It started last year, September to be accurate. A danish newspaper published 12 illustrations depicting the Islamic prophet of Allah: Muhammed.
What might be reaching shores outside of Europe by now is the news of a middle-east almost unanimously boycotting Danish goods, burning the danish flag in the streets and calling home diplomats from my country. Terror threats towards Denmark have been posted on the web.
Why? Because according to the Quran – the Islamic bible – the prophet may not be depicted in any way.
So on one hand we have a secular newspaper in a country with freedom of the press. On the other hand we have nations of Muslims enraged by what would appear to be a clear violation of one of the rules of Islam.
Do we take sides?
No, there’s a grayscale, a golden middle-way.
Voltaire summed it up nicely:
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it
I am a fierce believer in freedom of speech, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this. But just like the publisher of these paintings of the prophet, I know that it’s possible to offend people by exercising this right—consciously or not. We all approach things from our own unique perspective, and what one writer meant doesn’t always translate to readers. As such, free speech is not directly compatible with “do not draw the prophet” and never will be since any drawing could depict the prophet if we said it did. This is the price of free speach and it’s a price worth paying.
This is not about Islam, or any religion for that matter, it is only about freedom of speech. I respect the right to pick your own religion. I have many Muslim friends whom I respect very much. There is nothing wrong with following Islam.
Today, a french, a norwegian and an icelandic newspaper voiced their support of the danish newspaper by publishing the very same pictures. As the icelandic editor reasoned for the re-publishing of the pictures, freedom of the press cannot be argued.
Your opinion is welcome.
On generalizing…
You’re missing my point, I think.
Islam is your religion. When these lunatics attack the West they claim a right backed by Islam and the people that practice Islam. What I’m saying, the problem is that I see way more Muslims chanting for my doom and damnation than I see chanting for my salvation. It has nothing to do with the media only focusing on the bad. If you’re thinking I get my news from FOX you’re off your rocker.
As far as generalizations about Muslim governments you’re right. From what I can see Jordan isn’t so bad. Turkey is mostly okey-dokey. And, sure, there may be some others. However, that doesn’t forgive Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The Saud family is an embarrassment. Why Arabs haven’t risen up and taken back their nation I will never understand. And, I believe Iran closed over 300 newspapers not long ago to stifle the very freedom of speech that we Westerners are so attached to.
Eureka. Here’s the thing, Westerners place a value on freedom of speech comensurate with the apparent value Muslims put on the Mohammed (PBUH) imagery. Immovable object vs. Unstoppable force.
While I will go with the idea that extremists are reading from a backwards version of the Quran the idea that they have nothing to do with popular Muslim belief is laughable. They might not affect your belief but they do affect my perception of that belief.
And, isn’t my perception of that belief part of the issue here?
They’re not losing fast enough.
Bottom line, the view of the average American on the street is this:
Those aren’t my opinions. Those are the opinions of the vast majority of Americans. The reason that’s the opinion of the vast majority of Americans is because the only Muslims we know are the family down the street that own that convenience store and Osama.
If you want that view to change then you, my friend, and more Muslims like you are going to have to stand up and introduce yourselves.
Chris there are two people i think you are mixing up here.. an umayr (thats me) and Umair..
Chris what you have pointed out is the problem, i guess on both sides. they have a generic preception of each other and its sticking. These preceptions cant be broken until a serious effort is done from both sides.
but preconcieved ideas have to be let go . . the americans see islam as a backward and terrorist threat.. and attack iraq and probably will attack iran too .. and in return in the muslim world it is seen as a misuse of power..
Anyway that aside, Saudia’s current king is quite progressive, has started up the process of change.. there have been plenty of new laws implemented.. and trust me i have personally seen the change in that country. There is a great possibility of an election being anounced in the next year or so..
But again all of this is irrelevant, if the americans or the europeans expect that all the people around the world will accept thier point of view and abandon thier own views , i think it might be a mistake.. there has to be a tolerant solution to all these issues.
And seriously enough , the current problems in the muslim world are created via the super powers around.. Osama was CIA .. so were most of the other issues around.. Iran was mostly backed by KGB… and after the cold war was over they just left em stranded causing problems for the world..
But my point being.. to make the change both sides will have to try.. it wont really be solved by terrorism or attacking countries..
oh btw let me introduce my self.. im Umayr Masud from Islamabad Pakistan, and im trying to understand the current problem of modrenity and islam..
[...] I’ve spent some time reading various blog entries regarding the recent Muslim backlash against the Danish cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet of Allah, Mohammed that were initially published September of 2005 and again, recently. [...]
it is abad thing from those dainsh to say that it is a freedom of speach…
becaus no one accept that thing…
Well, that’s part of free speech: it’s not about accepting but about doing it regardless. Of course, people can not accept it, but that’s not a contradiction to free speech.
Rob…there is nothing in the world make this thing a freedom of speech..it is not agood to them: danesh..to drow . nothing in religion have fun
are you agree with me?
I dont blame us muslims for feeling angry…..we are angry because we know that prohet Muhammad has nothing to with terorism. its we muslims today who are doing wrong and not following the way of prophet muhammad peace be upon him. We wouldnt have minded if it was an ordinary muslim man dressed as a terrorist….we might have agreed…….BUT NO they had to take the piss out of the last messenger of Allah( which means god in arabic by the way) A prohet muslims love more than their lives!! we also would be mad if jesus peace be upon him was potrayed like that and even Moses peace be upon him.
It was wrong the way we acted to the situation……The prohet muhammad peace be upon him was also ridiculed at his time? what did he do? ignored them and carried on being kind.
thats the way we should have reacted…….
Sumaya,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. I do not disagree with what you have to say, and muslims have every right to be angry.
[...] has written about the fiasco with the illustration of the Prophet Mohammad, since he’s Danish the topic is obviously closer to him than others out there. I actually had to [...]