CAIRO, December 11, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Al-Azhar, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world, vowed to raise the issue of the provocative caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recently published by Denmark's main daily, with the UN and international human rights organizations.

"This has trespassed all limits of objective criticism into insults and contempt of the religious beliefs of more than one billion Muslims around the world, including thousands in Denmark," Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy said in a statement issued on Saturday, December 10.

"Al-Azhar intends to protest these anti-Prophet cartoons with the UN's concerned committees and human rights groups around the world," read the statement signed by Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayed Tantawi.

Twelve drawings depicting Prophet Muhammad in different settings appeared in Denmark's largest circulation daily Jyllands-Posten on September 30.

In one of the drawings, an image assumed to be that of the Prophet appeared with a turban shaped like a bomb strapped to his head.

The images, considered blasphemous under Islam, have drawn rebuke from the Muslim minority especially with the paper's adamancy to apologize on the ground of freedom of expression.

Samha said they need Arab and Muslim support to ensure such violations would not be repeated.

Al-Azhar reiterat full respected for freedom of opinion and expression, saying it should be protected by law and constitutions.

"Yet international law experts have agreed that freedom of expression should not be in violation of other guaranteed freedoms and rights, including individual and collective sanctities," read the statement.

The ambassadors of eleven Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Indonesia, have written a letter to Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen to protest the caricatures and demand an official apology from the newspaper.

Rasmussen said in a written reply that he would not intervene in the affair, on the grounds of freedom of expression.

Al-Azhar urged the Danish government to reconsider its position before this "affects the interest of Denmark and its people and undermines cooperation between Danes and Arabs and Muslims."

Sheikh Tantawi has met with a five-member delegation representing 21 Islamic centers and organizations in Denmark.

"Support from Arab and Muslim countries will help our demand for an official apology from the Danish government and a promise such violations would not be repeated," Mohamed al-Khalid Samha, the delegation's spokesman, told IOL.

"We came to Cairo seeking the backing of the Arab League and Al-Azhar," he added.

Samha said the delegation will also visit other countries including Iran, Turkey, Malaysia and the Vatican.

Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a prominent Muslim figure in Denmark, told IOL on Friday, November 18, that the Muslim minority in Denmark wants to "internationalize" the issue.

Islam is Denmark's second largest religion after the Lutheran Protestant Church, which is actively followed by four-fifths of the country's population.