French Magazine Again Risks Inflaming Muslims

A satirical French magazine has again raised the risk of inflaming Muslims.

The publication called Charlie Hebdo – which outraged Muslims across France five years ago by printing inflammatory cartoons on Mohammed originally published by a Danish magazine -- has named ‘Muhammad’ (the prophet of Islam) as an ‘editor-in-chief’, apparently in honor of the recent victory of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party in Tunisia.

The magazine will be temporarily renamed ‘Sharia Hebdo,’ for its next weekly issue.

To fittingly celebrate the victory of the Islamist Ennahda party in Tunisia... Charlie Hebdo has asked Muhammad to be the special editor-in-chief of its next issue, the magazine said in a statement.

The prophet of Islam didn't have to be asked twice and we thank him for it.”

BBC reported that the cover of the next edition, which will be released on Wednesday, depicts the Prophet Muhammad saying 100 lashes if you are not dying of laughter. The issue will also include an editorial called ‘Halal Aperitif’ and a women's feature entitled ‘Madam Sharia.’

However, the publication feels it’s not seeking to inflame Muslims.

A spokesman for the magazine told Agence France Presse: We don't feel like causing further provocation. We simply feel like doing our job as usual. The only difference this week is that Muhammad is on the cover and it's pretty rare to put him on the cover.

In 2007, a French court defended Charlie Hebdo and ruled that it was not guilty of seeking to incite hatred of Muslims by reprinting the Danish cartoons of Mohammed.