English teacher in Sudan falls fouls of evil seven years olds...

[Vermilion]

Or, at least, this is my interpretation of events in the following story:

Sudan police throw teacher in jail for teddy bear named Muhammad

A British teacher faces a jail sentence in Sudan for insulting Islam by letting her class of seven-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad as part of a school project.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, has been accused of blasphemy — an offence punishable by 40 lashes under Sharia — and could be imprisoned for up to six months.

She had asked the children to pick their favourite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats. In a class vote, the pupils rejected her own suggestion of “Faris”, with 20 out of 23 deciding to call the cuddly toy Muhammad — also the name of one of the class’s most popular boys.

Ms Gibbons had left Liverpool for Sudan in July, after leaving her job as a primary school deputy head in the city. An experienced traveller whose MySpace entry talks of her passion for learning about other cultures, she took up the challenge of a new job in Khartoum after the break-up last year of her 33-year marriage.

Yesterday she was in isolation in a cell in Khartoum, and colleagues and the consular authorities were desperately trying to negotiate her release.

Unity High School, the British school where she taught the children of Sudanese professionals, expatriates and oil workers, stood empty, amid fears of adverse reactions from Islamic extremists.

Robert Boulos, the school’s director, said that on Sunday police had barged into the school grounds, where Ms Gibbons was living. “We tried to reason with them but we felt they were coming under strong pressure from Islamic courts,” he said in his study lined with sepia photographs of the school’s colonial heyday.

“There were men with big beards asking where she was and saying they wanted to kill her."

A similar crowd gathered at the police station where she is being held.

Mr Boulos said the school would remain shut until January to protect the safety of staff and children. “This was a completely innocent mistake," he said. “Ms Gibbons would have never wanted to insult Islam.”

He said that a seven-year-old girl took the teddy into class in September. It was dressed in old clothes and was sent home each weekend with different pupils who were asked to keep a diary of its activities.

Each entry was collected in a book with a picture of the bear on the cover, next to the message “My name is Muhammad”, although the bear was not marked or labelled with the name in any way.

Islamic law forbids images of the Prophet Muhammad, lest they give rise to idolatry.

It is understood that Sudanese police have now seized the book and had asked to interview the toy’s seven-year-old owner.

Rest of story available here

Like I said... I reckon the kids set her up for a fall and are now giggling evilly behind their hands like a bunch of Damien-style devil children.

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[Liar]

Like I said... I reckon the kids set her up for a fall and are now giggling evilly behind their hands like a bunch of Damien-style devil children.

Sounds like every seven year old I've ever known. Including myself.

 

[scheherazade_79]

Don't forget - it's the law of the country that encourages them to be that way.

What I don't get, though, is that parents can call a child Mohammed, and that child can turn out to be the biggest, most evil little arsehole in town. Isn't that a much worse example of blasphemy than calling the inanimate class teddy bear Mohammed?

 

[Vermilion]

bump.

 

[matriarch]

Latest news on this.........

A Sudanese pupil of a British woman arrested on blasphemy allegations has said it was his idea to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was arrested on Sunday in Khartoum, and could face charges of insulting Islam's Prophet after her class named the toy.

But one boy said: "The teacher asked me what I wanted to call the teddy. I said Muhammad. I named it after my name."

The Sudanese Embassy in London said the situation was a "storm in a teacup".

It has indicated that she could be released soon, as the incident was based on a cultural misunderstanding.

Three British embassy staff and one of her colleagues have now been allowed to visit Mrs Gibbons at Sudan's Criminal Exploration Bureau. So far she has spent three nights in custody.

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.

The boy's family said he was not thinking of the prophet when he chose the name.

Speaking to reporters, they said Ms Gibbons was a "very nice" teacher who did not mention religion in class.

A spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, told the BBC that it was a "minute" matter.

"What is happening now is standard procedure because one of the parents has complained and the police is bound to investigate just as is the case in any country in which there is rule of law.

"I am pretty certain that this minute incident will be clarified very quickly and that this venerable teacher who has been helping us teach our children will be safe and will be cleared".

It is seen as an insult to Islam to attempt to make an image of the Prophet Muhammad.

Foreign Office officials have visited Ms Gibbons in custody, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown said 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".

She was arrested after several parents of children at the Unity High School, in Khartoum, made complaints.

Ms Gibbons has been suspended from her teaching post, and the school has closed until January.

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.

 

[Vermilion]

It seems odd that the teacher wasn't aware of Shariah law - especially since she could fall foul of it. It might have been wise of her to read up before going to work there. On the other hand I might not have applied that law about idolatry to a childrens' teddy bear myself...

