A French satirical magazine that faced Muslim backlash in September after publishing drawings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), has again published a 64-page “special issue” with cartoons on the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
The editor of Charlie Hebdo weekly insisted that the publication was a properly researched and educational work prepared by a Franco-Tunisian sociologist. Stephane Charbonnier, the illustrator of the book, said he did not think higher Muslim minds could find anything inappropriate. He also told a foreign news agency last week that it was “a biography authorised by Islam since it was edited by Muslims”. Early this week, a senior political adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the work as a deliberate provocation. “To transform the life of the prophet of Islam (PBUH) into a cartoon is in itself a mistake,” Ibrahim Kalin wrote on his Twitter account. “Whatever the people at Charlie Hebdo say, this is a provocation.” A French government spokeswoman, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said there “is no necessity to pour oil on fire”. The magazine has on several occasions published cartoon versions of Islam’s prophet (PBUH) in what it claims to be an effort to defend free speech, to the fury of many Muslims who believe depicting the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is sacrilegious. In September, the weekly published blasphemous cartoons as violent protests were taking place in several countries over a low-budget film made in the US on the Holy Prophet (PBUH).