"Jihad" Commercial Upsets US Muslims

"It exploits or promotes misunderstanding in terms already misunderstood or misused," Mobin-Uddin.

"I don't think it's appropriate when it causes real pain. It exploits or promotes misunderstanding in terms already misunderstood or misused," said Asma Mobin-Uddin, president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) chapter in Columbus, Ohio.

The ad for Dennis Mitsubishi in Columbus says sales representatives wearing head-to-toe garments known in Muslim countries as "burqas" will sell vehicles that can "comfortably seat 12 jihadists in the back."

"Our prices are lower than the evildoers' every day. Just ask the pope," says the ad, which also offers "free rubber swords for the kiddies" on "Fatwa Friday."

The commercial has not been broadcast, but is expected to be aired next week amidst warnings that the ad would only fuel Islamophobia in the country.

In its annual report on the status of US Muslims, CAIR said earlier this month that discrimination and hate crimes against Muslims in the United States have surged by almost 30 percent in 2005.

Karen Armstrong, the prominent and prolific British writer on all three monotheistic religions, has criticized stereotyping the Arabic word "jihad" as merely meaning holy war.

Armstrong stressed that jihad is "a cherished spiritual value that, for most Muslims, has no connection with violence."

Pope Benedict XVI has provoked international criticism for questioning the Islamic concept of Jihad and quoting a Byzantine emperor who said that Islam had spread by the sword.

Rejected

Adnan Mirza, director of CAIR Columbus office, said several local radio stations had already rejected the ad.

The ad uses "really just reprehensible-type comments," he insisted.

Mirza said CAIR would likely contact the dealer to "offer some kind of cultural or sensitivity awareness training."

But Mitsubishi Dealership President in Columbus Keith Dennis said the ad was a "fair game" to poke "a little fun at radical extremists."

"It was our intention to craft something around some of the buzzwords of the day and give everyone a good chuckle and be a little bit of a tension reliever," he argued.

CAIR has blamed the surge in anti-Islam bias in the United States on a charged political atmosphere, talk shows, Internet and such ads.

Many conservative radio and television shows have been produced in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, warning Americans of "militant Islamism," "radical Islamism."

Prompt action by US Muslim leaders have forced radio hosts critical of Islam to offer on-air apologies and backtrack on their racist remarks.