Figure 1.--This Tajik girl had a huge white teddy. I'm not sure, however, what she namedit. Source: William Ferguson collection. |
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Stuffed animals appear to be popular in both the Arab and wider-Muslim world. We do not yet have much information available. As in the West, they seem to appeal to both bys and girls. The Muslim world is quite diverse. We are not sure to what extent their popularity varied among countries. Nor do we know about the animals that were most popular. Teddies of course are favorites in the West. I am not sre that this is the same in Muslim countries. Like dolls, cuddle toys seem to have escaped the Islamic distate for depictions of people and other living things. We are not sure about nameing conventins. Teddies seem to have been commonly called 'teddy".
Stuffed animals appear to be popular in both the Arab and wider-Muslim world.
As in the West, they seem to appeal to both bys and girls.
The Muslim world is quite diverse. We are not sure to what extent their popularity varied among countries. Nor do we know about the animals that were most popular. Teddies of course are favorites in the West. I am not sre that this is the same in Muslim countries.
A British teacher who has worked in the Muslim world tells us, "Yes Children in Tajikistan had cuddle toys and teddy bears, As they did in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Kuwait. Some children had quite large collections of them. One boy, Anvar, had a cuddle teddy that he hugged. He was 11 year old and I recall at that age taking my favorite toy car to bed."
Muslims seem to be making an exception to the Islamic tradition regarding human and and animal figurinsxand depictions when it comes to toys for children. I am not sure if this is a recent development or one of long standing. As far as we can tell, dolls for little girls are an exception to the Islamic concern with the production of human figures. Presumably the issues has been discussed by Koranic scholars. Here we are unfamilr with any such discussion. A factor here may be the importance that the Koran places on motherhood and the family. As the Islamic tradition also discourages animal depictions and figurines, an exception has also been made for nimal cuddle toys lke teddies.
Our British reader tells us, "The curious thing I found in Kuwait was that the Teddy had not been given a name. It was known as Teddy. (Teddy in Kuwait would not have the context of a person's name as it does in America and Britain.) As far as I know the Teddy's had no name nor did the dolls either. That is expept the Bratt Dolls there is a group of them and these are already named. As far as I know the name would be the type of animal it was a Teddy Bear might have a name such as Cuddly Bear."
Our tendency in HBC is to look at the Koran when assessing major issues concerning the Muslim world. There are of course a much wider body of Islamic religious worj, but the Koran is the core and it is useful to see just what the Koran says. Tere are several Koranic references to animals, although they are not discussed in great detail. These are the passages we have found. Muslims cncerned about the ethical treatment of animals cite other passages to prove that the Koran requires animals to be treated humanely, but this is through inference, not because animals are explicitly mentioned. And when they are mentioned it is more as parables for human behavior than a passage actually about animals. There are some interesting passages about the conciousness abd value of animals, This is presumably the basis for Islamic law (Shari'ah) concerning the rights of animals which are very elaborate and explicit. We do not note condemnations of animals. Rather the Koran appears to hold animals in high regard. Therecare interesting passages about wildlife. And the Koran does not condemn dogs.
When we created the country teddy page, we did not think that Sudan wold be one of the countries we would add to the list. But now the Sudan is now a country that has to be included. This because of a 54-year old British teacher Gillian Gibbons who became fascinated with Sudan and decided to teach there so she could lear more about the country and the people and she certainly fulfilled her goal! Gibbons is no doubt a sensative, idealistic woman. Like many of her generation in the West, she is comitted to the idea of cultural relativity or that cultural values are relative and that we in the West should not judge Third World societies on the basis of our values. Like virtually all British people she had fond mempries of teddies as a child and much of used them with her Brirish students. So she apparently brought a teddy with her to use in her 2nd-grade Sudanese class of 7-year olds. The children were enchanted by the teddy and out of affection named it Mohammed. Ms. Gibbons had no role in this, but did not prevent the children from doing this. It was an innocent mistake. The Sudanese are of course unfamilar with teddies. They have read about bears and know they can be fierce animals. Arabs in general do not have the tendency of us in the West to ascribe human caracteristics to animals and give them human names. (The dogs we in the Wst love have a very different status in Arab countries.) Thus some parents complained about Ms. Gibbons. Now a reasonable response would be for the parents to have spoken with Ms. Gibbons and explain that nmming the teddy Mohammed was inappropriate. Or they could have gone to the school principal. Instead they went to the police. The police arrested Ms. Gibbons and charged her of 1) insulting religion, 2) inciting hatred, and 3) showing contempt for religious beliefs. This could have resulted in a sentence of 40 lashes and 6 months in prison. The court in a closed session cinvicted Ms. Gibbons and sentenced her to 15 days and jail after which she will be deported. [Sullivan] After the sentence was announced, crowds in Khartoum marched through the streets, bradishing machettes and demanding that Ms. Gibbons be put to death.
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