Some Muslim Responsesto the Controversy

I don't expect my neighbor to have the same reverence about the Prophet Muhammad. All that we are expecting is that they don't insult a personality that's made such a historical contribution. This is more a responsibility of living in a pluralistic society than a question of legal restrictions. Dr. Sayyid Syeed, ISNAProphet Muhammad is offended every day when somebody blows themselves up in a marketplace in Iraq. He's offended whenever somebody is beheaded. Prophet Muhammad would have opposed the burning of these embassies, or calls to kill Danes or other people. Imam Mohamed Magid, All Dulles Area Muslim Society

"O you who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and never let hatred of any-one lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God-conscious. And remain conscious of God: verily, God is aware of all that you do" (Quran, Sura 5:8).

The principal issue here is not freedom of speech, but the Islamophobic context in which such a caricaturing of the prophet is taking place. Junaid Ahmad, student

Some European Responsesto the Controversy

Depictions of Muhammad from Islamic Tradition

Persian illustration showing Mohammed (on the right) preaching

14th-century Persian miniature showing the Angel Gabriel speaking to Mohammed

Depiction of Muhammad in the West

Gustave Dor.

Muhammad depicted in the center with Charlemagne and Emperor Justinian on the US Supreme Court

1928 German advertisement for bouillon extract shows Gabriel guiding Mohammed up to Allah

South Park episode Super Best Friends in which the founders of the worlds great religions team up for super-hero action (aired July 4, 2001)

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.Should freedom of expression override respect for other peoples faith? How and when should freedom of expression be applied?

2.What are the ethics of unnecessary provocation? Is it acceptable to offend for the sake of offending?

3.Is this controversy likely to increase Islamophobia in Europe?

4.Are some of the Muslim reactions (boycotts, death threats, flag burnings) justified?

5.How do these images and the media in shape our perceptions?

http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article4463.shtmlPBS Newshour with Margaret Warner (interviewing 2 guests) http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/jan-june06/cartoons_02-06.htmlThe drawings were first published in September 2005. Months later, in January and February more than a dozen European newspapers eventually also published these illustrations, as did a weekly newspaper in Jordan, and a furor erupted in the Muslim world. Tens of thousands of Muslims have demonstrated in the Middle East, Asia and Africa over the cartoons, with several deaths. In Washington last week, President Bush met with Jordans King Abdullah condemning the violent protests and asking world leaders to help stop them. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blamed Syria and Iran for using this to fuel anger and resentment.

On the legal level and from an Islamic perspective, people have a choice," said Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, secretary-general of the Indianapolis-based Islamic Society of North America, the largest Muslim organization in the United States. "I don't expect my neighbor to have the same reverence about the Prophet Muhammad. All that we are expecting is that they don't insult a personality that's made such a historical contribution. This is more a responsibility of living in a pluralistic society than a question of legal restrictions."This is not just a matter of being for freedom of speech and against freedom of speech," Junaid Ahmad, a student active in Muslim organizations said. "The first thing we should realize is that Muslims don't accept the basic framework. The principal issue here is not freedom of speech, but the Islamophobic context in which such a caricaturing of the prophet is taking place. I think that's the issue here. Nevertheless, Ahmad said he was against laws restricting such speech. "You can't give the state too much power. It's better to fight hate not through laws but education and community organizing and activism.Imam Mohamed Magid, executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Northern Virginia, said while he understood Islamic offense at the cartoons, Muslims would be better off protesting defamations against the faith perpetrated by their co-religionists."Prophet Muhammad is offended every day when somebody blows themselves up in a marketplace in Iraq. He's offended whenever somebody is beheaded. Prophet Muhammad would have opposed the burning of these embassies, or calls to kill Danes or other people," Magid said. "You can't be untouchable and then call other people infidel."

The world's leading Islamic body, the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Conference, condemned the violence, saying "Over-reactions surpassing the limits of peaceful democratic acts... are dangerous and detrimental to the efforts to defend the legitimate case of the Muslim world."The Muslim Public Affairs Council called on American Muslims to demonstrate calm and restraint; We call on Muslim leaders worldwide to extinguish the flames of hate with showers of compassion. In the spirit of the Prophet Muhammad, we should pray for God's mercy for all at this time, not for vengeance or harm to any human being. The Qur'an states: "O you who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and never let hatred of any-one lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God-conscious. And remain conscious of God: verily, God is aware of all that you do" (5:8).

