Not content with upsetting the Jewish religion, Professor Richard Dawkins, the celebrated atheist, has now annoyed some Muslims.

Speaking about the damage caused to the library in Timbuktu, in Mali, he described those who burnt it down as Islamic Barbarians.

His comments have been interpreted as being derogatory to Islam and insulting to followers of the religion by some on the social networking site Twitter.

The best selling author of The God Delusion and Oxford Professor, Tweeted that “Like Alexandria, like Bamiyan, Timbuktu’s priceless manuscript heritage destroyed by Islamic barbarians”.

His comments were met with a backlash with many people condemning him of unfairly attacking Islam and ignoring the many acts of vandalism carried out by Christians.

But he hit back saying: “Some people (perhaps 1st language not English) think I was calling ALL Muslims barbarians. No. I was calling Islamic BARBARIANS barbarians.”

Daily Telegraph, 30 January 2013

Perhaps Dawkins should try describing an act of Israeli state terrorism as the work of “Jewish barbarians” and then attempt to justify this comment on the basis that he was “calling Jewish BARBARIANS barbarians”. The objections to his remark about the God of the Old Testament would pale into insignificance.