"Insult to Islam" of the day

From Lebanese news source Menassat:

The Moroccan Ministry of Communication banned the entry of the international-edition of the French daily L’Express to Morocco on October 31 because of a report that was published in its October 30 issue.

One of the articles was titled "Jesus, the rebel message," and another “Mohammad, prophet and warrior”, to establish the differences between Islam and Christianity.

Managing editor Christian Makarian said he didn't understand this reaction because the articles deal about the conflicting relation Islam can have with other religions, but never contained any defaming or offensive sentences.

The Moroccan Ministry of Communication simply banned the publishing of this newspaper, declaring that the report is “an insult to Islam”, based on article 29 of the Moroccan Press Code, which permits the ban of newspapers “when they insult Islam, the royal regime, the territorial integrity, the respect to the King and the public order.”

Magazine staff are surprised and don’t seem to understand why they are being blamed.

Preemptive measures were taken: in order to respect the Moroccan sensibilities, the face of Mohammad was veiled, in conformity with Islam to not show the face of the Prophet.

No precise article was mentioned, which means the whole report is suspected.

However, the report doesn’t bring any new information. The articles were inspired by Christian Makarian’s book, The confrontation: Jesus-Mohammad, with the sub-title, Jesus and Mohammad don’t speak of the same God.

According to the site algerie-dz, the part entitled, Mohammad, prophet or warrior, was the reason behind the ban, which would be a paradox, knowing that the Sira as well as the Quran described the warrior activities of Mohammad, even mentioning how he distributed his loot.

The document, going back to the Quran, also reminds that the Holy book mentioned that the “previous ones”, the Thora as well as the Gospels, were falsified, and that the Christians will add Mary to the Trinity.

Hence, the comparison between the Bible and the Quran, is difficult, with the ill-established bases.

“In respect to the religious sensitivity of our Moroccan readers,” adds Makarian, we took care to conceive a cover specially dedicated to the international edition, with the face of Mohammad being veiled, in conformity to Islams customs.

The image used is issued from an Ottoman manuscript of the XVI century and was not modified. Despite this special attention that shows our respect to the Moroccan public and Islam, we were banned. I don’t understand.”

Of course he doesn't understand. He thinks that there is a logic behind what Muslims will consider insulting.