meaningful lives.
(Nah! I just made up the last one.)
Drawings of Mohammed
Let's start with the three worst ones - or most appropriate ones - depending on how you look at it.
Kurt Westergaard has drawn Mohammed with a bomb in his turban - thus showing a tie between Islam and terrorism. This drawing is the most controversial one - the one that is being shown in all the newspapers.
But which is the greater insult? A Danish artist indicating a connection between Islam and terrorism? Or those terrorists, who have killed thousands of civilians in New York, London, Bali, Madrid, Casablanca and Istanbul - and have done their dirty deeds in the name of Allah the Merciful?
If terrorism is an insult against Islam, why don't you fight terrorism instead of getting mad with a Danish artist, whose only crime is that he's pointing out your ostrich-like denial. Don't kill the messenger.
Hello Pakistan! Osama bin Laden has killed thousands in the holy name of Allah - and he's hiding in your backyard. If terrorism is incompatible with Islam, why don't you send a death squad after him - instead of an artist working in a far-away country you've never even heard about?
Rasmus Sand Høyer shows a furious Mohammed with two fearful women cowering behind him.
And so frigging what? Mohammed was a warrior, he had many wives (far more than the 4 allowed for all other Muslims), and to this day Muslim women wear "chador" and "burka", because Mohammed supposedly demands it. Read the Koran and the Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim, and you'll see that Høyer has made an accurate portrait.
The beard could be prettier.
Jens-Julius is rude - Mohammed tells the suicide bombers: "Stop, stop. We have run out of virgins."
Yeah, that's really insulting - especially if you're one of those psychos who believe that Allah the Merciful will reward murderers with 72 virgins in Heaven.
If Islam is a peaceful religion, then what's the problem? The real blasphemers are those who, on behalf of Allah, promise virgins to the killers. In New York, the last cries of the terrorists was "Allahu akbar", the same words they shouted as they cut the throats of the stewardesses.
Some imams out there are tempting wannabe killers with virgins in the sky, and these blasphemers are the ones, who are reducing Allah to a pimp.
It's a rather thought-provoking cartoon: "We have run out of virgins." From whence are they supposed to come, these virgins, which will serve the terrorists for all eternity? Are they created for the task? Or are they pious girls who as their eternal reward must be available for Mohammed Atta and his friends? Just imagine if the terrorists had seen Jens-Julius' drawing before September 11th. Maybe they would have had a second thought?
Added: Kurt Westergaard has been interviewed and he explains his reasons for drawing the bomb: The author of the bomb.
Kurt Westergaard
Kurt Westergaard has drawn Mohammed with a bomb in his turban - thus showing a tie between Islam and terrorism. This drawing is the most controversial one - the one that is being shown in all the newspapers.
But which is the greater insult? A Danish artist indicating a connection between Islam and terrorism? Or those terrorists, who have killed thousands of civilians in New York, London, Bali, Madrid, Casablanca and Istanbul - and have done their dirty deeds in the name of Allah the Merciful?
If terrorism is an insult against Islam, why don't you fight terrorism instead of getting mad with a Danish artist, whose only crime is that he's pointing out your ostrich-like denial. Don't kill the messenger.
Hello Pakistan! Osama bin Laden has killed thousands in the holy name of Allah - and he's hiding in your backyard. If terrorism is incompatible with Islam, why don't you send a death squad after him - instead of an artist working in a far-away country you've never even heard about?
Rasmus Sand Høyer
Rasmus Sand Høyer shows a furious Mohammed with two fearful women cowering behind him.
And so frigging what? Mohammed was a warrior, he had many wives (far more than the 4 allowed for all other Muslims), and to this day Muslim women wear "chador" and "burka", because Mohammed supposedly demands it. Read the Koran and the Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim, and you'll see that Høyer has made an accurate portrait.
The beard could be prettier.
Jens-Julius
Jens-Julius is rude - Mohammed tells the suicide bombers: "Stop, stop. We have run out of virgins."
Yeah, that's really insulting - especially if you're one of those psychos who believe that Allah the Merciful will reward murderers with 72 virgins in Heaven.
If Islam is a peaceful religion, then what's the problem? The real blasphemers are those who, on behalf of Allah, promise virgins to the killers. In New York, the last cries of the terrorists was "Allahu akbar", the same words they shouted as they cut the throats of the stewardesses.
Some imams out there are tempting wannabe killers with virgins in the sky, and these blasphemers are the ones, who are reducing Allah to a pimp.
It's a rather thought-provoking cartoon: "We have run out of virgins." From whence are they supposed to come, these virgins, which will serve the terrorists for all eternity? Are they created for the task? Or are they pious girls who as their eternal reward must be available for Mohammed Atta and his friends? Just imagine if the terrorists had seen Jens-Julius' drawing before September 11th. Maybe they would have had a second thought?
