LAGOS, November 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Dozens have been killed in northern Nigeria in riots that erupted over a Miss World beauty contest article that slandered Prophet Muhammad (Peace and prayers be upon him), as local leaders tried to calm anger.
The government has appealed for calm and has assured Muslims that those responsible for the ThisDay article would be brought to book, for exceeding the bounds of responsible journalism, BBC News Online reported.
ThisDay has retracted the offending article and has published apologies.
The chairman of the group that owns the Lagos-based paper suggested that a computer glitch could have been to blame for the fact that the story went to press in the first place.
....The protests began after an article appeared in a newspaper suggesting that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) would probably have chosen to marry one of the contestants if he had witnessed the beauty pageant, said BBC.
According to AFP, the newspaper suggested that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) would have approved of the Miss World beauty contest.
Muslim groups complain that the contest is immoral and degrading to women, and are also angry that preliminary events began during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, said BBC. And that makes it if not okay, then at least understandable is the clear implication here. No description of the murderous rioters as muderous rioters, just framing of the story in such leading terms as "slander," leaders trying to "calm anger" (justifed anger is the obvious implication), and the statement that "those responsible for the ThisDay article would be brought to book, for exceeding the bounds of responsible journalism." What about those responsible for the murder of at least 50 innocent passersby, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or to be of the "wrong" religion. It is as if the "sin" committed by the writer is the equivalent of those who committed mass murder - no I take that back, the sin of the writer would appear to be worse.
Even more telling: read these headlines of "Related Links":
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Article comments
1 - Oliver
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.
2 - mary
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.
3 - The Theory
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.
4 - Rob
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.
5 - whatever
Let's not forget that so-called Christian slave traders bought thier raw materials from Islamic slave harvesters
6 - grace
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?