In Rostov-on-Don, Publishing House agrees to edit "Moidodyr" at Muslims' request

The Rostov Publishing House "Kniga" (Book) has agreed to edit the publication of the fairy tale "Moidodyr" at the request of Muslims. Believers were offended by an image of a crocodile, which held in its paws a sheet of paper, similar to the Koran. Muftis call on not to give any meaning to the story.

The believers' indignation has aroused from an illustration to the fairy tale, which depicts a crocodile holding a sheet of paper in its right paw, and Arabic script is clearly visible on the sheet.

"It is not hard to guess that the crocodile holds in its paw a page of the Holy Koran... The ethics of handling the Koran does not involve tearing pages out of it and walking with them in hands. Besides, it is important that the children's book can be anywhere, including any dirty place, and the above page will be there together with the book," writes Danat Zaripov, the author of the edition "islam.ru".

According to his opinion, the publication can be treated as an attempt to insult the feelings of believers. Danat Zaripov rests the responsibility for that on the designer who draw the crocodile and on the publishing house that published the book.

After the Muslim edition drawn attention to the illustration, staff members of the publishing house contacted a mufti. This was reported by the "Rostov News Agency" with reference to Galina Martirosova, Director of the Printing Office of the Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) "Kniga".

"Our staff member went to Mufti, and he could not clearly answer whether that is a page from the Koran," stated the Director of the Printing Office.

Meanwhile, the Publishing House refused to undertake responsibility for the incident and noted that the illustrations were ordered from the designer Elena Demidenko. However, the Publishing House has apologized and promised to change the controversial illustration.

"We apologize and make sure that the next edition of the book will be changed and the page will be replaced by another one. Besides, we believe that all claims should be presented to the designer and not to our company," the "161.ru" quotes the official report of the Publishing House as stating.

"I have never seen the Koran, and, therefore, I never think to insult the feelings of Muslims," Elena Demidenko said in her interview to the "Komsomolskaya Pravda".

According to her story, during the preparation of the book, she drew an ordinary newspaper.

"However, the customer did not like the colour. Then, I found a suitable option on the Internet. I gave it to editor, who approved all items. Of course, I would like to apologize if I had offended the feelings of believers," Elena Demidenko said.

Nafigulla Ashirov, co-Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, described the incident as a provocation that would not be left unpunished.

Jafar Bikmaev, Mufti of the Rostov Region, call on the journalists not to inflate a scandal, the "Novaya Gazeta in Yuzhny Federalny" reports.