Background here.

According to CNN, there is apparently a debate going on inside the Muslim community after the threats warnings the Islamist webpage, RevolutionMuslim.com, issued against South Park's creators.

Blogger Bilal el-Houri is agnostic but he grew up in a Muslim family in the mostly Muslim region of the Middle East. He said, “My first thoughts on the episode were "haha!", but then I realized how deep and complicated this issue is.”

El-Houri said he was quickly reminded of tragedies that ensued from other infamous depictions of Prophet Mohammed. In particular he recalls the Muslim outrage in 2005 following publications of Cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. He said he witnessed in Beirut, Lebanon, crowds take to the streets and burn the building housing the Danish embassy.

“I remember seeing people crashing and burning police cars and ambulances that had nothing to do with Denmark or their cause.” He also recalled how “al Qaeda issued a call to murder Dutch politician Geert Wilders” for his film “Fitna” which was critical of Islam.

El-Houri observed that the "South Park" episode highlighted the fear from “barbaric Muslim retaliation” when a Muslim symbol is featured in the media. He said Muslims should focus on convincing others not to show iconic figure out of “respect to Islam” instead.

El-Houri’s advice to Muslims is to “appreciate free speech” and use its tools to debunk the misconceptions that exist around the world about Islam and showcase the peaceful side of their religion instead of reacting to what others publish or broadcast. “The media makes fun of Jesus, The Pope, politicians and so on, all the time, but you don't see Catholics burning tires outside Comedy Central's studios.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali agrees. The "South Park" episode “was not just funny, it wasn’t just witty” she said, but it also addressed what she called the essential issue that “one group of people, one religion, that is claiming to be above criticism, and I hope that in the aftermath of this, that we discuss that.”

The New York Post has a point:

Stone told web site Boing Boing that they couldn’t live with themselves if they gave up their freedom of expression by curtailing their humor, but he also admits that the current reality is awful. In a “South Park” episode from 2001, an image of Mohammad passed without incident but that, Stone explained, was before the Danish cartoon controversy, “so it somehow is fine." Stone added, "Then, after that, now that's the new normal. We lost. Something that was okay is now not okay.

Perhaps Stone and Parker can console themselves that President Obama has declared that we aren’t at war with “Islamic radicalism” anymore so hopefully no Islamic radicals will feel the need to stab them to death like film-maker Van Gogh.

The BBC has more on the Boing Boing interview:

Speaking in an interview with the Boing Boing website before the 200th show aired, the South Park team defended the scenes. "We'd be so hypocritical against our own message, our own thoughts, if we said, 'okay, well let's not make fun of them because they won't hurt us,'" said Parker.  "It matters to me when we talk about Muhammad that I can say we did this... and I can stand behind that," Stone added. 

"I don't think it's going to change the world, but this is how it's got to be for our show." 

In 2006, Comedy Central banned Stone and Parker from showing an image of Muhammad in an episode that was intended to be part of a comment on the controversy caused by the publication of caricatures of the prophet by a Danish newspaper. 

An earlier episode, Super-Best Friends (2001), contained an image of Muhammad but passed without comment.  "It was before the Danish cartoon controversy, so it somehow is fine," Stone told Boing Boing.

In the end, they have caved in (or was just a joke to confuse "censors"? It doesn't really has very much to do with Stone's words, does it?):

Satirical animated TV show "South Park" beeped out the words Prophet Muhammad and plastered its Wednesday episode with the word "CENSORED" after being issued a grim warning by a U.S. Muslim group.

The irreverent comedy show on Comedy Central also substituted a controversial image seen last week of the Prophet Muhammad in a bear outfit with one of Santa Claus in the same costume.

Via.

Here is how they responded to the threat:

We apologize that South Park Studios cannot stream episode 201 at this time.

After we delivered the show, and prior to broadcast, Comedy Central placed numerous additional audio bleeps throughout the episode. We do not have network approval to stream our original version of the show.

We will bring you a version of 201 as soon as we can.

Via.



So, is there really a debate on the Muslim community? Remember than both Hirsi Ali and el-Houri are NOT Muslims now...