Israel, its three Arab peace partners and the United States have secretly agreed to work together against Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday

(An extremist group that hopes to rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem has launched a search for descendants of the priests and caretakers of the ancient temples.

Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah hath chosen thee and purified thee- chosen thee above the women of all nations ". (The Holy Qur'an: Chapter 3:42).

For Muslims, drawing pictures or making statues of any venerated religious personalities of the three mono-theistic religions is blasphemy. More painful is, seeing nude or semi-naked statues and pictures, supposed to portray Jesus, David and so on. But the west has accepted and defended these as 'objects of art', much to the anguish of Muslims.

Now an award winning British artist, Chris Olifi has produced a picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, with elephant dung. The picture depicts Mary with dark skin, African features and flowing robes. Mr. Olifi who always uses dung in his art work and a churchgoing Catholic and former altar boy, has said the elephant dung was a cultural reference to his African heritage.The "Sensation" exhibit is scheduled to open on Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum and the museum is adamant in going ahead with the exhibition, despite objections. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has threatened to cut off the city's $7.2 million subsidy to the museum if it opens the British Art exhibition as planned on Saturday. The exhibition also contains controversial "works" from Damien Hirst, Jake and Dinos Chapman and other young British artists. It includes pickled animals and a sculpture made from frozen blood.

Mr Giuliani has branded the "Sensation" show of contemporary British art an attack on Roman Catholicism and says it is "sick and offensive". He is particularly outraged by a portrait of the Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili which is partly composed of elephant dung. The controversy has also drawn in First Lady Hillary Clinton, who sides with the museum against her political rival Mr Giuliani, a republican who is also a Roman Catholic. Mrs Clinton said that she would personally boycott the show, but the museum should not be condemned for staging it. Her stand goes against her husband's new pro-religious posture, politically popular among Christians tired of rising murders and other ills of the society. Mr Giuliani hit back, accusing the first lady of supporting the use of public money "to attack and bash the Catholic religion".

The museum is seeking a court order to prevent the removal of the subsidy. Robert Rubin, the chairman of the museum's Board of Trustees, said on Tuesday the lawsuit was "being undertaken in the interests of all public Institutions". The directors of the Brooklyn Museum of Art say the mayor's tactics breach the First Amendment to the US Constitution - depriving them of their right to free expression. Floyd Abrahms, a Jewish lawyer, representing the museum, accused Michael Hess, the lead counsel representing the city, as trying to wage "crusades". New York's biggest museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim, said the Mayor's threats will do "lasting damage" to the city's cultural reputation. And the leaders of two dozen cultural institutions in the city have signed a letter protesting at the funding cut. The foray is joined by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is planning a rally to back the exhibition, while conservative Republicans are planning one against it.

Today, there is no such thing as "sanctity" - under the "freedom of expression", anything goes, unless it is against the Jewish holocaust, in which case, the freedom of expression guaranteed by the first amendment must take a back seat. When Islam and its Prophet are attacked, by the likes of Salman Rushdie. V.S.Naipaul, Tasleema Nazrin et al, there seems to be a ghoulish delight in the West and these perpetrators are catapulted to the stratosphere of fame, like the scum of the earth being thrown up towards the skies during a turbulent windstorm.

How far will the first amendment to the US constitution, "Freedom of Expression" can be stretched, irrespective of how offensive such freedom of expression turns against those who hold certain moral values and faith close to their hearts, is anyone's guess.

As far as Muslims are concerned, when the personalities of Muhammad, Moses, Jesus, Mary or any other venerable figures are attacked, it pains equally. We ask all Muslim brothers and sisters living in New York, to join the protest marches and make sure our views are heard.

Meer Sahib
Vice President
London Ontario Mosque