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[fieryjen]

I don't think she realized that naming a teddy bear Muhammad (seeing how that is a popular name for children) would be considered the same as making an image of the prophet.

As Zade said, by that logic, all parents who named their child Muhammad would have to be arrested for producing said offspring.

 

[Just-Legal]

You'd think that, but according to Radio 4 its ok to call your child it, but not animals or representations thereof.

*sigh*

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Fortunately for us, the Muslims will be running things in America and Europe soon enough, and we'll be educated about Islamic customs.

 

[human_male]

Well these do-gooders will insist on going to these backward fucking countries where this sort of thing can happen. Let's hope she's learned her lesson about giving a fuck about people.

 

[LLs Man]

The point everyone (including the Sudanese authorities) seems to be missing is that it wasn't the teacher who named the bear, but the children. She asked them for names, then asked them to choose one from their own list, & 20 out of 23 voted for Mohammed, so I fail to see how that makes her the guilty party.

 

[SeaCat]

What I find interesting is what I found when I read the expanded article. In this it said that people don't think it was a student or students family member at all that complained but a co-worker. It also made mention of the fact the complaint was lodged several months after the "Bear" was named.

Cat

 

[Vermilion]

What I find interesting is what I found when I read the expanded article. In this it said that people don't think it was a student or students family member at all that complained but a co-worker. It also made mention of the fact the complaint was lodged several months after the "Bear" was named.

Cat

So personal or political matter, not really religious at all...
votes please...

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[lloyd_5]

I believe Sudanese law is secular and does not incorporate Sharia religious law. In any event, Western Islamic scholars – even fundamentalist ones – have said this was not a blasphemy or a heresy. The hoop-la seems to be politically rather than religiously driven.

Remember that Sudan is a pathetically poor and ethnically troubled country – think of Darfur – where al-Qaida wields a lot of influence – Bin Laden was sheltered there for years after exile from Saudi Arabia.

Although I feel desperately sorry for her current plight,Gillian Gibbins, the teacher, was culpable of at least arrogance or great stupidity. Coming from a Western culture where schools go over the top to avoid religious content not to ‘offend’ anyone, this woman, despite having only just arrived in the country, seeks no advice from colleagues about using the name Mohammad.

Apparently there is no ‘teddy bear’ culture in Sudan and this toy was supposed to represent a real bear- considered a dirty and dangerous animal in Sudan – in a biology/nature class. It’s a bit like a Sudanese expat teacher in nature study in a Christian country calling a toy rat ‘Jesus’.

Although the suggested punishments are ridiculously out of proportion, repugnant and must be avoided, just remember how often a supposedly religious storm of indignation is whipped up in the West over some imagined slight.

 

[Lisa Denton]

I believe Sudanese law is secular and does not incorporate Sharia religious law. In any event, Western Islamic scholars – even fundamentalist ones – have said this was not a blasphemy or a heresy. The hoop-la seems to be politically rather than religiously driven.

Remember that Sudan is a pathetically poor and ethnically troubled country – think of Darfur – where al-Qaida wields a lot of influence – Bin Laden was sheltered there for years after exile from Saudi Arabia.

Although I feel desperately sorry for her current plight,Gillian Gibbins, the teacher, was culpable of at least arrogance or great stupidity. Coming from a Western culture where schools go over the top to avoid religious content not to ‘offend’ anyone, this woman, despite having only just arrived in the country, seeks no advice from colleagues about using the name Mohammad.

Apparently there is no ‘teddy bear’ culture in Sudan and this toy was supposed to represent a real bear- considered a dirty and dangerous animal in Sudan – in a biology/nature class. It’s a bit like a Sudanese expat teacher in nature study in a Christian country calling a toy rat ‘Jesus’.

Although the suggested punishments are ridiculously out of proportion, repugnant and must be avoided, just remember how often a supposedly religious storm of indignation is whipped up in the West over some imagined slight.

I wouldn't blame Tony B. and the SAS for a military rescue, its political all right. She was neither arrogant or stupid, the children were not forced to kneel and pray to this teddy bear, it had no religious connection at all and was never meant to.

Had she fallen down in public and somebody saw her bare ankle, well of course then she would be a nympho slut and should be stoned to death.

Its the world view of the british as arrogant that has fueled the fire. Since it has to do with thier ties to the evil US devilworshipers I am sure good ol GWB would agree to a joint US/British military Op and hell, I wouldn't blame them for busting this woman out before they try to sentence her to 50 lashes or some shit.

I don't know if you could refer to the US as a Christian country but anybody can call a toy rat Jesus, you can even pray to your toy rat if you want without getting thrown in jail, hell I think I saw a drunk praying to a real rat one time, or maybe he was just throwing up, I dunno.

