CAIRO,
December 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Arab
foreign ministers on Thursday, December 29, lambasted the Danish
government's reaction to the controversial anti-Prophet cartoons
published by the country's mass-circulation daily.
"The
ministers have expressed their surprise and indignation at the
reaction of the Danish government, which was disappointing despite its
political, economic and cultural ties with the Muslim world,"
they said in a statement cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Gathered
at the Arab League, the ministers decided that Arab League Secretary
General Amr Mussa would pursue the matter with the Danish authorities.
Twenty-two
former Danish ambassadors, including many who have served in Muslim
countries, on Tuesday, December 20, bashed the government over its
handling of the crisis.
Liberal
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has refused to meet eleven
Copenhagen-based ambassadors from Muslim countries who wanted to
complain about the cartoons and demand an official apology.
Twelve
drawings depicting Prophet Muhammad in different settings appeared in
Denmark's largest circulation daily Jyllands-Posten on
September 30.
In
one of the drawings, an image assumed to be that of the Prophet
appeared with a turban shaped like a bomb strapped to his head.
The
images, considered blasphemous under Islam, have drawn rebuke from the
Muslim minority and triggered a diplomatic crisis between Denmark and
Arab and Muslim countries.
Double
Standards
The
Arab foreign ministers also criticized "European human rights
organizations who did not adopt a clear-cut stance on the issue."
Al-Azhar,
the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world, has vowed
to raise the issue of the provocative caricatures with the UN and
international human rights organizations.
A
five-member delegation representing 21 Islamic centers and
organizations in Denmark has recently met Moussa, Grand Imam of
Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi and Egyptian Foreign Minister
Ahmed Abul-Gheit.
"Support
from Arab and Muslim countries will help our demand for an official
apology from the Danish government and a promise such violations would
not be repeated," Mohamed al-Khalid Samha, the delegation's
spokesman, told IOL then.
Abdel
Rahman Abu Laban, a prominent Muslim figure in Denmark, told IOL on
Friday, November 18, that the Muslim minority in Denmark wants to
"
