Pants with Koran verses taken off sale in Michigan

SOUTHFIELD, Michigan (Reuters) -- A Michigan store has agreed to stop selling women's jeans covered with verses from the Koran, a product that Muslim leaders labeled blasphemous, officials for the shopping mall where the store is located said Wednesday.

Officials for the Northland Center shopping mall Tuesday bought the remaining 20 pairs of pants, which were inscribed with the words "Allah" and "In the name of God, most gracious most merciful."

Other verses from the Muslim holy book ran around the waist and cuffs of the jeans, made by a company called Unity USA.

The owner of the store Hot Stuff 2, located in the mall just a few miles north of Detroit, has agreed to no longer sell the garments, said Northland Center spokeswoman Susan Haddad.

"The pants have all been removed," Haddad said. "Hopefully we'll have peace and the merchant can stop getting all these phone calls."

Muslim groups from the Detroit area, which has the largest concentration of Arab-Americans in the United States, had threatened to boycott the store and the mall.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For more US news, myCNN.com will bring you news from the areas and subjects you select.

See related sites about US

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.