Added: Kurt Westergaard has been interviewed and he explains his reasons for drawing the bomb: The author of the bomb.
Cartoons of Mohammed
There doesn't seem to be and end in the immediate future to the story of the 12 drawings in Jyllands-Posten. One month ago, the BBC picked up the story, Muslim anger at Danish cartoons (BBC): "The ambassadors of 10 Muslim countries have complained to the Danish prime minister about a major newspaper's cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.".
Later the 10 countries became 11, who sent their ambassadors to a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who - rather clumsily - refused to meet them: Danish ambassadors criticize the PM (Danish text - my translation): "22 Danish ex-ambassadors criticize PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a debate-contribution in Politiken for not being willing to meet representatives from 11 Muslim countries, who have criticized that Jyllands-Posten has brought 12 drawings of the Prophet Mohammed.
- It would have been more becoming for democratic Denmark, if the PM had obliged the request for a conversation, writes the former top-diplomats."
A Pakistani political party offered a reward of 500.000 rupees to those who kills the 12 artists. Death call for Mohammed cartoonist (Sunday Times): "The report said that a member of Jamaat-e-Islami's youth wing named Shahid Pervez Gilani told a rally in Islamabad on November 14 that "anyone who kills the cartoonists will be given a reward of 500,000 rupees."
Denmark had just given 50.000.000 kroner (USD 8,076,500) to the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan, and the Pakistani returns the favour by offering 500.000 Rupees (USD 8,351) for the killing of 12 Danes.
Today the situation has grown larger, and 51 countries are threatening with a boycott of Danish goods: Denmark threatened with boycott because of drawings (Danish text - my translation): "The Islamic world's organisation, ISESCO, now threatens to urge all of its 51 member to break all economical and political cooperation with Denmark because of the Mohammed-drawings in Jyllands-Posten."
I think it's about time that we take a look at those pictures, which have created so great a stir. I am therefore going to post all 12 of them.
Later the 10 countries became 11, who sent their ambassadors to a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who - rather clumsily - refused to meet them: Danish ambassadors criticize the PM (Danish text - my translation): "22 Danish ex-ambassadors criticize PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a debate-contribution in Politiken for not being willing to meet representatives from 11 Muslim countries, who have criticized that Jyllands-Posten has brought 12 drawings of the Prophet Mohammed.
- It would have been more becoming for democratic Denmark, if the PM had obliged the request for a conversation, writes the former top-diplomats."
A Pakistani political party offered a reward of 500.000 rupees to those who kills the 12 artists. Death call for Mohammed cartoonist (Sunday Times): "The report said that a member of Jamaat-e-Islami's youth wing named Shahid Pervez Gilani told a rally in Islamabad on November 14 that "anyone who kills the cartoonists will be given a reward of 500,000 rupees."
Denmark had just given 50.000.000 kroner (USD 8,076,500) to the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan, and the Pakistani returns the favour by offering 500.000 Rupees (USD 8,351) for the killing of 12 Danes.
Today the situation has grown larger, and 51 countries are threatening with a boycott of Danish goods: Denmark threatened with boycott because of drawings (Danish text - my translation): "The Islamic world's organisation, ISESCO, now threatens to urge all of its 51 member to break all economical and political cooperation with Denmark because of the Mohammed-drawings in Jyllands-Posten."
I think it's about time that we take a look at those pictures, which have created so great a stir. I am therefore going to post all 12 of them.
2005-12-14
Jesus' forhud
Sommetider kan man blive overrasket over de mange ting, man ikke var klar over, at man ikke vidste.
Tag fx. Jesus' forhud. Bibelen fortæller os, at han blev omskåret (Lukas 2:21): "Da otte dage var gået, og han skulle omskæres, fik han navnet Jesus, [...]." - men hvor blev forhuden så af bagefter?
Mange katolske kirker har pralet med, at de ejede Jesus' forhud, og forhuden optræder i mange sagn og legender - bl.a. som vielses-ring. I det 17. århundrede mente teologen Leo Allatius, at forhuden var taget med på Kristi Himmelfart og var blevet til Saturns ringe.
Læs mere på WikiPedia (engelsk tekst): Den Hellige Forhud.
Tag fx. Jesus' forhud. Bibelen fortæller os, at han blev omskåret (Lukas 2:21): "Da otte dage var gået, og han skulle omskæres, fik han navnet Jesus, [...]." - men hvor blev forhuden så af bagefter?
Mange katolske kirker har pralet med, at de ejede Jesus' forhud, og forhuden optræder i mange sagn og legender - bl.a. som vielses-ring. I det 17. århundrede mente teologen Leo Allatius, at forhuden var taget med på Kristi Himmelfart og var blevet til Saturns ringe.
Læs mere på WikiPedia (engelsk tekst): Den Hellige Forhud.
