Deadly Assignment

Cartoons of Doom

To many devout Muslims, the idea of any physical depiction of their Prophet is abhorrent. The idea that a newspaper would commission a dozen renderings by editorial cartoonists unthinkable blasphemy.

Yet on September 30, 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did just that, announcing that publication was a contribution to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.

Criticism of Islam didn't prove to be something Europe's Muslim minorities were willing to accept, laugh off, forgive or forget. And it was less popular among majority Muslim countries who erupted in riots which burned the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, plus desecration of the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and German flags in Gaza City and were supressed at a cost of many lives... Which leads back to the cartoon at the center top:

Whatever one thought of a man wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse, Muslims didn't help themselves any by exploding ino violence, witnessed by the western world which generalizes the extremes of what's portrayed on the daily news into stereotypes.

Those who accepted the Jyllands-Posten assignment to draw a picture of the prophet "as you see him" are still feeling the effects. Kurt Westergaard, who drew the turban bomb, is now in hiding after being attacked by an axe-wielding man on New Year's Day 2010.

Audio: NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, January 10. Host: Liane Hansen.