The "offense" was committed by Gillian Gibbons, a Briton, teaching English to young boys in Khartoum, where a court sentenced the British mother of two to 15 days in prison for allowing young pupils at the exclusive private school to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Angry crowds gathered outside mosques Friday following noon prayers protesting the "lenient" sentence handed to the British teacher. Some protesters carrying knives and sticks demanded nothing short of the death penalty. The death penalty for naming a stuffed teddy bear? As an American investigative reporter with ABC News used to say at the end of every segment, "Give me a break!"

In naming the culpable toy bear after the Prophet it is absolutely certain that this was not done as any act of ill-respect, but rather as a sign of affection and love. This is clearly where civilizations do clash for lack of understanding of the other's culture. For the Sudanese who were offended to the point of asking for the death penalty for such a trivial matter, they ought to realize that Western societies hold teddy bears in great esteem. There is hardly a child in the Western world who does not own at least one or two or sometime a collection of dozens of such toy bears.

Great pain is given in naming these bears by the children, for whom the bears become a cherished companion that accompanies them to bed that night to help soothe childhood fears of the dark. The teddy bear becomes part of the child's life, and sometimes even part of the family.

But nobody would pass the death sentence on the Sudanese who are ignorant of these facts and who are calling for the death of a human being, the mother of two children, a teacher who devoted part of her life to the education of Sudan's own children.

And just as many people in Sudan are unaware of Western traditions, Mrs. Gibbons, though she should have known better, never expected that naming the toy after the Prophet would create such an uproar. Still, this hardly calls for 15 days in jail, not to mention the fact that she will lose her job upon release from jail and be expelled from the country.

Gibbons was granted a presidential pardon by Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir Monday and was released to British custody hours later. It was a wise decision which we applaud in calling for a better understanding between cultures.