 The incident occurred at a time of unusually strained relations between the Muslim world and the West . This was a result of decades of Muslim immigration to Europe , recent political struggles , violent incidents such as September 11 and a string of Islamist terrorist attacks and Western interventions in Muslim countries . The cartoons were used as a tool by different political interests in a wide variety of local and international situations . Some debate surrounded the relationship between Islamic minorities and their broader societies , and the legal and moral limits that the press should observe when commenting on that minority or any religious minority group . 
