Strasbourg, Germany — Syria's top Sunni Muslim cleric urged the media Tuesday to use caution when reporting on religion, saying that the choice and timing of a report can cause a war.
"A simple piece of information can spark a war. If a man dies because of information that you have made public, his death will be on your conscience," Shiekh Ahmed Badreddin Hassun told reporters at the European Parliament.
His remarks came in response to questions about the 2005 crisis when satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first published in Denmark caused an uproar in the Muslim world, resulting in protests and several deaths.
The Grand Mufti expressed regret over what he said was the "instrumentalisation of this dossier, which arose from a simple, isolated case."
"Some television stations chose Friday, one hour before prayers" to broadcast the story, he said, adding that "there are media who want to create a conflict" between the West and the Muslim world.
The Koran does not explicitly ban images of the Prophet Mohammed, but attempts to capture his image, in drawings in this instance, are seen as an insult.
Earlier, in a speech to the assembly which was part of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, the Grand Mufti voiced confidence that the world would not soon see a holy war.
"I am confident. I don't think there will be a holy war. Wars are never holy. Peace, though, is holy," he said.