You do not have to be particularly a Muslim to feel deeply hurt or offended by cartoons of Prophet Mohammad that have inflamed the Islamic world. The contention that any depiction of the Prophet is per se unacceptable in Islam is debatable. But some of the controversial 12 cartoons originally published by a Danish paper several months ago, and now being published all over in a rare gesture of media solidarity, are undoubtedly grating on religious sensibilities.
One of them shows the Prophet with a bomb tucked in his headgear. Another shows him entreating his followers, "Stop, stop, we have run out of virgins"! Yet another goes with the legend, "Prophet, deaf and dumb, keeping women under thumb". And another shows him on the go, blinkered, sword in hand, leading two burqa-clad women; all you can see of the women is terror in their eyes. Taken together, what do these cartoons add up to except an image of the Prophet as a bloodthirsty, misogynist tyrant? An original Osama bin Laden, if you please, whose followers today are bent on forcing all Muslim women behind the veil and who show not the least qualm in blowing-up infidel men, women and children to bits, all in pursuit of virgins in the promised paradise.
Enraged Muslims across the globe protesting against such insults to the Prophet fail to recognize that what they are dealing with here is not blasphemy but demonizing. It's in the same league as proclamation of a prominent Bajrang Dal leader some years ago that there can be no peace as long as the Qur'an was around. The same sentiment continues to be reiterated by other prominent members of sangh parivar every now and then. Here as with the Danish cartoons the issue is not blasphemy per se but insidious demonizing of an entire community.
Were the Danish cartoons a depiction of Osama or his ilk, no one could or should have complained. But when terror and enslavement of women are projected as synonymous with Islam, all Muslims stand demonized as a dangerous multitude of bloodthirsty vermin. Faced with such hate propaganda, Muslims have every right to, and they must, protest. But the forms of protest that many Muslims and even governments have chosen — mindless economic boycott of Danish products, snapping diplomatic ties, torching embassies, issuing death sentences against all Danish and Norwegian citizens, raging mobs taking to streets with banners and placards calling for butchery of enemies of Islam — are enormously self-damaging.
Through such misguided deeds, Muslims end up affirming the very image of their community that they are ostensibly outraged about. What do the agitating Muslims want? In an open letter addressed to "Honourable Fellow Citizens of the Muslims World", dated January 30, Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief of the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, has explained that "we are strong proponents of the freedom of religion and because we respect the right of any human being to practice his or her religion, offending anybody on the grounds of their religious beliefs is unthinkable to us. That this happened was, consequently, unintentional". This obviously is not enough for the agitators. Ideally, they would like to see cartoonists, editors and proprietors of the newspaper hanged in public.
At the very least they want an exemplary government crackdown on Jyllands-Posten. Some have reportedly also called for new international legislation making the death sentence obligatory for all blasphemers, blissfully unaware that many western democracies have done away with capital punishment altogether even for the worst crimes imaginable. Fortunately, unlike Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria or Egypt, Denmark is a functioning democracy. Like other democracies, it too does not hold the right to freedom of expression as absolute.
Last August, for example, Danish authorities withdrew the broadcasting license of a Copenhagen radio station for three months because it called for the extermination of Muslims. That, according to the authorities, was clear incitement to violence (against Muslims) and therefore actionable. They may argue with the Danish on where the Lakshman rekha be drawn between freedom of expression and its abuse for incitement to violence But they must also ask themselves why they remain silent when any number of mullahs and assorted jehadis (Fadi Abdullatif, spokesman for Danish branch of the militant Hizb-ul-Tahrir, is one of them), shamefully misuse the hospitality and freedom of western democracies to openly incite Muslims to violence against fellow citizens. And they must be thankful that countries like Denmark don't have laws like Pakistan's notorious blasphemy law that is a curse for religious minorities and the press. Addressing a gathering of faithful during Friday prayers, Qatar-based Shaikh Yusuf Alqarzadi, a highly respected religious leader, condemned the burning down of Danish and Norwegian embassies. Exhorting Muslims to eschew extremism, he appealed to them to express their unhappiness over the offensive cartoons in a "decent" and "civilized" manner. "I cannot condone destruction and arson because they are against basic human decency and the teachings of Islam", he said. May Allah add power to Alqarzadi's voice against targeted groups.
5 years ago
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