Emails and SMS messages exchanged by nationals and residents have been urging people to register their protests against the publication of the cartoons by logging on to www. petitiononline.com web site.

A number of preachers in Qatar called for a boycott of Danish goods at Friday prayers last week and while many Muslims in Qatar supported that call, supermarkets still reported requests for Danish products from many expatriates in the country.

Qatar-based scholar, Dr Yousuf Al Qaradawi, has urged the United Nations to act to prevent the defamation of the prophets or religious figures from any religion, anywhere in the world. He was speaking in Arabic on Qatar Television. “We Muslims consider it as a major crime to abuse or denigrate any prophet, including Jesus and Moses. Any Muslim who is doing this will not continue as a Muslim,” Qaradawi is reported to have said.

Speaking on the same subject, Qatar’s First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister, Shaikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani said: “We have to refrain from offending the emotions of people of all faiths. Islam holds prophets with a specific divinity and sacredness”, expressing the hope that other peoples and nations would understand how the Muslim world is reeling from the insult.