Assalamu alaykum: Below, the best response I have seen yet to those who defend abuse of the Prophet (pbuh) on "free speech" grounds. Read it all the way through, and you will see that those who make this defense are quite ignorant of *AMERICAN* law!
Pass it on! ---------------------------------- ... These cartoons, especially their current, repeated republication are the graphic equivalent of "fighting words". All those U.S. commentators who claim that free speech is absolute are obviously ignorant of their own country's law in this regard. Even in the U.S., which is often cited as the place with the strongest tradition of free and unfettered speech, there is a legal doctrine that limits speech when that speech is considered likely to be so provocative as to incite a violent reaction. In its 1942 decision, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, the Supreme Court of the United States articulated the fighting words doctrine, a limitation of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. The Court said: "There are certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which have never been thought to raise any constitutional problem. These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or "fighting words" those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality." Certainly the reaction we are now seeing from some Muslims clearly shows that the Danish cartoons are in this category of "fighting words" and should not be included under the protection of free speech. That does not mean that the ideas behind the cartoons cannot be expressed; it means that they must be expressed in a form that does not rise to the level of "fighting words" that incite a breach of the peace. The Prophet Muhammad never retaliated against those who insulted him. He did not seek vengeance on them. And in one instance, at least, it appears that he did not tell his companions until much later about a woman who was insulting him on a daily basis and throwing garbage down on him out of her upstairs window. He kept silent, some believe, because he was afraid that someone would take matter into their own hands and teach the woman a lesson. Now is the time for EVERYONE, regardless of their opinions in this affair, to back off a bit and leave the way open for cooler heads to prevail. Those who continue to engage in Muslim bashing by re-publishing the cartoons are NOT practicing "press freedom" (a precious right) but "press license" (the irresponsible use of that right). -- Peace to all who seek God's face. Abdelkarim Benoit Evans ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
