There was no intent to insult; only to teach

Submitted by HJS (United States), Dec 3, 2007 at 12:24

Some people think it was an honest mistake to respect the vote of the kiddies and name the teddy bear as she did, but those people do not understand either. It is not a mistake. It is not a mistake to teach kids about democracy and about voting. It is not a mistake to name a teddy bear anything that kids decide by voting, of course we would not expect kids to call any person, animal, or thing by abusive names. In the scheme of things in this world, it is only important to the kids what the name of a teddy bear should be. It should be of no importance to anyone else.

It has been said that a person is only as big as what it takes to make him--or her--mad. It would seem that some Sudanese would have us believe some mighty small people indeed may live there.

Point one: Many parents name their kids "Muhammad". If the kids turn out to be robbers or killers, or pedophiles, must they change their names? Are the parents culpable? A good case could be made that if criminals with that name must not change the name, and if parents are not culpable for naming a potential villain such, then it certainly would weaken any case against the teacher.

Point two: The teddy bear was not named after the Messenger (pbuh). The teddy bear was named after another student in the class. The other student, in turn, could have been named after a grandfather or uncle, who knows or cares?

Point three: Muhammad (pbuh) himself would consider it enjoyable that kiddies named their beloved toy after him. He would be honored and elated. He would laugh.

Point four: Any rational person could read, re-read, and again read Qur'an 33:57 and not find anything in that verse that covers this situation in Sudan. Where is the intent? One cannot imagine anything in that verse that covers this situation. To completely understand the verse, one must read almost the entire sura, but we won't get into that. Suffice to say that the best way to look at 33:57 is to read all of the invectives that Senator Kennedy threw at President Bush about the Iraq War. I could see the intent to insult clearly in that example.

If any American is surprised or shocked about about this situation, it shows that more information from the administration and media should be made available to the public to know what Islam is all about and how it affects us as a nation.

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