There is growing unease in Calgary’s Muslim community after two local publications reprinted controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The independent Jewish Free Press published the cartoons late last week and the Western Standard magazine included the caricatures in an issue that hit news stands Monday.
The cartoons, published in September in Denmark and reprinted in other European papers in recent weeks, have caused outrage across the Muslim world, setting off protests and boycotts of Danish products in several countries.
Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet.
Syed Soharwardy of Calgary, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, said that making jokes about religion should be off limits and he is willing to test that theory in court.
“We will try to find out if there is the possibility of a civil law suit,” he told CBC News on Sunday.
Soharwardy hosted a multifaith information session on the weekend in an attempt to diffuse the anger in Calgary’s Muslim community.
“We want to have a civilized discussion,” he said. “We can be different. We will be different. That’s why we have so many religions.”
The Jewish Free Press reprinted three of the cartoons in its Thursday edition alongside paintings of the Prophet found in books and museums.
It also printed anti-Semitic cartoons thought to have been produced by Muslims.
The publisher of the Western Standard, Ezra Levant, has said the cartoons are “innocuous” and suggested other Canadian media are censoring themselves.
He told CBC Newsworld that he published the dozen cartoons in Monday’s edition because they are "the central fact in the largest news story of the month.
“I’m doing something completely normal. I’m publishing the centre of a controversy. That’s what news magazines do.”
Most media in Canada and the United States have refused to publish the cartoons. But Levant dismissed the notion that the decision is based on respect for Islam, saying the real reason is fear.
He said news organizations are more than willing to publish items that Christians find offensive because Christians only react by writing letters to the editor.
“They don’t bomb embassies and behead journalists,” Levant said.
The Western Standard has a circulation of 40,000 across Canada while The Jewish Free Press goes to 2,000 Calgary homes.