Had this teacher been doing anything concerning religion I am sure she would have researched and gotten advice, she wasn't, there was no intent and therefore no crime and thats why I say:

"Come on Tony and George, lets round up the special ops troops and have a rescue party"

 

[sr71plt]

She's been convicted now and sentenced. 15 days prison time, deportation. Now the British will move the pressure from consular level to diplomatic level, and the likelihood is that she will just be deported.

On the nitty gritty of the case,

(A) there is a difference in Islam law between naming your child Muhammad (an act of dedication) and naming an inanimate object Muhammad (an act of blasphemy that's well covered in the Islamic scriptures). This isn't a remote minor point; it's a fundamental point in Islam that anyone taking a weekend course in Islamic culture would be told.

(B) any Westerner going to Sudan to teach children there within their own culture jolly well should have studied what they were getting into enough to know that.

(C) in the Sudanese eyes, it doesn't mean much that that children voted the name. They are children. They have to be taught. They obviously weren't being taught what's important in their own culture. The adult retains responsibility.

On why it happened.

Of course it was just an oversight and under normal circumstances could/probably would be covered by an apology and a lesson taught to the children in the difference (in their culture) of applying Muhammad's name to a person and to an inanimate object. (The teacher probably still would be taken away from the children until she'd prepared herself better or gone home.)

But the West, represented the strongest by the U.S. and Britain, are seen to be walking all over Islam and its values in what's going on in the world now. So, of course, societies like the one in Sudan are going to publicly push back and whatever little ways they can. The realization that this is going to happen needs to be accepted by Americans and Brits and they need to take it into account when they put themselves inside an Islamic culture in these times. The "I'm taking civilization to these poor savages" concept doesn't go down real well in much of the world anymore.

 

[sr71plt]

I don't know if you could refer to the US as a Christian country but anybody can call a toy rat Jesus, you can even pray to your toy rat if you want without getting thrown in jail, hell I think I saw a drunk praying to a real rat one time, or maybe he was just throwing up, I dunno.

Excuse me? Just try doing that in an American classroom and see what the effect that has in the community and the media. No it's not against the law here. Americans don't need that; we all have semiautomatics and we know how to use them.

The only difference is that Protestants are squeamish even about naming children Jesus--which would set them even farther out on this issue than the Muslims, now wouldn't it? They certainly don't name their stuffed toys Jesus.

The analogy was a very good one. It would, I think, make anyone in Western culture with at least half-strength reasoning power able to make some sort of connection on the perspectives here.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I believe Sudanese law is secular and does not incorporate Sharia religious law. In any event, Western Islamic scholars – even fundamentalist ones – have said this was not a blasphemy or a heresy. The hoop-la seems to be politically rather than religiously driven.

Remember that Sudan is a pathetically poor and ethnically troubled country – think of Darfur – where al-Qaida wields a lot of influence – Bin Laden was sheltered there for years after exile from Saudi Arabia.

Although I feel desperately sorry for her current plight,Gillian Gibbins, the teacher, was culpable of at least arrogance or great stupidity. Coming from a Western culture where schools go over the top to avoid religious content not to ‘offend’ anyone, this woman, despite having only just arrived in the country, seeks no advice from colleagues about using the name Mohammad.

Apparently there is no ‘teddy bear’ culture in Sudan and this toy was supposed to represent a real bear- considered a dirty and dangerous animal in Sudan – in a biology/nature class. It’s a bit like a Sudanese expat teacher in nature study in a Christian country calling a toy rat ‘Jesus’.

Although the suggested punishments are ridiculously out of proportion, repugnant and must be avoided, just remember how often a supposedly religious storm of indignation is whipped up in the West over some imagined slight.

Actually, like most Muslim nations, The Sudan follows Islamic law quite closely. Perhaps this woman should have been more careful, but this is a great overreaction. Muhammad is the most common man's name in most Islam nations, and this would probably include The Sudan. This would be more like naming a toy rat "John" or Michael". Those are both biblical names, by the way.

If an expatriate from the Sudan were to name a toy rat "Jesus" it would probably evoke a scowl or two, but nothing further, and certainly no jail time.

I don't know how many British teachers there are in The Sudan but, hopefully, after this outrage there will be zero.

This is the latest on this case:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071129/ap_on_re_af/sudan_british_teacher

 

[lloyd_5]

Actually, like most Muslim nations, The Sudan follows Islamic law quite closely. Perhaps this woman should have been more careful, but this is a great overreaction. Muhammad is the most common man's name in most Islam nations, and this would probably include The Sudan. This would be more like naming a toy rat "John" or Michael". Those are both biblical names, by the way.

