British school teacher Gillian Gibbons, Khartoum, Sudan, was pardoned by the president, Omar al-Bashir, after she was arrested for allowing her students to name the classroom Teddy bear "Muhammad." The Unity High School teacher was reported by the school secretary, who felt that this was an insult to the Islamic prophet.
It seems pretty outrageous that something such as a Teddy bear would cause such an uproar. It also reflects badly on the Sudanese government that they'd allow for such a faction to have influence. There didn't seem to be any malice intent in Gibbons' naming of the bear, so it's fortunate that the British government and the Sudanese president steeped in to help her.
This situation also shows the excessive amount of power the radical Islamic regimes in Sudan have.
Should such a radical group have so much power? Was the arrest at all justified?
Link:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1690280,00.html
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6 comments:
This seems ridiculous. I don't know much about their religion so I might be a bit off, but wouldn't it be like naming a bear "Moses" or something? In such a religious area, maybe it would be a bit off key, but an arrest seems over the top. Maybe force her to change the name, but anything past that seems absurd. Besides, didn't the class choose the name? The teacher just let them get what they wanted, right?
I don't think the arrest was justified at all. I was pretty sure that, and this NPR article also stated that, the name "Muhammad" is pretty common, especially in regions where people practice the religion of Islam.
The article also stated that "Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet." And as stated in the post, the teacher allowed the class to name the teddy bear, so I don't think she intentionally meant to offend the prophet. And maybe the teacher was not aware that this incident would be as important as the radical group makes it seem; as Keith stated above, people from different religion and all over the world name their children after important figures.
The article also reads, "The case also sparked criticism from many Muslims in the West who said Gibbons should have never been arrested. On Monday, Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed the pardon."
This to me is ridiculous. For one Muhammad is one of the most popular name for people in the world. i dont believe that naming a teddy bear would be in any way offend their religion. Also the kids picked the name out not her. I do know though that the extremist take quite offense to when ever the phrophet Muhammad in any way is made fun, such as with the Netherland cartoon making fun of him and the religion.
People can be just so...stupid. I mean come on! Honestly! How many times does religion need to affect our lives in this ridiculous way! She probably didnt even mean any harm! So people were offended, they're probably a minority anyway, if anyone actually finds the teddy bear's name insulting at all.
This just shows how nonsecular governments are not effective governments. Nonsecular governments have to worry about small things like this because religion is an important factor in the government's agenda, which draws attention away from important issues, like the economy and civil liberties. Since religion seems to be on top of the agenda, advances that could possibly make the standard of living better are delayed, which makes a nonsecular government a bad one.
Such radical groups should not have so much power, nor was the arrest justified. It was good that she was actually helped and pardoned, since this stuff is getting way too out of hand. For a while, I actually thought that they might actually punish her. People just act so ridiculous, I'm starting to expect it. That's how things are now, huh?
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