Whoever touches the Prophet dies: the geography or terror is spreading across the whole globe. The list of occasions when Islam has lost its temper over the West’s “disrespect” towards the prophet Muhammad is long and tragic.
From the storm caused by the “sacrilegious” cartoons which were printed in a Danish newspaper to the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, from the globe’s reactions to the Pope’s speech in Regensburg, to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, from the murder of Dutch populist leader, Pim Fortuyn, to the killing of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh.
Just as the meaning of Benedict XVI’s speech during his visit to Germany was distorted, the same thing is happening now with the rumours going round about the Coptic Church being responsible for the offensive film on the prophet Muhammad’s life, which according to Egyptian Salafis, was produced by expatriate members of Egypt's Coptic community resident in the U.S. and deemed offensive to Islam.
However, Vatican Insider has learnt that it is fundamentalist Muslims who are putting the responsibility on the backs of the local Christian minority.
The film director is an Israeli-American living in California, who got together the five million dollars raised from the contributions of about a hundred Jewish donors, mostly from the U.S.
The director apparently distributed the film with the help of a radical Christian association and one Christian Copt, who shares the association’s aversion to Islam.
The Coptic Church has nothing to do with the film which is inflaming the Muslim world, to the extent that Christian religious leaders have been forced to speak out against the film, condemning certain provocative aspects of the film which reference to religious symbols.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood has organised a demonstration for Friday, in Cairo, which risks fomenting an anti-Christian hate campaign.
The list of previous actions that have provoked the wrath of Muslims is long.
Since the publication, in September 2005, of some caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and then in Norwegian newspaper Magazinet, the cases of protests and violence against Westernern subjects have multiplied. Year after year.
2006: On 3 February, the Danish embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia came under attack, on 4 February, in Damascus, demonstrators set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies.
On 5 February, in Lebanon, the Danish embassy in Beirut was set on fire.
On 15 February, clashes took place in Lahore and Peshawar, when a Norwegian company, an American fast food restaurant and some banks were vandalised.
On 17 February, the Italian consulate in Benghazi (Libya) was attacked, just days after Roberto Calderoli, a leading member of Italy’s Lega Nord (Northern League) party wore a t-shirt with a controversial cartoon satirising the prophet Muhammad. 11 demonstrators died in the clashes.
2010: On 7 September, U.S. pastor, Terry Jones, threatened to burn a copy of the Koran in public, to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers, on September 11. Islamic fundamentalist groups across the world responded, saying they would burn U.S. flags.
On 11 September in the U.S., Terry Jones swore that his church would “not today, not ever” burn a Koran.
2011, in the U.S.: On 21 March, a copy of the Koran was burnt in a small church in Gainesville, Florida, in the presence of pastor Jones.
On 9 October, in Tunisia, the offices of private television company, Nessma, in Tunis were vandalised, following the release of Franco-Iranian animated cartoon “Persepolis”.
What provoked extremists, was one scene in the film in particular, where the little girl who is the main character, imagines God as a bearded man: Islam forbids any visual representations of Allah.
On 14 October, the President of Nessma TV’s house was attacked with Molotov bombs.
On 3 May, in Tunisia, Nabib Karoui, the director of Nessma TV, was forced to pay a fine of 2,400 dinars (1,300 Euros approx.) for violating “sacred values” by releasing “Persepolis”.
2012: In early February, in Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers from Bagram Airbase destroyed a significant number of Islamic documents, including some copies of the Koran. Protests and violent clashes followed in the country.
Still in Afghanistan, on 24 February, American President Barack Obama apologised to the Afghan head of State, Hamid Karzai for the burning of copies of the Koran at the U.S. airbase in Bagram.
On 25 February, in Afghanistan, there was an attack against the Afghan Minister of the Interior, in Kabul. Then, two U.S. counsellors die. The reason for the revenge was apparently the “lack of respect shown by the invading forces, towards Islamic sacred objects, particularly in the case of the burning of the Koran at Bagram Airbase.”
On 2 March, in Afghanistan, the Ulema Council asked for those responsible for the offence against the Koran, to undergo a public trial.
On 9 March, the Afghan army takes control of Bagram Airbase.
On 11 September in Egypt, thousands of Egyptians demonstrate in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, in protest against a film which was deemed to be “anti-Islamic”.
The U.S. flag was ripped away and substituted with a black piece of cloth.
Last night, the U.S. ambassador and three members of the U.S. diplomatic delegation in Libya, were killed in an attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, in protest against "Innocence of Muslim", a film produced by Sam Bacile, an Israeli-American.
Returning from his first trip to Egypt, the Vatican minister for Interreligious dialogue, Cardinal Tauran, gave an interview to Vatican Radio, in which a serious prophetic message: “Faith pushes us to love our neighbour. And Muslims have focused a great deal on the fact that the Koran states there should be no pressure in terms of religion. So I would like to take this opportunity to say that this is a wonderful principle but that unfortunately, some countries do not apply this principle and there are situations in which Christians do not even have a church to practice their faith in.”