If an expatriate from the Sudan were to name a toy rat "Jesus" it would probably evoke a scowl or two, but nothing further, and certainly no jail time.

I don't know how many British teachers there are in The Sudan but, hopefully, after this outrage there will be zero.

This is the latest on this case:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071129/ap_on_re_af/sudan_british_teacher

Sorry, but no.

Jesus, like Mohammad, is a very popular boy's name in Spain, Portugal and many South American and African countries.

This woman failed to understand or respect local sensibilities.

Of course, the firestorm is crazy, but she should have looked before she leapt.

 

[Lisa Denton]

Excuse me? Just try doing that in an American classroom and see what the effect that has in the community and the media. No it's not against the law here. Americans don't need that; we all have semiautomatics and we know how to use them.

The only difference is that Protestants are squeamish even about naming children Jesus--which would set them even farther out on this issue than the Muslims, now wouldn't it? They certainly don't name their stuffed toys Jesus.

The analogy was a very good one. It would, I think, make anyone in Western culture with at least half-strength reasoning power able to make some sort of connection on the perspectives here.

What?

Maybe I am missing something. If a teacher lets her students name a toy rat Jesus in a classroom no one would care.

Thats because the name would have nothing to do with religion, we are culturally diverse here, and religiously diverse, I have met people of hispanic origin named Jesus, people can name thier dildoes Jesus.

They are not culturally diverse there, they are culturally seclusive. The SAS needs to bust that woman out before her 15 day prison sentence and abide thier wishes by never sending British teachers there trying to help.

They should make a law that no one from western states be allowed in thier country, shoot em on site at the border, burn the heretics.

Don't try to say they don't understand, that they are too stupid to realize she meant no insult, or to say they are too stupid to realize that having a teacher from a different country/religion helping to teach students would not in some way subject those students to the ideas that there are different cultures and religions in the world.

I would assume god/mohammad in any religion teaches some kind of tolerence for the heathens.

15 days in prison is a statement to the world, be like us or fuck off.

 

[lloyd_5]

For goodness sake.

Tell a 5-year-old in Cambridge she can't cuddle the baby Jesus in the school concert because it 'offends' some warped view of freedom and then get on the case of an expat who wades with thigh-high boots through a country's delicate and contraversial views.

So who is the hypocrite here?

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Well... it's all over now. She got 15 days in jail and will be deported.

The only unanswered question is: What happened to the teddy bear? Was he beheaded or something?

 

[Lisa Denton]

Well... it's all over now. She got 15 days in jail and will be deported.

The only unanswered question is: What happened to the teddy bear? Was he beheaded or something?

Only a stake through the heart will kill a devil vampire.

 

[Lisa Denton]

For goodness sake.

Tell a 5-year-old in Cambridge she can't cuddle the baby Jesus in the school concert because it 'offends' some warped view of freedom and then get on the case of an expat who wades with thigh-high boots through a country's delicate and contraversial views.

So who is the hypocrite here?

Um. are YOU talkin to ME?

Cause I don't understand your question.

 

[sr71plt]

What?

Maybe I am missing something. If a teacher lets her students name a toy rat Jesus in a classroom no one would care.

Yep, you're missing something. And this is where you go off the rails in not being able to see beyond your nose. Of course someone would care in that situation. Christians don't react well to pet rats being named Jesus.On a slow news day and given the right atmosphere, the controversy it caused might even make the CNN news snipits. Where have you been? Under a rock?

You must lead an insular life if you can't grasp that this isn't about you and your apparently hermetic perceptions. This is about Sudan, and perceptions in the Sudan--and it comes when the political atmospherics fertilize it up to the level it's at.

What part don't you get that Muslims think naming their sons Muhammad is a gesture of piety and dedication and naming an inanimate object Muhammad is a gesture of blasphemy--with dire punishments attached (just like Christians that actually followed the Bible would attach dire punishment to similiar infractions)? What you think about that is pretty irrelevant to the case and to Muslim culture.

All cultures have leftover headscratching elements--In America we still expect our firemen and EMTs to be based in volunteerism and pay our teachers 30,000 a year and our football players millions. And when I proposed to my first sweetheart and I was told it was misinegation for a white to marry an Oriental (albeit third-generation American) in that state and I'd be thrown in jail for it--and that law didn't get thrown off the state books until a decade ago.

What you can't comprehend here is people who actually adhere to their religion, something Christians stopped doing some time ago (and thank God they did). If you question that, go skip through Leviticus to see what fundamental Christians are supposed to be doing. Many of these things should change, of course, but if you think they have no foundation in the culture, you're the one who isn't comprehending.