 ROME: An Italian magazine close to the influential Catholic conservative Opus Dei group has published a new caricature of Prophet Muhammad (may his drip clear up peace be upon him), sparking outrage among Muslim associations.
| "Harrr! A cartoon, is it? Well, we're outraged!" |
The drawing in Studi CattoliciÂ’s March issue shows the Italian poets Dante Alighieri and Virgil making sacrilegious remarks about the Prophet Muhammad (ptui pbuh), according to a description by the Italian news agency ANSA.
"Neener neener neener!
Mohammad's got no wiener!" |
Opus Dei distanced itself from the magazine, with spokesman Giuseppe Corigliano telling ANSA that Studi Cattolici is not an official publication of the group, even though it is edited by an Opus Dei member.
However, he said Opus Dei members “are free to have all the opinions they want”.
| "We got all that killing apostates and burning heretics stuff out of our system centuries ago. It's not like we're Muslims or somethin'." |
Studi Cattolici Editor Cesare Cavalleri told ANSA, “I hope the publication of this drawing won’t lead to attacks, because if that happened it would only prove the idiotic positions” of Islamic extremists.
| The drawback to making fun of them for being ignorant primitives who'll riot at the drop of a hat is that they really are ignorant primitives who'll riot at the drop of a hat. |
The cartoon in Studi Cattolici drew immediate fire from ItalyÂ’s Muslim community.
“With all the efforts made in the Christian and Muslim world for inter-faith dialogue, there are nevertheless always minorities that inflame things and cause provocations,” said Roberto Piccardo, an official of the Union of Italian Muslim Communities.
| And for all the ranting and raving and issuing of fatwahs and death threats, Europeans still maintain their freedom to write and draw pretty much what they please. |
Souad Sbai, president of an association of Moroccan women in Italy, called on the magazine to “step back, stop and lower the tone”.
| The magazine might equally call upon the turbans to do the same. |
|