Minneapolis rally protests cartoons, violence
Twin Cities Muslims gathered in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, an area that's home to a large Somali population. Local religious leaders -- imams -- gave speeches, mostly in Somali but some in Arabic and English. They praised the prophet Mohammed and his teachings about peace. And a large portion of the rally consisted of prayers and recitations of the Quran, the Muslim holy book.
University of Minnesota student Ammina Kahn says she attended the rally because she wanted a chance to express her feelings about the cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed.
"I felt it's really good to present what you think about the prophet in a peaceful way," Kahn said. "And I just wanted to make sure they know it's wrong; the people responsible should know it's wrong. But I don't think you have to be violent to show you care."
Kahn says she was appalled by the publication of the cartoons. She says she doesn't condone the violent reactions to them, but she understands why they have fueled passions.
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"When I first heard it in the news, I was ... really upset," Kahn explains. "I think it's because the prophet is so loved in our community, and the Islamic community, and all over the world. It's really degrading for people to portray that in a negative light."
Kahn doesn't think media outlets should continue to publish the cartoons because they can be located online easily enough. Some news organizations that have reprinted the cartoons say they did so in order to assert their right to free speech. Other media outlets say they think the public should see what the stir is all about.
But one of the organizers of the rally in Minneapolis, Hassan Mohamud, an Imam of a St. Paul mosque, says he doesn't think such cartoons ever serve a useful purpose. He says no religion's prophets should be depicted in a lighthearted or mocking manner, and he hopes international laws will be put into place to forbid such depictions.
"I expect we will have an international provision that protects and respects all religions and their prophets. Because in Islam, we believe all prophets are our prophets," Mohamud says.
In the meantime, Mohamud says he wants to show that protests over the cartoons of Mohammed don't have to be violent.
Khadar Ali from Minneapolis agrees. He says Muslims in the U.S. have a chance to counter the image of violent opposition to the cartoons by instructing people about Islam's peaceful principles, which, he says Mohammed championed.
"In the United States, we come peaceful; we don't try to make violence, but to show the world that Muslims are not that way. And that Mohammed the prophet is a man who is a messenger of God," he says.
Ali then joined others at the rally in taking that message to the streets, as they marched with signs around the neighborhood, praising Mohammed's name.
