A British teacher at a high school in Sudan, Gillian Gibbons, 54, was arrested on blasphemy charges for allowing her six- and seven-year-old students to name a class teddy bear "Mohammed," says the Telegraph. She was interrogated for five hours, according to the Daily Mail, and the teacher now may face forty lashes and six months in prison. Protests against Ms. Gibbons, a divorced mother of two, have broken out all over Sudan and the school has been closed through January to prevent retaliation. On one hand, you want to say Ms. Gibbons should have known to avoid the name, especially given the recent Danish cartoon debacle, which resulted in dozens of deaths. The Koran say, "[Allah is] the originator of the heavens and the earth... [there is] nothing like a likeness of Him." The ban is supposed to prevent idolatry.
But it's hard to make a case the class' teddy bear project, which involved students taking "Mohammed" the bear home and recording his "activities" in a diary, could be construed as deliberately insulting.
Hassan Aberdeen, a researcher at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, quoted in Sky News, says that the anger over this does indeed seem to be disproportionate, even given Sudan's strict Islamic Sharia law. He says, "It seems that the parents made an issue of the teacher calling an animal Mohammed. Calling him a dog or a pig is insulting, but this is just a teddy bear."
And who would think the teddy bear (whose name was voted on by the class; Assan and Abdullah lost to Mohammed) was actually intended as a representation of the prophet? And who would imagine he would turn the students into teddy bear cultists?
It just seems like a logical fallacy to say that calling a teddy bear Mohammed is the same as calling Mohammed a teddy bear. After all, Muslim children are routinely named Mohammed; no one thinks they're being cast as reincarnations of the prophet.
In the case of the Danish cartoons, the image was actually supposed to represent the true Mohammed. Suddenly, by comparison to this, the rage over those little sketches seems imminently reasonable.
(Photo of Gibbons is from her Friends Reunited account via Reuters)
Reader Comments ( Page 7 of 43)
91. bellwells, way way off.
Richard at 1:42PM on Nov 27th 2007
92. Are those people really that crazy over there. This is just sick with all that is wrong in the world today to go and get your panties in a knot over a name for a teddy bear, just stupid .
just me at 1:43PM on Nov 27th 2007
93. Susan,
Do not worry about weirdo (closet Muslims) like Charles. Jews are funny, that is why we were all hooked onto Seinfeld for years, Silverman, Sandler, Andrew Dice Clay, Mason, Robbin Williams, Allen and dozens of others....
They are not offensive, Charles, 9/11 is offensive.
Semper Fi
Mike Lawyer at 8:44PM on Nov 27th 2007
94. I forgot to say grossly ungrateful...That too is how I see her.
Charles at 1:43PM on Nov 27th 2007
95. hey...lay of sarah...did you see her in maxim? hot bod for sure
Richard at 1:45PM on Nov 27th 2007
96. Russ, banning religion would be like banning retardation.
Richard at 1:45PM on Nov 27th 2007
97. Kim,
If you actually have researched Islam like you say, then you might know that a person who practices Islam is muslim, not "islamic". Just wanted to point that out.
Olivia
Olivia at 1:46PM on Nov 27th 2007
98. I agree with Paula. I pray in the Name of Jesus Christ that she is set free, all charges will be dropped, and no lashes will be given, and that all those who do not know Jesus Christ come to know him, live for him, and have the close relationship with God that everyone should AMEN. Jesus died so that all our sins will be forgiven. May God Bless You Gillian Gibbons!
dreajr512 at 1:53PM on Nov 27th 2007
99. COMING SOON TO A NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR YOU. ALL PEOPLE BETTER GET A CLUE OR WE WILL ALL BE LIVING BY THEIR RULES THE WORLD OVER. STAND UP FOR FREEDOM!!
MJM at 1:47PM on Nov 27th 2007
100. HOW SAD.. TO face forty lashes and six months in prison. For calling a TEDDY BEAR a dumb jack off name.
What an insult to the TEDDY BEAR...
john at 3:07PM on Nov 27th 2007
101. muhammad was a murdering pedophile,islam is sick with hatred,idiots
johnny at 1:49PM on Nov 27th 2007
102. Richard, I agree with you that all religion is poison. It is man made, self serving folkloric bullshit. It is the crutch of the ignorant. I still respect people's beliefs and never will be the one to insult their religion but I wont be shy about pointing out their use of it and their hatred of others. It seems the more religious, the more self inflated people are.
Charles at 1:48PM on Nov 27th 2007
103. Sarah Silverman can insult whoever she wants cause she's hot, This is America!
Mokele Mbembe at 1:58PM on Nov 27th 2007
104. A name is a name is a name. Islam is the religion of God...yes of GOD not of Mohammed. I think people need to grow up and stop freaking out for every such like incident that might occur. The Sudanese government clearly seems to be in need of people that can actually think because as many people have already noted it was never said that the teddy bear is a representation of Mohammed.
AtysIAm at 1:50PM on Nov 27th 2007
105. stories such as the above where, "in the name of God".... someone has to endure misery or death, only support the generalize bias view against ISLAM and all tennants of that religion. In fact, it makes one wonder if ISLAM is really a religion, at all.
dhardy0715 at 1:55PM on Nov 27th 2007