Ahmad Akkari, a Danish Muslim leader who traveled through the Middle East inciting outrage at the Prophet Mohammad caricatures published in the Jyllands-Posten, now says that was “wrong”.
Money quote from The Guardian:
“I want to be clear today about the trip: It was totally wrong,” Akkari said this week. “At that time, I was so fascinated with this logical force in the Islamic mindset that I could not see the greater picture. I was convinced it was a fight for my faith, Islam.”
He said he’s still a practising Muslim but started doubting his fundamentalist beliefs after a 2007 trip to Lebanon, where he met Islamist leaders. “I was shocked. I realized what an oppressive mentality they have,” Akkari said.
By some reports there was 200 reported deaths during the violent riots.
Oh, he’s had a change of heart. How nice. Maybe someone will put out a fatwa on him so he can see how it feels
This is perhaps one of the best examples as to why fundamentalist Islam (or any fundamentalist religion) requires such an insulated lifestyle. I’m very happy for Mr. Akkari, waking up to the wider and broader world around him. I hope he can live with his conscience.
Molly Norris unavailable for comment.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/16/draw-muhammad-cartoonist-goes-hiding/
The most appropriate word I can think of to describe this guy: Shmuck!
Hard to get the toothpaste back in the tube, but it would bring things to something of a conclusion if the magazine would also admit that it had been living in a hardliner dreamworld of its own and had likewise failed to anticipate the real-world horror that would follow its theoretically inspired actions.
His actions were an unreasonable response, to say the least. But it was a deliberate provocation and there must be some (lesser, lesser, yes, but still real) weight attached to that.
Mike, the cartoons were printed in Denmark many, many months before someone, this guy I guess, added unrelated images (the photo of the guy in pig ears was from a hog-calling contest) and toured muslim countries, literally shoving these images in devout muslims’ faces for nothing but shock value. Don’t blame the magazine. this dipwad is 100% to blame.
Nobody in the history of the world has ever been 100 percent to blame for anything.