The BBC’s Magdel Abdelhadi has an illuminating take on why the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad have proved so controversial. Abdelhadi says it’s not the cartoons per se that have upset Muslims around the world. The money quote:

There seems to be a confusion between two issues: the Islamic ban on any pictorial representation and respect for the character of Muhammad. It is the satirical intent of the cartoonists, and the association of the Prophet with terrorism, that is so offensive to the vast majority of Muslims.

It’s enough to make you wonder if the cartoons had depicted a smiling Muhammad sitting on a cloud, would they have stoked the same outrage as the bomb-hidden-in-a-turban depictions.