Denmark Muslim Cleric Hate
Controversial Danish imam Abu Laban dies
The Associated Press
Published: February 2, 2007
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Ahmed Abu Laban, Denmark's most prominent Muslim leader and a central figure in last year's uproar over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, has died from cancer, his organization said Friday. He was 60.
Abu Laban died late Thursday at the Hvidovre Hospital in Copenhagen after battling lung cancer, said Kasem Ahmad, a spokesman for the Islamic Faith Community.
"We are very sorry and we ask people to pray for him," Ahmad said.
A Palestinian immigrant who became Denmark's leading imam, Abu Laban was thrust into the international spotlight during the firestorm over the prophet cartoons, when he accused Denmark of being disrespectful of Islam and Muslim immigrants.
He angered many Danes by seeking support from the Middle East in his fight against the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which first published the controversial cartoons. Many blamed him and other Islamic clerics in Denmark for stirring up anger that triggered massive and sometimes violent anti-Danish protests in Muslim countries in January and February last year.
The 12 drawings, one of which depicted Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb, offended many Muslims because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.
In an interview with The Associated Press before the protests broke out, Abu Laban described the cartoons as an attempt to "insult" and "degrade" the prophet.
"There was no point but mere mockery," he said.
Jyllands-Posten later apologized for the cartoons, saying the purpose was not to offend Muslims but to challenge a perceived self-censorship among artists dealing with Muslim issues.
Hundreds of people attended a funeral service for Abu Laban on Friday at the Islamic Faith Community's mosque in Copenhagen. Hundreds more braved pouring rain to follow his coffin as it was carried down the street to a hearse, which took it to an Islamic burial ground outside the Danish capital.
Born in Haifa, Abu Laban grew up in Egypt where he was educated as an engineer. He worked in the oil industry in the Persian Gulf and in Nigeria before emigrating in the mid-1980s to Denmark, where he emerged as a leading figure in the Copenhagen-based Islamic Faith Community, which represents about 10 percent of Denmark's 200,000 Muslims.
"To me in the very beginning, Denmark looked like utopia, perfect country," Abu Laban told the AP. But he said his view gradually changed to a nation gripped by fear of its growing Muslim immigrant community and its strong values.
"(Muslims) have values, they have identity and indirectly (Danes) assume that this is a threat," he said.
A common target for derision by Denmark's far right, Abu Laban also faced criticism among moderate Danish Muslims who said his comments were unnecessarily divisive and provocative.
In May, Abu Laban said he felt so humiliated during the cartoon crisis that he had contemplated leaving Denmark and moving to Gaza with his family.
Soeren Espersen, a spokesman for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party, said Abu Laban will be remembered for his role in the prophet cartoon crisis as someone "who opposed and indeed fought against freedom and democracy."
Muslim leaders hailed Abu Laban as a great spiritual leader with strong political views.
"We lost one of our best friends and brothers," said Imam Khalil Jafar Mushab, of the Islamic Cultural Center in Copenhagen. "It is a great loss for the community and his mosque."
Abu Laban is survived by his wife Inam and their seven children.