Denmark has sought Malaysia's help to quell the global furore over the controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoons.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said he received a call from his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller on Friday, said the Star daily.

"He telephoned me to ask for cooperation from Malaysia to explain the issue," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying.

"He told me they respect Islam and it was never their intention to hurt the feelings of Muslims," he said.

"He hopes Malaysia can help in explaining and containing the situation from getting out of control and causing a divide between Muslims and non-Muslims."

Ban on cartoons

Mainly-Muslim Malaysia is the current chair of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), the world's largest grouping of Islamic nations.

The government suspended the publishing licence of a daily newspaper last week after it re-printed the cartoons. It has also slapped a ban on circulating and possessing the caricatures.

The cartoon row was sparked by the publication last September of the controversial drawings in a Danish newspaper, including one with a turban shaped as a bomb.

The cartoons, repeated by newspapers in a number of European countries, have sparked protests across the Muslim world over the last two weeks, including several which turned violent.

Meeting to discuss cartoons

Meanwhile, Iran has sought an emergency OIC meeting to discuss the global controversy arising from the cartoons.

"The Iranian foreign minister has requested that we hold a special meeting among the foreign ministers from the OIC countries to discuss the situation because the impact from the caricatures has been felt by Islamic countries," said Syed Hamid.

"I think many countries are worried. The idea is how do we contain these feelings and emotions," he told reporters at an international conference.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia would support Iran to get the agreement of the 57 Muslim countries to hold the meeting.

Who speaks for Islam?

Earlier, Malaysia's deputy prime minister Najib Razak said in the closing speech of the conference entitled "Who speaks for Islam? Who speaks for the West?", that the cartoons had put the spotlight on rising tensions in relations between the West and Islam.

He also said that the rise of secularism in Western countries contributed to the tensions.

"Islam sees the process of secularisation as a corruptive influence and a pernicious enemy. Indeed, Islam's philosophical opposition to secularism puts it in intellectual opposition to the West and presents an opportunity for malicious provocateurs to incite conflict and hatred," Najib said.