Dubious organizations in settlement

A number of international Islam experts are questioning the legitimacy of the Arab organizations involved in the cartoon settlement with daily newspaper Politiken.

There's good reason to doubt claims that members of the eight organizations - who reputedly represent nearly 95,000 descendants of the Prophet Muhammad - are actually related to the Prophet, writes daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.

- There's good reason to question the legitimacy of the kinship, although it is habitually accepted in the Arab world, says Valerie Hoffman from the University of Illinois, USA.

No valid documentation
Politiken has entered into a settlement with the organizations, and the newspaper has apologized for any affront caused to Muslims by the reprinting of Kurt Westergaard's cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.

Saudi lawyer Faisal al-Yamani - who represents the organizations, of which Elaph Ahlo al-Bait in Saudi Arabia and Niqabat al-Ashraf in Egypt are the weightiest - claims that all nearly 95,000 members are able to document that they are, in fact, descendants of the Prophet.

But the organizations, who are now demanding apologies from the 15 other newspapers that reprinted the cartoons in 2008, are unlikely to have valid documentation for their members' kinship with the Prophet, says another expert on Islam.

- It is a well-known hoax to create genealogical lines from the Prophet, in the same way that many Jews dishonestly claim to be Kohanim (descendants of the Biblical Aaron, older brother of Moses). Most Muslims are unable to document any kinship with the Prophet, and it will thus always be a case of allegation and counter-allegation, says professor Moshe Sharon from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Middle-Eastern Studies.

A waning power
According to Valerie Hoffman, the fact that Elaph Ahlo al-Bait was established in the same year as the legal claims were brought against Danish newspapers might indicate that the organization was established for this single purpose. Simply because the founders may have thought that an organization would pack more punch if it were backed by the Prophet's descendants.

Within the Muslim world, the organizations are a waning power, no longer packing the political punch of 200 years ago. The descendant organizations are past their historical prime, according to yet another expert.

- As early as the 19^th century, the organization of descendants in Egypt, Niqabat al-Ashraf, was losing political influence, according to professor Michael Winther from the University of Tel Aviv.

Translated by Martin Lamberth