Wiseman sours Muslim relations

Published on Sunday 26 May 2002 01:00

SCOTLAND’S biggest dairy company has had to scrap its World Cup advertising campaign after offending thousands of the country’s Muslims by printing the Saudi Arabian flag on its cartons.

Muslims regard the verses from the Koran written on the flag as sacred and are horrified at the thought of the cartons being thrown away in Scottish rubbish bins.

Robert Wiseman Dairies has halted production of the cartons, which featured flags from countries competing in Group E of the World Cup.

The 12,000 cartons that have already come off the production line have had stickers put on them asking users to dispose of them "respectfully".

On Friday an apology was read out from Wiseman at mosques across Scotland to try and appease the community. But some Islamic religious leaders are so incensed, they have demanded the East Kilbride-based company recalls every last remaining carton in Scottish shops.

Individual Muslim shopkeepers are also offering up to 20p for empty cartons so the words can be saved from the dustbin.

Muslims believe the words on the Saudi flag, which state: "There is no God but Allah. Mohammad is the messenger of Allah," are so sacred that any image of it can only be touched by those who are cleansed - Muslims who have washed their hands, arms, face and feet.

Shami Khan, from the Edinburgh Pakistan Society, said the company should recall the cartons regardless of the cost.

"They have deeply offended the Muslim community and the only way to rectify this is for them to recall all the offensive cartons. We don’t want this to create any sort of religious tension in the community, we just want them to show our religion the respect it deserves."

The controversial cartons are adorned with flags of the World Cup Group E, which includes Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, Germany and Ireland.

Glasgow shopkeeper, Ijaz Mohammad, is offering 20p for people returning an empty carton to stop them being put in the bin. He plans to cut out the flags with the sacred wording and keep them in a safe place.

"It’s the only thing I can do to try and salvage this situation myself," he said.

Edinburgh Islamic community leader, Jalal Chaudry, explained why the cartons had offended so many Muslims.

"According to the Muslim belief you can’t touch verses from the Koran without complete purification of the body and these cartons are going to be thrown in the dustbin. People are going to be very upset," he said.

The firm was bombarded by complaints when the cartons hit the shelves last week.

Mohammed Aslam, leader of the Annandale Street mosque and Pakistani Association chairman said: "The Arabic writing on the flag is very important for the Muslim faith.

"We knew people would be throwing the cartons away, which is obviously controversial. There are very strong feelings within the community and a lot of shopkeepers returned their milk to the company.

"Wiseman said they were just trying to raise the profile of the team. They have been very apologetic but what is done is done."

A spokesman for Robert Wiseman Dairies said: "As soon as we became aware of the concerns we approached key figures within the Muslim community to seek guidance and we are working with them to find a solution."

The spokesman described the situation as a "genuine oversight". He added: "We had just been trying to ensure every nation playing in the World Cup was represented."