In the minds of many Muslims in Europe, the cartoons were intentionally inflammatory, published to further humiliate an ethnic and religious minority that has been socially and economically repressed for decades For many moderate Muslims, the affair is not so much about what is permissible in Islam as it is about what they feel to be a long history of hatred and discrimination and European double standards. For example, you have a freedom of expression, but yet the headscarf has been banned in French schools. Europe has passed laws protecting minorities from insult and hate speech, yet a cartoon depicting the prophet as a terrorist is upheld as a matter of free speech.War in Yugoslavia in which you had genocide of ethnic Muslims in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia;Western support for authoritarian regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Western interference in Middle Eastern politics (Shahs regime in Iran)Western support for Israel in the Palestinian conflictWestern support for the war in IraqDouble standard: western talk of democracy, yet the west attempts to undermine any democratic movement that doesnt fit into its agenda (ex: Hamas)

European responses have centered on the issue of free speech and the violence of some of the protests. Above all, the idea that free speech should override religious sensitivities seems to be at the heart of the Western response. As the journal the Economist opined: Freedom of expression, including the freedom to poke fun at religion, is not just a hard-won human right but the defining freedom of liberal societies. When such a freedom comes under threat of violence, the job of governments should be to defend it without reservation.

Many cartoonists have expressed their mockery of and disdain for the Muslim world's violent reaction with new Mohammed depictions that are intentionally direspectful and/or obscene, to make a point about freedom of speech.

On February 1, France Soir newspaper published this cartoon on its cover, caricaturing Mohammed equally with other religious figures.Steve Sack, Minnesota, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Stephane Peray, The Nation, Bangkok, Thailand

Some cartoons serve to reinforce common stereotypes about Muslims as unable to take a jokeViolent

Brian Fairrington, caglecartoons.com

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com

Brian Fairrington, caglecartoons.com

Even those cartoons that referenced a larger historical context which shaped Muslim perception of the cartoons seemed to miss the larger point.

Larry Wright, Detroit, Michigan, The Detroit News,

The most virulent simply reinforce all of the negative stereotypes (note: Western response says more about us and how we would like to define ourselves: as free, democratic, civilized in opposition to them: barbaric, primitive, violent.

The Study of Revenge blog featured this uncompromising image by D. T. Devareaux.

It has been argued by many, both Muslims and non-Muslims, that the cartoons are blasphemous because they offend a tradition in Islam that the Prophet should not be depicted. However, there is a long history of depicting the Prophet in Islamic art.Persian or central Asian illustration showing Mohammed (on the right) preaching.

The Ascension of the Prophet from Jami Al-Tawarikh ("The Universal History" written by Rashid Al-Din), a manuscript in the Library of the University of Edinburgh; illustrated in Tabriz, Persia, c. 1315.

Fourteenth-century Persian miniature showing the Angel Gabriel speaking to Mohammed.

There is also a long history of representing Muhammad in the West, representations that are both positive and negative.Dante's Inferno In the Inferno chapter of Dante's trilogy The Divine Comedy, Mohammed is described as being one of the "Sowers of Discord," showing his entrails to Dante and Virgil in the Eighth Circle of Hell:

Inferno XXVIII, 19-42.

The poets are in the ninth chasm of the eighth circle, that of the Sowers of Discord, whose punishment is to be mutilated. Mahomet shows his entrails to Dante and Virgil while on the left stands his son Ali, his head cleft from chin to forelock.

Several famous artists have created their own illustrations of this scene. In each drawing, Mohammed is the one with his torso slit open.

This picture is of an early Renaissance fresco in Bologna's Church of San Petronio, created by Giovanni da Modena and depicting Mohammed being tortured in Hell. Inspired by Dante, who consigned Mohammed to the ninth circle of hell - reserved for religious schismatics - in his Divine Comedy.

In 2002, an Islamist terror group linked to al-Qaida was suspected of plotting to blow up Bologna's most important church to erase the offence of a 15th-century Gothic fresco showing Mohammed being tormented by devils in hell.The North Frieze on the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC features a bas-relief sculpture of Mohammed, among several other historical law-givers. He is in the center of this image holding a curved scimitar; on the left is Charlemagne, and on the right is Byzantine Emperor Justinian.1928 German advertisement for bouillon extract shows Gabriel guiding Mohammed up to Allah.The television cartoon South Park aired an episode on July 4, 2001 called Super Best Friends. In it, the founders of the world's great religions -- including Mohammed -- team up for super-hero action. Mohammed (seen here) is depicted repeatedly throughout the show.