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The background is statements by French President Emmanuel Macron. On Wednesday he sided with those who want to show or publish cartoons of Muhammad. France will not “do without cartoons and drawings, even if others withdraw,” Macron said at a memorial ceremony honoring the slain teacher Samuel Paty. He had shown the cartoons in class.
Islamic tradition, on the other hand, prohibits depicting the prophet. In Kuwait, according to the newspaper “Al-Kabas”, 50 consumer cooperatives announced that they had withdrawn all French products from their branches. Also in Qatar, supermarket chains have announced that they will recall French products until further notice. Videos could be seen on social media of employees at a supermarket in Amman, the Jordanian capital, removing French dairy products from the refrigerated shelf. Users spread the French brand names on the Internet and called for a boycott, and the corresponding hashtags circulated.
The Muhammad cartoons had sparked violent protests in the Islamic world on several occasions: in early 2006, more than 150 people died. The triggers at that time were cartoons from the Danish newspaper “Jyllands-Posten”. In 2015, twelve people were killed in an attack on the French satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo”, which also featured cartoons of the prophet. For strict Muslims, movies or pictures depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a person are shameful and a form of blasphemy.
The Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the publication of satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet. Such behavior “damages Muslim-French relations.” Cairo’s groimam, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, spoke of a systematic campaign to force Islam into political battles. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said the posts hurt the feelings of Muslims.
