Head over to the BBC website for some eye-opening commentary from (mostly Muslim) readers on the British teacher who has been arrested in Sudan for allowing her class to name a Teddy Bear Muhammed.
Some are outraged by the Sudanese government’s actions. One Londoner writes:
This is unbelievable. I’m fed up of reading and hearing stupid incidents like these, which further enhance the incorrect portrayal of Islam. The teacher has quite clearly made an innocent mistake. Islam is about tolerance and forgiveness. The possible repercussions of this incident contradict this entirely. It provides more fuel for the anti-Muslim sentiment around the world.
But many are convinced the teacher deserves some punishment. A parent at the school is unsympathetic:
Lashes is a severe punishment and it is too harsh for what she did. But she has to be punished somehow. She should have learnt more about this society and taken more care about her actions. Me and other parents are not happy about the school closure. The children are going to miss so many classes and they were supposed to have exams next week. Now they have to stay at home and wait.
A Sudanese living in London believes the insult to the prophet was intended:
The teacher went to Sudan and she should have learnt the laws of that country. Here in England people think that what she did was an innocent mistake, but I don’t think that. She was very wrong to make fun of the Prophet Muhammad… The teacher should be punished because she has insulted Islam and Muslim people.
Two readers from Sudan, meanwhile, believe the authorities have not gone far enough. The children should be punished too!
The children themselves should be punished for having chosen the name of our great Prophet for a lowly bear. The teacher was misguided, whereas the children were malicious. They must be brought to answer for their blasphemy.
The children voted as well. They should lock them up too, as a lesson to anybody who insults Prophet Muhammad.
Update: Law professor and blogger, Ann Althouse also takes a hard line:
Of course, I’m opposed to whipping as a punishment, but it seems to me that if you go to a foreign country to teach people’s children, you have a responsibility to learn the deep beliefs of the culture you’ve entered and to adapt to it…
This case concerns a teacher who is trusted with the education of children. It is no answer that the children got the idea of naming the bear “Muhammad.” The teacher is obligated to guide them.
