Nigerian Muslim Riots Kill At Least 100
Published November 22, 2002
Do not even start to tell me this has nothing to do with Islam:
- Angry mobs stabbed and set fire to bystanders Thursday in rioting that erupted after a newspaper suggested Islam's founding prophet would have approved of the Miss World beauty pageant. At least 50 people were killed and 200 injured.
....Street demonstrations began Wednesday with the burning of an office of ThisDay newspaper in Kaduna after it published an article questioning Muslim groups that have condemned the Miss World pageant, to be held Dec. 7 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Muslim groups say the pageant promotes sexual promiscuity and indecency.
"What would (the prophet) Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from among them (the contestants)," Isioma Daniel wrote in Saturday's article.
The newspaper ran a brief front-page apology on Monday, followed by a more lengthy retraction on Thursday, saying the offending passage had run by mistake.
In Thursday's rioting, more than 50 people were stabbed, bludgeoned or burned to death and 200 were seriously injured, Ijewere told The Associated Press.
At least four churches were destroyed, he said. [AP]
Then out of abject fear after one of their offices was burned - letters to the editor didn't suffice here, free expression required the torching of the paper - the paper offered this sniveling, obsequious self-flagellating retraction and apology:
- An Apology to All Muslims...
To all our Muslim brothers and sisters, Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahamatul-Llahi Wa Barakatuhu. May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon you all. With all sense of responsibility, sensitivity and respect for all Muslims, the staff, management, editors and Board of THISDAY Newspapers apologise for the great editorial error in last Saturday's edition on Miss World Beauty Pageant.
We are sorry that the portrayal of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW) in a commentary written by one of our staff was not only unjustified, but utterly provocative.
The supervising editor made an attempt to remove the offensive portion during the editing process. But we must say that this time, technology failed us, and gravely too. When we realised that the publication had gone to the market, we did not wait to be reminded. The Editor promtply issued an apology and retracted the story . This was published on the front pages of Monday and Tuesday editions. But many thought the apology was insufficient...
At THISDAY, we have no reason to denigrate Muslims or the Holy Prophet. Why should we? Key members of our management are devoted Muslims, including our Group Executive Director, Alhaji Deji Mustapha,...
- Nigerian Muslim Riots Kill At Least 100
- Published: November 22, 2002
- Type:
- Section: Culture
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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Comments on this articleComments
Every religion has its good points and its bad points - but Muslim fundamentalism is currently responsible for the deaths of millions in the Sudan, the enslavement of Christians there, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, Pakistan, Yemen... This fundamentalist strain of Islam is a threat to people around the world, and it's not something to ignore.
every religion (when used for political purposes) is going to be bad. When a person tries to push his or her own agenda under the cloak of a religion, it discolours the person and the religion.
There are Muslums who are are good and sincere who wouldn't harm a fly, just like the majority of Christians wouldn't either.
But, I think that if one of them (as with anyone) is going for a position of power, they have are going to exploit thier religious beliefs to push thier agendas... wether or not they align with the religion's beliefs.
peace.
I can understand some of the resentment that the Muslim world has towards the west but this had caused me to lose almost all sympathy for them. It is becoming more and more obvious that the Islamic Fundamentalists have lost ability to reason or communicate. They do not have the right, to tell others how to think or speak.
Let's not forget that so-called Christian slave traders bought thier raw materials from Islamic slave harvesters
ok, what is like up with these people. Wasn't Muhammad a man too, even though he was a special prophet sent by GOD? He has hormones. He could've gone for the Miss World, who knows and plus wasn't Muhammad for peace? Why are his people resembling violence instead of peace? Even if Muhammad was alive, he wouldn't have killed 100s of people because of some newspaper mistake (plus they said it was a mistake and they apologized) offending him. He would've spoke words of wisdom and chose a more mature way, unlike his followers who acted before they thought. Next time, they need to think before they act, like us Christians, we think: What Would Jesus Do; yall Muslims think this: What Would Muhammad Do?
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Christianity was just fine with slavery, the crusades, and several instances of genocide. That's also supposed to be a "religion of peace". They're all bad.