From MSN's Year in Quotes article: “A teddy bear in your culture is different from a teddy bear in our culture. In our culture a teddy bear is a wild and dangerous animal. It's not something to be cuddled by children before they sleep. This is important to remember.” The Sudanese ambassador to London, after British teacher Gillian Gibbons was arrested in Sudan for insulting Islam by allowing her class of seven-year-olds to name a teddy bear Mohammed. The Sudan must be a strange place to live.
Fear the mighty teddy bear, for its fluffy claws and thread teeth will tear you apart! Run as you hear its silent roar! You know, I think that fearing a regime that does things reminscent of its brutal theocratic past (not that the present is much of an improvement) is a better idea. Much better.
This isn't the only case I've heard of where an Islamic govenment has twisted cultural beliefs to suit their agenda. The ban on the Bible in Saudi Arabia and other countries comes to mind. The whole idea that a name is sacred reeks of the same kind of idolatry that that religion purports to be against.
Observant Jews aren't allowed to use the word "God" in everyday writing and conversation. I was taught that it was properly written out as "G-d". And in spoken language, you use substitute words like "Hashem" (translation = "the name"). It comes from the third commandment, to not take God's name in vain, the idea being that saying the word God in everyday conversation trivialises the importance of what the word represents. Observant Jews are also not allowed to take oaths in the name of God, for the same reason. I assume that the Muslim rule has a similar justification.
Marcia, you kind of made Tamyra's point here. Hashem is used as a mark of respect to the Almighty, whereas here we we had an extreme reaction when a name that is given to people (and is named after a person, no matter how perfect he was to the people who follow his teachings), was given to a teddy bear by children. Now, had Jews glorified the name Moses, then it would have been an apt comparison.
Arrested for insulting Islam? How irresponsible! She sets a fierce Teddy bear, a 'wild and dangerous' animal on a classroom full of kids, and the only complaint is that she let them call it Mohammed? I do not believe these people. I wonder what would happen if I decided to call a teddy bear Jesus? Probably not much (apart from being eaten by it that is ).
Well I still think it's a conspiracy cooked up to cause arguments and discussions like these, only with more influential people and the masses* as a whole. *as in the populace, not the Catholic ceremony.
*shrug* Sudan used to be a very brutal theocracy until quite recently, the kind that declared Holy War against its Christian populace and forcibly converted them. Every now and then, a bone is still thrown to the old cleric elites (who were the ones leading the mob screaming to execute Gillian Gibbons). The mob is placated, and the infidel British school was even closed until further notice. The former government (which gave Bin Laden a base in Sudan back in its day) would have executed the poor woman, most likely.
Roman, I was responding to this statement. The problem is not the idea of the name being sacred, it's the punishment applied and the lack of understanding of mitigating circumstances. The situation could have gone like this: Concerned Parent: Excuse me, Ma'am. My son has told me that the class has a teddy bear called Muhammad. Did you know that calling a teddy bear Muhammed goes against Islam? Teacher: No I didn't. I'm sorry if I offended you. I'll speak to the children tomorrow and ask them change the teddy's name to something else. Concerned Parent: That's all right. You didn't know any better. Teacher: Thanks. Feel free to call me whenever you want to talk about your son. It doesn't matter if the "sacred" name is the name of God, Moses, Muhammed or Mr. Ed. If someone's religious beliefs say that using it in a certain way is offensive, then that's what their beliefs say. You can't argue about whether someone's religious beliefs are right are wrong, or whether or not they make sense, because religion, by definition, is something that comes from faith, not from reason. The issue is how you deal with people whose religious beliefs are different from your own. I agree with Maljonic; by getting into a discussion about whether or not naming a teddy bear Muhammad violates Islam or not, and how some people interpret Islam, you are just falling into a trap.
This isn't the only case I've heard of where any government has twisted cultural beliefs to suit their agenda. Governments have been doing that since time immemorial: a legal term which, technically, means 'before the Magna Carta' - before which Richard the Lionheart and other Christian leaders were happily twisting cultural beliefs to suit their political agenda in waging war against Islam. I don't think Islam is worse than any other religion or idealism. But I do think it's funny when someone suggests a teddy bear is a wild animal. I'll never look at Panda and Big Ted the same way again.
Personally, I blame it on the Internet. That is, if they had internet in Sudan, they would focus on more important things, like the YouTube video of the emo kid shouting "Leave Britney Alone" instead of what a bunch of seven-year-olds decide to name a freakin'teddy bear. Ang correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Sudan too hot for bears?
I reckon that it is just government administrators being government administrators. Useless trivial time consuming political correctness to please the few with loud voices.
