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Radiate_Truth

Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 1056
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:46 am Post subject: Bid to free teddy insult teacher |
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Bid to free teddy insult teacher
| Quote: | Gillian Gibbons asked her class to vote on a name for a teddy bear
Gordon Brown
British officials are trying to secure the release of a British schoolteacher arrested in Sudan for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad.
Gillian Gibbons, of Liverpool, may face blasphemy charges for insulting Islam's Prophet. A conviction could mean six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine.
The Sudan Embassy in London said the situation was a "storm in a teacup", based on a cultural misunderstanding.
British embassy officials have visited Ms Gibbons, 54, in Khartoum prison. |
Parental complaints
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he understood that Ms Gibbons, who is now facing her third day in custody, had not been charged with any offence.
Mr Brown said consulate officials were in contact with Ms Gibbons' family, and that he felt "very sorry" about what was happening to her.
He said officials would continue to try to "clarify the position so that she can be released".
The toy was named in September after children were asked to vote on a name for a teddy bear as part of the class's study of animals and their habitats.
| Quote: | We don't have any teddy bears over here, so in Sudan, for us, it is a fierce and dangerous animal
Dr Khalid al Mubarak, media counsellor, Sudan Embassy |
Several parents of children at the Unity High School, in Khartoum, made complaints to the authorities leading to Ms Gibbons' arrest on Sunday.
It is seen as an insult to Islam to attempt to make an image of the Prophet Muhammad.
But a seven-year-old pupil in Ms Gibbons' class at the Christian, fee-paying school has jumped to his teacher's defence.
BBC News Sudan correspondent, Amber Henshaw, said the boy had chosen the name because it was the same as his own, and he had no idea that it would cause offence.
He said that he liked Ms Gibbons and he hoped she would return to teach at the school.
Ms Gibbons has been suspended from her teaching post, and the school has closed until January.
Dr Khalid al Mubarak, a spokesman for the Sudan embassy in London, said that although he had not yet been able to speak to the investigating officer, procedure meant Ms Gibbons would have to be questioned and reports of the situation had been overblown.
He said Ms Gibbons' job as a teacher, as well as Britain's diplomatic ties with Sudan, would also be taken into consideration.
'Horrible misunderstanding'
Dr Mubarak said: "The way the British think of the teddy bear - as far as Christmas is concerned, and toys are concerned - we don't have any teddy bears over here, so in Sudan, for us, it is a fierce and dangerous animal.
"The cultural background is very different, that is a very important point.
"I expect that this will be treated as a minute complaint by a worried parent given the cultural background that bears do not have the same cuddly image.
"Basically, it's a storm in a teacup."
Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, also said it appeared to have been a "quite horrible misunderstanding" and Ms Gibbons should never have been arrested.
There was no apparent intention to offend Islamic sensibilities or defame the honour and name of the Prophet Muhammad, he said.
Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said Foreign Office officials were trying to calm things down.
Ms Gibbons, her constituent, was being held in reasonable conditions in custody but was upset by what had happened, she said.
And it was unclear how long it would be before Sudanese authorities decided whether to charge her, she added.
"I hope common sense does prevail and the situation can be seen as what it is - and not an intended insult but something that was misunderstood," said Ms Ellman.
Fair Trials International said it was hard to say what the teacher, her family and supporters could expect because information about the Sudanese legal system was scarce.
Are you in Sudan? Do you feel offended by what the teacher did? Should she be punished? Send us your views using the form below:
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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7114439.stm
Published: 2007/11/27 17:02:37 GMT
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Radiate_Truth

Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 1056
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:50 am Post subject: |
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| Is "ignorance of the law" an excuse to break the laws in a foreign country an individual is not totally familar with??? No way one can know or remember every law in every country or state unless that individual has been a resident for a very long period of time. |
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obmar Site Admin

Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:27 am Post subject: |
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If the Prophet of God is around today, he would not have done that.
He would have just smiled.
In fact, he treated all people with kindness under all circumstances and never showed any ill-will towards anyone or ill-treated anyone. Makhul reported Allah's Messenger as saying, "The believers are gentle and kind like a pliant camel which, when guided, lets itself be guided and when made to sit, even on stones, does so." Mu’aadh said, "The last injunction Allah's Messenger gave him when he put his foot in the stirrup was. "Treat people well, O Muadh." |
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Radiate_Truth

Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 1056
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:50 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you, Obmar...
I have learned to try and treat people like I would like to be treated. |
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obmar Site Admin

Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:54 am Post subject: |
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What a lot of People did not realise was the course of history and man changed drastically after the arrival of the last prophet.
The blessing that he came with him was for the whole humanity.
Not just Islam. |
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obmar Site Admin

Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:57 am Post subject: |
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He came to teach this...Teaching to be Conscious of God
Al-Baqara (The Cow)
2:197 .........abstain from lewd speech,
from all wicked conduct,
and from quarrelling;
and whatever good you may do,
God is aware of it.
And make provision for yourselves
- but, verily, the best of all provisions is God-consciousness:
remain, then, conscious of Me,
O you who are endowed with insight! |
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obmar Site Admin

Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:01 am Post subject: |
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He set systems for the society. The Key is not the Contract
but the Conscious of God.
When we are in continual conscious, we dont want to be unfair
we dont want to win just one sided
we want to be a holder of justice.
2:282 O YOU who have attained to faith!
Whenever you give or take credit [269] for a stated term,
set it down in writing.
And let a scribe write it down equitably between you; and no scribe shall refuse to write as God has taught him: [270] thus shall he write.
And let him who contracts the debt dictate; and let him be conscious of God, his Sustainer, and not weaken anything of his undertaking. [271]
And if he who contracts the debt is weak of mind or body, or, is not able to dictate himself, [272] then let him who watches over his interests dictate equitably. And call upon two of your men to act as witnesses; and if two men are not available, then a man and two women from among such as are acceptable to you as witnesses, so that if one of them should make a mistake, the other could remind her. [273]
And the witnesses must not refuse [to give evidence] whenever they are called upon. And be not loath to write down every contractual provision, [274] be it small or great, together with the time at which it falls due; this is more equitable in the sight of God, more reliable as evidence, and more likely to prevent you from having doubts [later].
If, however, [the transaction] concerns ready merchandise which you transfer directly unto one another, you will incur no sin if you do not write it down. And have witnesses whenever you trade with one another, but neither scribe nor witness must suffer harm; [275] for if you do [them harm], behold, it will be sinful conduct on your part.
And remain conscious of God, since it is God who teaches you [herewith] - and God has full knowledge of everything. |
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obmar Site Admin

Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:07 am Post subject: |
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He taught the necessity to purify
your progeny.
He is against immorality.
But even then he wants fairness
If you accuse
make sure you have witnesses
not one but four.
Guilty - House confinement for life.
An-Nisa (The Women)
4:15 AND AS FOR those of your women who become guilty of immoral conduct,
call upon four from among you who have witnessed their guilt; and if these bear witness thereto, confine the guilty women [12] to their houses until death takes them away or God opens for them a way [through repentance]. |
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obmar Site Admin

Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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He is one who taught to love the hereafter more that what is there now.
At-Tauba (The Repentance)
9:38 O YOU who have attained to faith! What is amiss with you that, when you are called upon, "Go forth to war in God's cause," you cling heavily to the earth? [59] Would you content yourselves with [the comforts of] this worldly life in preference to [the good of] the life to come? But the enjoyment of life in this world is but a paltry thing when compared with the life to come! |
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Radiate_Truth

Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 1056
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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| obmar wrote: | What a lot of People did not realise was the course of history and man changed drastically after the arrival of the last prophet.
The blessing that he came with him was for the whole humanity.
Not just Islam. |
Blinded by hate and intolerance, bigotry, prejudice, discrimination, etc. toward one another's skin color, race or religion, etc. there are those who can not see that we are all equal in the eyes of our Creator.
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