The New York Muslim Leadership Council (Majlis Ash Shura of New York), an umbrella organization of mosques and Muslim organizations in the greater New York area, held a large demonstration last Friday, to protest against the anti-Muslim cartoons that were first published in Denmark. The cartoons allegedly insult the Prophet Muhammad and demonize Muslims as followers of a terrorist prophet.

Muslim leaders along with almost 10,000 members of the Muslim community, gathered in front of the Danish Consulate in Manhattan to express concerns over the growing Islamophobia in Denmark, and to seek clarifications about the reported snubs against Muslims by the Danish Queen and the prime minister.

The participants held banners and placards with slogans that condemned Danish and European media. Hundreds of students from the Al-Noor Islamic School, as well as kids, parents and people from different walks of life participated in the rally.

Although the protest was peaceful, a large number of New York police were seen in the area.

The rallyists also offered their Jummah [Friday] prayer in front of the Danish Consulate.

According to a resolution passed by the rallyists, their objective was to unequivocally condemn the motives and actions of the Danish media and the support provided to this anti-Muslim stereotyping by some other media institutions in Europe and elsewhere, as well as to reject the violent reaction exhibited by some Muslims as against the teachings of Islam.

In the resolution they demanded the United Nations take actions to de-legitimize and criminalize religious hate mongering. Their demands include:

* The Danish newspapers apologize to the Muslims and work towards undoing the damage done to the Muslim community and to inter-community relations;

* Danish Queen and the Danish government must take concrete steps to counter the growth of Islamophobia in Denmark;

* The U.S. and the European governments must give the highest priority to fighting Islamophobia;

* Dictatorial, unrepresentative and un-Islamic regimes in the Muslim world must be condemned for exploiting the hurt of the Muslim community by staging violent protests;

* Religious leaders, intellectuals and governments must work towards fostering religious understanding and tolerance;

* The media must provide adequate opportunities for Muslim representatives, stop providing legitimacy to Islamophobes and stop sensationalizing by not providing disproportionate coverage to acts of violence by a small minority of Muslims and by providing coverage to the statements and actions of mainstream Muslim representatives.

"All genocides and persecutions were preceded by demonization campaigns including the recent Bosnian and Rwandan genocides and the Gujarat pogrom in India," declared Dr. Shaik Ubaid, a media spokesperson for Muslims in Long Island. “We condemn the demonization of Muslims that is going on in some segments of the media. We also condemn the violent protests and attacks on embassies and demand that the dictatorial governments and political parties stop exploiting this issue. These kinds of protests are against the teachings of Prophet Muhammad."

Imam Talib Abdur Rasheed of Harlem, who is the vice president of the Muslim Association of North America said, "Muslim leaders presented the Danish Consul General with books on the life of Prophet Muhammad who Muslims believe was the last messenger of God in the chain of messengers that include Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Muslims consider Prophet Muhammad as a ‘Mercy of God for humanity.’ World spiritual leaders and intellectuals from Gandhi to Thomas Carlyle to George Bernard Shaw praised the prophet of mercy."