Muhammed Teddy Bear

[asterroc]

In Sudan in an Anglican school, a teacher allowed her kindergarten class to name a teddy bear Muhammed. This, apparently, is an insult to Muhammed and perhaps against the whole graven image thing. "The BBC has learned the charge could lead to six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine. ... The school's director, Robert Boulos, ... told the BBC he was confident she would not face a jail sentence." The teacher is a British citizen.

(linked by framefolly)

ETA: She's been sentenced to 15 days prison and then deportation. So long's she survives it, I think that's better than lashes.

Comments

[spazzy444.livejournal.com]

Good to know our country isn't the only psychotic one.

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

So you can name your kid Muhammed, or you can name your donkey Muhammed, but not a stuffed animal. Got it. Religion makes SOOO much sense.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

I really hope people aren't naming their donkeys after the Prophet.

(Do l think the teacher should face any penalty? Heck no. Was she not thinking at ALL when she named the bear that? Heck yes.)

[l0stmyrel1g10n.livejournal.com]

i got the impression that the trouble with the bear was that they drew a picture of it and captioned it "My Name is Muhammed", rather than just giving it that name, so it's like the graven image thing. i think. because, like glabinus_caeli says, if you can name a person Muhammed, you should be able to name a pet or a teddybear Muhammed...unless i'm misunderstanding things, and if i am i mean no offense.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

To me, naming a child after the Prophet is a sign of respect. Naming an animal or a plaything after the Prophet is an act of disrespect. So I can understand why people are irked. But as I said above, they're getting irked to a patently ridiculous level. Just rename the bear and let the teacher freakin' continue to teach the class.

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

Especially at a school. This sounds like an excellent teaching opportunity, not a call for punishment of the teacher.

"Kids, you know how we named the teddy bear Muhammed last week? Well I have found out that Muslims, like many of your neighbors, say that it hurts their feelings to name things (but not people) after the most important person in their religion. Now we would not want to hurt their feelings, would we? No, of course not. So what should his new name be? .... No, not Jesus. .... No, not Moses. .... No, not Joseph Smith. .... No, not Budda. .... No, not Ahura Mazda. ................"

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem may be that it was a Christian school. The rabid Muslims may see it as an attack on their religion by another religion.

[q10.livejournal.com]

it seriously wouldn't have occurred to me that it was a problem. the name was presumably a name you could just give to ordinary people before it was the name of a prophet, and it's a popular personal name in many parts of the world today. why would i expect it to be any different from ‘Moshe’ or ‘Jesus’ (at least when the latter pronounced like its Spanish)

[spazzy444.livejournal.com]

Holy crap! People are psycho! They want to execute her now!

British Gov't better step up for this.

[dirkcjelli.livejournal.com]

they totally don't worship their prophet... except for when they do.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

And Christians totally always turn the other cheek.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

FWIW, dirkcjelli is an evangelical atheist.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

I wasn't attempting to state anything about dirkcjelli's religion (or lack thereof), since I've got no idea who he is beyond knowing the username source. The point of my post was just to state that there are always going to be people who violate fundamental, basic points of religion while claiming that they're still extremely religious.

[calieber.livejournal.com]

I suspect that they basically started looking for something to deport her for as soon as she stepped off the plane. If it hadn't been this, it would have been something else—I doubt the Sudanese lash every family with a Muhammed in that takes vacation photos