A teddy called Muhammad

[KALKI]

A teddy called Muhammad

As a colleague of Gillian Gibbons, I know that none of the parents raised any objection to the name of our school's toy bear

My dear friend and colleague, Gillian Gibbons, is the head of Key Stage One and teacher of Class 2X at Unity High School, Khartoum. Gillian joined the school in August, after a long and highly respected career as a teacher and local education authority Inspector in Liverpool, UK.

In late August, or early September of this year, Gillian came into possession of a teddy bear (a gift from a parent). An Early Years activity (designed to encourage, in particular, achievement in literacy skills) plays out around a class teddy. He does the rounds of the children, going home with them, just in case the child concerned writes a diary entry for the teddy about his visit to the child's home. This was Gillian's intention and it is in line with our whole school plan to raise literacy skills - a target especially pertinent as the overwhelming majority of our pupils are of English as Another Language (EAL) status.

In line with this, the first task was to give the teddy a name. Gillian wanted to call the bear "Faris" (in honour of my new son); now we all wish she had gone with this first idea - but, excellent teacher that she is, she chose instead to ask the children what they wanted to call the teddy.

The children voted and chose the name Muhammad. All but one of the children in her class are Muslims.

Gillian then wrote a letter to the parents of Class 2X explaining that the children had chosen the name Muhammad for their class teddy bear. Not one parent raised any objection. Since late September, the teddy has been visiting many of the children of Class 2X's homes. Three of the parents are teachers in the school.

We became aware of this issue a few weeks ago. We suggested to Gillian that it was inappropriate that the teddy bear was called Muhammad, as this might offend cultural sensibilities. The school issued a letter to parents to say that the teddy bear was tired of visiting so many homes and his friend (another stuffed toy called something entirely inoffensive) would be visiting instead. The Islamiyat department in our school was consulted and they suggested that this should resolve any potential problems.

However, on Sunday, the school was visited by officers of the Ministry of Education. Our school director, Robert Boulos, was interviewed at length by these officials. The government officers declared themselves unsatisfied with his responses.

The government men then asked to see and interview Gillian. Gillian gave exactly the same report of her actions. Again, the men from the ministry found this unacceptable and demanded that Gillian present herself at the police barracks.

On arrival at the police barracks, accompanied by the school principal, Gillian was interrogated for five hours. Gillian was then remanded to the cells.

Early yesterday morning I was informed that Gillian had been charged under the Sudanese penal code with blasphemously defaming the Prophet - an offence that is incredible serious here.

Having consulted with a number of religious Muslim people hereabouts, all are of the opinion that Gillian's offence (if it may be described as such) was to inadvertently offend religious sensibilities by allowing the children to name the teddy bear with the same name as the Prophet. As this was not done maliciously, or with deliberate intent, they are puzzled about why Gillian has been detained.

All our parents, both Muslim and Coptic Christian, have stepped forward to offer their support; and the parents of Gillian's class have gone on record to assert that they never had any objection to the name of the teddy bear. I reiterate, the vast majority of these parents are themselves Muslims.

The school is now closed for at least the next week. This was the suggestion of the Ministry of Education. We have been provisioned with extra security around the school; school names have been removed from our transports. The risk of attack against school property and staff has become a concern.

Now, perhaps Gillian was foolish not to have taken advice when the teddy bear was named. However, her intention was clearly not to insult the religious sensibilities of anyone - and she certainly did not upset anyone in the school, or any of the parents.

We are all deeply concerned for Gillian, who is not half as tough as she likes to make out. She is alone, effectively being held in solitary confinement. She does not speak Arabic and the police staff where she was held until Tuesday morning did not speak much English. The police station had been surrounded by a mob baying for Gillian's blood.

She now faces the strong possibility of being charged for an offence that no one, Sudanese or otherwise who knows her, believes is reasonable. At the very least, Gillian will be expelled from the country, losing her job and income.

My wife was, before the birth of our son, Gillian's learning assistant. My wife is Sudanese and had worked in the school before Gillian's arrival.

She and Gillian became good friends. My wife's esteem for Gillian as both a person and a teacher was due, at least in part, to the respect in which Gillian held her. My wife presently oscillates between anger and a distraught sense of not being able to help Gillian when she most needs our help.

Gillian was a kind, considerate and wonderful friend to my wife and I during the latter stages of my wife's pregnancy; something we shall not forget.

Gillian's goodness, excellence as a teacher and respect for all those who worked in the school shone out. The very last thing that Gillian would do is to deliberately offend others. Gillian's respect and interest in Sudan, Arabic culture and the Muslim way of life and belief was manifest at all times.

It was a joy to have Gillian amongst us. We want her back. Now.

source

[w ά ŧ έ υ έ я]

ommgggg....this story is soooo ridiculous...bein a muslim myself...i think they've goonneee waayyy over the top...

if they dont want stuff like that happenin...get muslim teachers for the schools then!

gawwwwdd..../im well pee'd off with this story...

[Lil_Miss_Aneeka]

Woah that's a lot 2 read, but i'm up 2 date with the news on tele. I think it is absurd! Muhammad is a name. If she was 2 name a living pig Muhammad i think i'd b offended as pigs r considered filthy and consumin their flesh is against Islam etc but this is a teddy. On top of that it was not her who named the toy it was a student in her class who also goes by the name Muhammad. I think the prob is 1 of their laws (article 125) relates 2 insulting religion so fair enuff it's the law of the land but she did not name the teddy, a student did. And they r sayin none of the parents complained it was actually one of the office workers in the building so wtf??

