CAIRO, February 10, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Cairo Stadium is Friday, February 10, the scene of the final soccer match of the 25th African Cup of Nations (ACN) between hosts Egypt and their Ivorian counterparts, with a group of Egyptian fans planning to send a civilized message over the Prophet cartoons' crisis.

"Muhammad is Allah's Prophet…Peace and Blessings be upon him" is the slogan fans are planning to shout aloud immediately after the national anthems of both teams and before the referee's whistle for the final game to start.

"We urge all fans, Muslim and non-Muslim, to repeat the sentence," said the group of fans in a message they posted on the ACN 2006 Web site.

"We will repeat the sentence for three minutes as a love message to Prophet Mohammed and a sign of unity of the nation," they said, noting that the time duration is nominal compared to the 90-minute fanning which may continue after the game as well.

Over 80,000 fans are expected to attend the match that crowns Africa's largest and most prestigious football championships that was kicked off January 20.

The Prophet message is also to crown fans' expressions of their rejection of and outrage at the insulting cartoons originally published by a Danish paper in September.

During previous games, especially those of hosts, fans used to carry banners denouncing the cartoons and calling for apology and boycott of Danish products.

Twelve cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, first published last September by Denmark's mass-circulation Jyllands-Posten and then reprinted by several European dailies, have caused an uproar in the Muslim world.

The drawings included portrayals of the Prophet wearing a time-bomb shaped turban and showed him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

"Egyptian fans are very concerned about the drawings that mocked Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), accordingly we thought about the initiative to express our rejection of the acts in a civilized way especially after violent demonstrations in Islamic countries," said Mohammed Hosni, supervisor of ACN Web site.

Muslims protesting against the cartoons set fire to the Danish consulate in Beirut on Sunday, February 5, and Syrian protesters did the same with the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus a day earlier.

Muslim scholars, organizations and leaders were united Sunday in condemning the violent attacks against the embassies.

On why the initiative was delayed till the final game, Hosni said that the announcement came after the Egyptian national team qualified for the final match after beating the Senegalese team Tuesday.

The regulations of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world body supervising soccer championships, do not contradict with the initiative, he pointed out.

Security officials did not object the initiative, he said.

The initiative to praise Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) before the beginning of the finale will be publicized via mobile messages (SMS) and appear also on billboards in front of gates of the Cairo Stadium, he pointed out.

"We are contacting several sports satellite channels to publicize the initiative," he said.

He added that leaders of the Egyptian group would try to contact Egyptian team captain Hossam Hassan to announce after winning the cup – in case it happens -- that "this win is for the love of the Prophet."

The Web site message called on all Egyptians to publicize the initiative among Egyptian fans by e-mail or SMS in Egypt or abroad.