It all began last September when a Danish author writing a book on Islam was unable to find artists willing to submit illustrations because of the Islamic stricture against visual representations of Muhammad. To try and call attention to the issue, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten put out a call for cartoonists to submit depictions of Muhammad. Twelve cartoons were submitted and eventually printed in the newspaper.

The cartoons themselves were a mixed bunch. Some merely depicted Muhammad as a man, which is by no means a historical first. Other, more provocative drawings alluded to the realities of terrorism and misogyny in the Muslim world. But in the risqué realm of political cartoons, they could hardly be construed as derogatory toward an entire religion. If compared to the body of criticism and satire connected to Western religion, the cartoons were downright tame. Government-subsidized art in the West using human urine and elephant dung to depict Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary come to mind.

But judging by the reaction from the Muslim world, one would think that a crime against humanity had been committed.

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