The cartoons have sparked an outcry in the Muslim world.

PARIS, February 10, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Thousands of Danes have called for peace with the Muslim world after massive protests sparked by insulting caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) as a cohort of Arab and European academics, political and religious figures appealed for "moderation and wisdom" in the cartoon row.

"I strongly condemn the actions of Jyllands-Posten that have offended Muslims around the world, and I understand the need for an apology from the newspaper," said an open letter signed by nearly 3,000 Danes Thursday, February 9, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Last September, Jyllands-Posten ran 12 cartoons of Prophet Muhammad including one wearing a bomb-shaped turban and another showing him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

Many European countries reprinted the drawings, considered blasphemous under Islam, triggering an outcry across the Muslim world and calls to boycott Danish products.

The signatories chastised the Danish daily for failing in its "obligation to exercise with care and consideration the right of freedom of speech, said the letter, published in Danish, English and Arabic.

Newspapers which have published the cartoons claim they were exercising their right to freedom of speech.

The Danish signatories also called for restraint over the crisis.

"I want to make a request to all parts involved, that opinions and protests be conducted in a respectful and peaceful manner. Attacks on and threats against individuals and assets only make the situation worse for all of us," it said.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Spanish Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also called for calm over the cartoon protests.

"…we reject the provocations leading to the incitement to hatred between nations or religions that the cartoons have engendered," Putin said.

He called instead for states where the publication had sparked unrest to "promote a civilized and open dialogue" on the issue and reject violent reactions.

Zapatero, on his part, said he defended freedom of expression in principle but at the same time supported "the greatest respect for ideas, ideologies, religions and persons."

"…we reject the provocations leading to the incitement to hatred between nations or religions that the cartoons have engendered," Putin said.

In a related context, a cohort of Arab and European academics, political and religious figures appealed for "moderation and wisdom" in dealing with the cartoon crisis.

"We call on the media, on political and religious leaders, on all Western and Arab citizens to recognize the gravity of this crisis," they said in a statement, following a meeting organized by press freedoms watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"In a global climate characterized by a clash between the Arab world and the West, such a row does nothing but throw oil on the fire."

"Faced with this trial, we need more than ever to show moderation and wisdom," the text said.

Muslims protesting against the cartoons set fire to the Danish consulate in Beirut Sunday after Syrian protesters had done the same with the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus a day earlier.

Muslim scholars, organizations and leaders were united in condemning the violent attacks against the embassies, calling for restraint over the row.

Ali Al-Samman, who heads a dialogue committee at the Al-Azhar, also stressed that it was time to move on from high emotion to constructive dialogue over the row.

"It is time to answer the question: what do we do now?" he told AFP.

"Quiet debate and dialogue, without passion is the way forward," added the Muslim figure, who is also a close adviser to the imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi.

Samman said his Al-Azhar committee would work to help draw up an international legal framework to prohibit Islamophobia the same way as anti-Semitism is shunned on the world stage.

He said that the move would be to define a project to be submitted to the United Nations, although it needed time.

"I point out to my fellow Muslims that our friends in the Jewish community needed to wait many, many years to obtain all the laws which protect them against anti-Semitism," he added.

A cohort of Muslim dignitaries and organizations are calling for the enactment of an international law banning the publication of any insults to religious symbols and values.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, the Muslim world's two main political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions following the publication of provocative cartoons.

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