Morocco bans French magazine L'Express International for 'insulting' Islam

[Fade]

Morocco bans French magazine L'Express International for 'insulting' Islam
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RABAT, Morocco - Morocco has banned the most recent issue of the French magazine L'Express International for insulting Islam.

Information Minister Khalid Naciri says he had no choice because Article 29 of the Moroccan Press Code forbids publications damaging to Islam or the monarchy.

The cover story of this week's L'Express is titled "The Jesus-Muhammad Shock" and discusses the relationship between Christianity and Islam.

The magazine's Internet site says it doesn't understand Morocco's reaction.
Morocco didn't specify what the insult was.

Source....
(http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/11/02/7282011-ap.html)

[snikt]

L'Express show a picture of Muhammad, and I think it's forbidden in Islam.

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/file/593349.jpg

[Chimera]

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/7813/momej9.th.jpg

TLooks much better like that.

[m.i.t]

L'Express show a picture of Muhammad, and I think it's forbidden in Islam.



true...Actually Mohammed never let to make of his pic , sculpture , icon or image his entire life... No pic or image belong him indeed ....

So purpose was to end some paganic rituels like worshipping to sculpted or pictured gods and worshipping belongings to Mohammed...

[Military-G]

Oh no, cue new riots in france ... "You printed a picture of my god" .. overeaction accross the middle east .. and a ban on Croissants. :bash:

[Heinemann]

true...Actually Mohammed never let to make of his pic , sculpture , icon or image his entire life... No pic or image belong him indeed ....


Yes, no Muslim was allowed to make a picture of him but non Muslims are not prohibited as the hadith narrarated. This is just another attempt by Muslims to impose their rules on us.

[Mordoror]

Hum not exactly true

first of all it depends of which branch of islam we are speaking (for example Shia represents their "saints" and prophets without any problem)

and it depends also on what islamic period you consider
when you look at the picture on the newspaper you can see that it is obviously a drawing from early islamic period (thus that was NOT drawn by a western painter)
very few still exist because a lot of them were destroyed but still drawing of Muhammad was not always forbidden (what was forbidden was the use of the picture for idolatry)

it's a shame that all those muslim countries forget that they had a very rich cultural history in the past

[muck]

Haha, that's what I've said in the other thread recently and where laughed at for: Of course the religion of Islam per se is not hostile to human rights, but it's hostile towards human rights used to criticize Islam.

[Nansouty]

Don't let us get jump started here. Nothing in the article says the ban was due to the picture on the cover, but rather to tyhe contents of the article :



Information Minister Khalid Naciri says he had no choice but to ban the current issue because of the offensive nature of the articles it contained....
...A statement on L'Express' Internet site said the magazine did not understand Morocco's reaction, particularly because pains had been taken to adhere to Islamic norms.
That included covering the face of Muhammad with a white veil in side-by-side cover portraits of Jesus and Islam's prophet, in line with Islamic law.
The French edition leaves the face uncovered.


A more likely would be there :


One article comparing Jesus and Muhammad quotes verses from the Quran that it says show that the Muslim holy book "justifies violence toward those who refuse to obey Muslim law."


Morocco is by no means a fundamentalist state... I guess most French who've been there will agree. 20 years ago, I visited it, and I was surprised by the freedom of Moroccan ways. *** and alcohol were just as readily available as in France, the only concessions to islamic code being you had to avoid holding hands in the street...

But you strictly had to refrain to speak badly of the king, who, let's be frank, was seen by nearly everyone there as a corrupt, but competent and bearable dictator (a mere joke in the wrong place could land you in a lot of trouble ). It's also not the first time French media get a ban in Morocco, le Canard Enchaîné is customary of the fact, though the most famous occurence as Pierre Péan's Notre Ami le Roi, a firebomb against the Monarchy's corrupt ways and ties with the former colonal power. That's however the 1st time a ban is issued for such a seemingly trifling reason ( I haven't read l'Express yet, but they are know as a moderate, center right weekly, not some racist far right outlet ), so it may speak volumes about the political gains of the salafists in the Alaouite monarchy's land...