What lies at the core of Muslim Culture?
There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world, roughly one in every 5 people on earth today. Regardless of their ethnic background, Muslims worldwide share a common cultural identity based on some core values and holy symbols that are held in highest esteem, those are: God (Allah in Arabic), the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and all prophets from Adam to Muhammad. Muslims will be equally offended if it were Jesus, Moses or Abraham who were mocked, and definitely more so if it were God. When any of the Muslim holy symbols is offended in any way, Muslims worldwide will be insulted and would be expected to react in some way. Regarding the Danish cartoons, what seems to be the problem? From the Muslim point of view, actually there are two problems rolled into one: 1. Drawing God or His Prophets is a taboo in Muslim culture, regardless of the nature of the drawing. 2. Mocking or tarnishing a Muslim holy symbol is absolutely unacceptable for Muslims: the cartoons portrayed Muhammad as an icon of
