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Cartoons, Images, Muslims

Prophet Muhammad overlooking justice in Washington DC Supreme Court since 1930s

By Judi McLeod
Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Did a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court rejection of a petition from domestic Muslims to remove a then 66-year-old depiction of the Prophet Muhammad from its Washington, DC courtroom pave the way for Muslim violent protest over the Jyllands-Posten cartoons?

Riots broke out half way around the world in 1997 when Chief Justice William Rehnquist refused to remove the portion of a marble frieze representing the Prophet Muhammad.

The Muslim group had lobbied to have the image of Muhammad, who is shown with a sword in his hand and is standing between images of Charlemagne and the Emperor Justinian, sandblasted away. The group offered to pay for the project and to replace it with marble inscription bearing quotations from the Koran. (Positive atheism.org).

Chief Justice Rehnquist turned the Muslim group request down, ruling that altering the historic frieze would damage the artistry of the work.

Stone-throwing Muslim activists battled police in Srinagar, India in riots that erupted not long after the Rehnquist ruling.

after Rehnquist handed down his written decision not to remove Muhammad from the frieze, a member of the Council on american-Islamic Relations (CaIR) told Reuter news service that "The image remains, so our concerns remain. It is a matter of principle for us."

He said that the coalition was consulting with other groups, and added "We are in it for the long haul."

The long haul may have stretched into nine years later.

The relief was part of a series of images created for the court by the 1930s WPa artists, depicting the great law-givers of history.

In the aftermath of the Jyllands-Posten Mohammad cartoon publication, Muslims worldwide are expressing their outrage. People have been killed in the protests. all of the Jyllands-Posten cartoonists, fearing for their lives, have gone into hiding. Threats of death are commonplace on protester placards. Some media outlets, such as CNN have made an editorial decision not to show the cartoons.

Muslim protests, which are escalating rather than abating, gained strength this week as the cartoons were republished in six other European countries and Jordan.

Cartoons published in newspapers soon yellow and wither, but marble sculptures stand the test of time.

Odd that cartoons published in an obscure Danish weekly would ignite protests claiming human life a world away when a Mohammad sculpture at the Supreme Court of america has been there since the 1930s.

Is the violent outrage over the Jyllands-Posten cartoons "spontaneous"?

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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