WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Several U.S. Muslim groups reportedly are playing a mediator role to calm Muslims elsewhere angered over the Danish cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.
Leaders of the U.S. groups admit they share the outrage of other Muslims. But they also are telling other Muslims they must stop the violence in reverence to the prophet who would never have approved of their behavior such as the bloody riots and the burning of Danish embassies, reports The New York Times.
In phone calls to Muslim leaders in Europe and in interviews with media outlets in the Middle East, these leaders are saying the rioters are playing into the stereotype of Muslims as barbarians, says the report.
Simultaneously, in meetings at the embassies of European nations, the American Muslim leaders are saying they too value free speech, but counsel those governments to condemn the cartoons as hateful and bigoted.
'Muslims in America and in Canada are doing very well economically and in other ways, and that gives them pretty significant clout to get Muslims in Europe to listen to what they have to say,' said one of the U.S. Muslim leaders.
