CAIRO, February 17, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The global controversy over the publication of Danish caricatures lampooning Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has aroused the curiosity of people around the world, prompting Muslim minorities in many countries to champion local campaigns to promote awareness of the merits and characterises of their Prophet.

"We have decided to launch this campaign after a torrent of phone calls from curious Ukrainians from across the country seeking information about Prophet Muhammad," said the Federation of Social Organizations (ARRAID) in a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net.

ARRAID, the Muslim umbrella body in the Eastern European country, said it will start as of Friday, February 17, printing and distributing 200,000 brochures about the prophet in various Ukrainian cities.

The brochures will feature detailed information about the life values, ethics and deeds of Prophet Muhammad.

ARRAID will also circulate leaflets with the Web addresses of the Islamic centers in different Ukrainian cities.

Last September, Denmark's mass circulation daily Jyllands-Posten ran 12 cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.

One of the drawings, considered blasphemous under Islam, shows the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban and another shows him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

The caricatures, which were later reprinted by many newspapers in several world countries, have triggered massive demonstrations across the Muslim worlds.

The republication of two of the cartoons in the Ukrainian daily Sevodnya on February 6 caused uproar among the Muslim minority.

A total of 14 Islamic societies in the Eastern European country condemned the move as a major offense to Ukrainian Muslims, demanding an immediate apology from the paper.

A day later, the daily's editor-in-chief apologized, saying they did not mean to insult Muslims but acquaint their readers with the row making international headlines.

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has reiterated opposition to any insult directed at a religious minority in his country, underlining the need for respecting faiths.

Ukraine is home to some two million Muslims making up 4% of the overall 48-million population.

There are up to 200 mosques and 20 Islamic centers nationwide, which experience no restrictions by the Ukrainian authorities.

Founded in 1997, the ARRAID, which means "pioneer" in Arabic, integrates public Muslim organizations from ten regional centers of Ukraine.

A similar campaign championed by North American Muslims to introduce Prophet Muhammad to non-Muslims is meeting a high demand.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-US) said it has already received some 1,600 requests for free DVDs and books since launching its "Explore the Life of Muhammad" nationwide and in Canada.

In a statement, a copy of which was mailed to IOL on Friday, the civil rights group said that more requests were coming in each minute.

CAIR and its sister the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) launched the campaign on Tuesday, February 15.

"CAIR-CAN and CAIR-US have launched this campaign as an outreach opportunity and counterweight to the discord and division created by the cartoon controversy," Riad Saloojee, Executive Director of the Canadian office of the advocacy body, told a news conference in Ottawa.

"This campaign is a positive, constructive attempt to further dialogue, discussion and mutual understanding amongst all Canadians," Saloojee added.

Curious Americans and Canadians will get a book about Prophet Muhammad or a DVD of the Public Broadcasting System's documentary "Muhammad: Legacy of the Prophet" to interested North Americans.

Canadian Muslims make 1.9% of Canada's some 32.8 million people while American Muslims make one percent of US's some 296 million people, according to the CIA Fact book.

IslamOnline.net has decided earlier in February to launch a multi-lingual Web site to acquaint non-Muslims with the life history, merits and characteristics of Prophet Muhammad.

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