By Hamza Yusuf

In all the heat generated by the teddy bear controversy in Sudan, we are missing a deeper reality: As irrational and backward as the reaction in Khartoum might seem, it is yet another example of some Muslims attempting to assert themselves and exercise a little authority in the face of the immense onslaught of Western hegemony in the region.

The facts are that Gillian Gibbons, a British teacher at a private school in Khartoum, had her 7-year-old students name a teddy bear and they overwhelmingly chose “Muhammad.” The students took turns taking the bear home and wrote a diary about what they did with it, which was compiled into a book with a picture of the bear and the title “My Name is Muhammad.” Some parents were offended and the Sudanese government responded by arresting and charging Gibbons with insulting the Prophet of Islam.

The charge is without merit, of course. But it is worth noting that for Muslims, the idea of calling any object other than a human being “Muhammad” is sacrilegious. With Jews, Muslims share a prohibition of making physical images of any living things.

An exception is made for children’s toys. Calling the image of any animal Muhammad, a name that Muslims won’t utter without a benediction is, for them, beyond the pale.

Turks even prefer the contraction Mehmet to avoid using the name in common circumstances. Westerners have a hard time understanding such reverence in a markedly irreverent age.

In the West, teddy bears are objects of devotion for little children and for most adults fond memories of a cuddly teddy bear endure.

A child calling a teddy bear Jesus, for instance, may seem inappropriate, but would likely elicit a response of “How cute!” Westerners are dumbfounded at what appears to be an absolutely insane response to an unfortunate lack of cultural sensitivity. But so, I would venture, are most Muslims.

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Note: Hamza Yusuf, an original “On Faith” panelist, is an American-born scholar of Islamic law and the executive director of the Zaytuna Institute in Berkeley, California.

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