The weekly tabloid said it had underestimated the depth of anger ignited by carrying the cartoon by controversial cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro - popularly known as Zapiro - on Friday.

It is against Islamic practice to depict the Prophet Muhammad in a drawing or painting. The Mail & Guardian said it regretted "the sense of injury it caused many Muslims."

Muslim organisations and individuals in the country were outraged and came together to form the United Muslim Forum of South Africa, comprising representatives of the Muslim Judicial Council, Media Review Network, Muslim Lawyers' Association and various Islamic clergy.

The forum met with the newspaper's management, after which the publication's chief executive Hoosain Karjieker and editor Nick Dawes said they had "communicated its regret and apologised at the meeting for the harm caused by the publication of the cartoon".