BUT i think somethin we have 2 consider is the punishment - 40 lashes. Now i think the media has just said "Teacher who named teddy Muhammad facin 40 lashes" without givin details of the punishment so 2 us it sounds barbaric. Infact there is a way in which she'd receive these lashes. They r not hollywood style of pullin back and swingin like crazy! The person dishin out the lashes cannot raise their arm high enuff 2 expose the underarm so the lashes (although they obviously hurt) r not brutish lashes where she'll b left lifeless and bleedin on the floor..

Hope they let her go and realise this is becomin a joke!

[BabyLeo]

well it wasnt her actual idea to name it muhammad
she asked the class what shall they call the class teddy and a little boy said "name it after me" so she did

now the little boy has actually come forward yet they still lock her up

me personally think this is getting to wayyyyy over the top

but then again i dont see alot of things wrong that ppl think is "disgrace"

[BabyLeo]

TERRIFIED teddy bear row teacher Gillian Gibbons was being held in a secret jail last night — after a 10,000-strong armed mob took to Sudan’s streets screaming: “Kill her, kill her.”

The Liverpool mum of two — convicted of insulting Islam by calling the bear Mohammed — was sneaked out of the capital Khartoum hours after being jailed for 15 days.

Fanatics demanding her execution by firing squad streamed out of mosques after prayers — grabbing machetes, knives and clubs. The hate-filled protesters — whipped into a frenzy by religious leaders — converged on the presidential palace as it emerged Gillian was an INNOCENT victim of a vindictive school secretary.

Pictures of Gillian, 54, were burned as hardline clerics in pick-up trucks chanted through loudhailers: “No one lives who insults the prophet.”

Hundreds of riot police refused to intervene — even though the demo threatened to spiral out of control. Fearful officials moved their prisoner to a different jail for her own safety.

Hundreds of placard-waving extremists marched on the city’s Unity High School — where Gillian taught. She was jailed even though the bear, used in a project on animals, was named by her PUPILS after one of their classmates.

Demonstrators then headed towards the nearby British Embassy — before security forces finally stopped them.

Spiteful

Yesterday Gillian described her ordeal as a “nightmare” during a visit by her lawyer.

She told Kamal Djizouri: “It was my dream to come here so why should I have come and then insulted Islam?

“I still can’t believe this. Never in my life would I have ever thought I would be accused of deliberately insulting someone or something.

“I am simply not like that. I just feel so sad. It has been a nightmare.”

Gordon Brown yesterday vowed to do everything possible to get Gillian released and spoke to her son to express his “regret” at the shocking mob scenes. Worried John, 25, said: “At the moment the family have no plans to go to Sudan. We are taking advice from the Foreign Ofiice.”

Details also emerged of how the teacher was reported for allegedly insulting the prophet.

Emails sent from the school to a sympathiser who was shocked at the teacher’s fate reveal a spiteful secretary was to blame. A senior member of staff said Unity High office assistant Sarah Khawad had meant to get HER into trouble.

She wrote: “I think her motive was personal only and I think it was meant for me to be arrested not Gillian. Sarah is one of the most despised people in the world right now.”

Gillian, from Aigburth, Liverpool, escaped receiving 40 lashes but was instead thrown into one of Sudan’s most hellish prisons.

She is likely to serve ten days — after already spending five in a cell. She will then be deported. Protesters yesterday were adamant she MEANT to offend Islam.

Sword-waving Yassin Mubarak raged: “What she did requires her life to be taken.” Hardline cleric Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri declared: “Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan.”

Mike Gates, head of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, branded Sudan’s reaction “deplorable”.

Gillian’s lawyer insisted the government backed the protests. Mr Djizouri said: “All these demonstrations are organised — they are never spontaneous.”

The Muslim Council of Great Britain branded the protests “an obscene over-reaction”. Spokesman Inayat Buglawala said: “People should remember that this is all over a teddy bear.” Dr Khalid al-Mubarak, of the Sudanese Embassy in London, blamed the demonstrations on “hothead”.

Muslim Labour peer Lord Ahmed was last night on his way to Sudan with Tory Baroness Sayeeda Warsi to meet President Omar al-Bashir and push for Gillian’s release.

[KALKI]

........SPEAKING FOR MYSELF, I DONT SEE WHAT THE BIG DEAL IS....

PLENTY OF PPL OUT THERE WITH RELIGIOUS NAMES THAT ABUSE THEIR IDENTITY, CAUSE THATS WHAT IT BOILS DOWN TO, IDENTITY

........ALL THIS IS DOIN IS CAUSING MORE FUSS FOR NO REASON IN THE MEDIA AND SOMETHING FOR IGNORANT PPL TO HAVE A BASH AT WITH

.....JUST GIVING PPL A CHANCE TO SAY "OH HERE WE GO AGAIN "ISLAM THIS ISLAM THAT"

...........PLENTY OF GUYS OUT THERE WHO HAVE THE SAME NAME WHO SELL WEED AND SHIT, PLENTY ONLINE WHO PISS ABOUT ..........SHOULD SORT ALL THOSE PPL OUT BEFORE THEY GET EXCITED OVER A TEACHER