Japanese cartoon offends Muslims
The above-pictured scene from a Japanese cartoon has led to outrage in Egypt because it apparently depicts Muslims as terrorists:
The scene from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, adapted from a comic strip published from 1987 to 2003, generated angry responses on more than 300 Arab and Islamic Internet forums, with many accusing Japan of insulting the Koran, Kyodo said.
The scene depicts Muslims as terrorists, Kyodo cited Sheikh Abdul Hamid Attrash, chairman of the Fatwa Committee at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, as saying. An unidentified official at Shueisha Inc., a Japanese publisher involved in the cartoon’s movie version, told Kyodo the Koran’s use was “a simple mistake” stemming from employees’ inability to read Arabic.
Cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban [scroll down to view it] were published in 2005 in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, prompting protests in Muslim communities worldwide and consumer boycotts of Danish products.
According to descriptions in the Japanese media, the offending scene is one in which a bad guy who had fled to Egypt reads a book written in Arabic and then calls for someone to be killed.
Over at Shueisha’s homepage there is a special link in English that takes visitors to this apology letter:
Like any corporation that would want to continue doing business in the Middle East, Shueisha apologized and suspended sales of the anime. But was an apology really necessary? What exactly is so insulting and offensive about the idea of a bad guy in the Middle East using the Koran to justify a killing?
Those filled with rage about the offensiveness of such a scene might want to focus more of their attention on what’s going on in the real world, because it’s not exactly rare to see groups using the Koran to call for violence, war, and killing. If, by some chance, the author of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure had actually intended for the book in question to be the Koran, he may have gotten the idea from some of the many individuals who have made international news in recent years by using the Koran to justify terrible acts of violence. It’s those individuals, not the creators of this manga/anime, who are making people around the world associate Islam with terrorism.
This news story will probably make manga/anime creators think twice before they dare make mention of anything related to Islam, especially those working with Shueisha. It’s even possible that things will become more like Europe and the United States, where many cartoonists have been scared into avoiding such topics.
It is unlikely that this will escalate into the mess that occurred back in 2005 cartoons. Shueisha seems to have reacted quickly with “heartfelt” apologies and a halt of sales, so there’s a pretty good chance that the situation won’t lead to riots and deaths. But when the irrationality of religious extremism is in play, it’s pretty hard to predict how people will react….
