Some Westerners, including Bill Clinton, have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremists. 1400 years of history demonstrates otherwise. Relations between Islam and the West have often been stormy. These are tense times in the Islamic world. Afghanistan and Iraq are under American military occupation and have ceased to be sovereign, independent countries. Iran is now in the gunsight. The alienation between Islam and the West has never been more intense. Today Europe is caught between Voltaire and Islam. Laughing at religion is a part of western culture. Cynicism and satire are part of that culture. Freedom of _expression_ is one of the cornerstones of western democracy. In sharp contrast, Muslims are not used to laughing at religion and ridiculing the Prophets, not only Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) but all the Prophets of Islam. No wonder, it is difficult for Western people to understand the violent Muslim reaction to the publication of blasphemous cartoons vilifying the Holy Prophet.
To non-Muslims, the image of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) may only be of casual interest. But to Muslims, it is of enormous spiritual importance. The cartoon affair has revealed a deep conflict between Western values and Muslim susceptibilities. Muslims are appalled and angered by the insensitivity and stupidity of the cartoons. It is not a legal issue or an issue of rights. Do I go around insulting people just because I am free to do so? For the last 1400 years, Muslims have adhered to a strict code that prohibits any visual portrait of the Holy Prophet. Here in Pakistan, defiling the sacred name of Prophet Muhammad by words or by visible representation or otherwise, is a grave offense punishable with death or long imprisonment under our law. Therefore, when the Holy Prophet was mocked in Denmark, it set off a wave of anger. Criticism of Islam is one thing. Mockery of the Holy Prophet is religious bigotry, and racial hatred and is totally unacceptable.
Cartoons are a powerful tool of communication. They are not in essence ugly. What is disgusting is how it has been misused to insult the Holy Prophet and hurt the sentiments of billion of Muslims throughout the world. Isnt it a bit cheap to test your freedom of _expression_ on the back of Muslims beliefs and tell them, this is totally taboo in your religion, look how free I am to break this taboo? You can do nothing.
Freedom of _expression_, is a defining ideal, Karen Armstrong said recently, but it also carries great responsibility. We are living in a dark time; the prejudice that blossomed in Europe in 1930s could unfold today too. Freedom of _expression_ is never absolute, Secretary General Kofi Anan said recently, It entails responsibility and judgment. Voltaire, the conscience of Europe, the hero of liberal France, directed all his ire not against Islam or its Prophet, but against all the distinctive doctrines of traditional Christianity original sin, Trinity, incarnation, intolerance, hatred and bigotry. Voltaire believed that every citizen shall be free to exercise his freedom of _expression_ provided it does not disturb the public order. Thou has not given us hearts to hate. May trifling differences between us not be used by us as signals of mutual hatred and persecution! May all men remember that they are brothers? So let us keep Voltaire out of this debate and not use him to ridicule Prophet Muhammad.
Something is obviously wrong in the Kingdom of Denmark. Once it prided itself being a permissive and open society, having the most open immigration policies in Europe, a generous welfare state, always on the side of good. That was 50 years ago when I first visited this beautiful country with its bike-riding commuters, its sensible social democracy, its dairy farms, and Lego factory. It seems it is easier to be liberal and tolerant when your neighbour looks like you, speaks the same language and has the same habits. Today Danes are willing to pay for a welfare state but not for Muhammad Hussain who comes from Pakistan 5000 miles away. Oh! What a difference half a century makes?
The Danish paper Jyllands Posten which first published the objectable cartoons has since issued a statement regretting the offense that the cartoons had caused to Muslims around the world, but continues to insist that their publication was justified under the principle of freedom of speech! Danish Prime Minister Fogh Ras Mussen has reiterated that there would be no apology for the cartoon! To show solidarity, several European newspapers republished the cartoons, some of them urging tough action in defence of press freedom. The liberty to do evil is not liberty. Freedom of _expression_ cannot be the freedom to tell lies. We too value free speech but the Danish government must condemn the cartoons as hatful and bigoted.
Is it surprising that nobody in the Islamic world believes Danes when they say it is a false picture to portray them as enemies of Islam and Prophet Muhammad? Such words fail to resonate when the Danish government relies on the swing vote of the Danish Peoples Party whose leaders have publicly compared Muslims to cancer cells. They are openly telling their peoples that Islam is a terrorist religion; that our Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a con man. A country that touts itself as the worlds biggest net contributor of foreign per capita recently introduced legislation making it virtually impossible for torture victims to obtain Danish citizenship. The Peoples Party leader Pia Kga Ersgard recently wrote that the Islamic religious community, was the enemy inside. The Trojan horse in Denmark. A kind of Islamic mafia!
In the West, Karen Armstrong wrote, We have never been able to cope with Islam, our ideas about this faith have been crude, dismissive and arrogant, but we have now learnt that we cannot remain in an attitude of such ignorance and prejudice. Writing in 1956, the well-known Canadian scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith, pointed out that, both the West and the Islamic world would have to make a major effort if they were not to fail the test of the 20th century. Muslims would have to come to terms with western society and western success because these are facts of life. But western people too had to learn that they share the planet not with inferiors but with equals. Whether we like it or not, we all effectively live next door to one another. In a globalized world in which the relationships among different civilizations continue to multiply and in which a local incident may have worldwide repercussions, it is vital that we cultivate the value of respect, tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Islam and the West share a common tradition. Muslims do not hate Western freedoms. They have no quarrel with the Western way of life. From the time of the Holy Prophet Muslims have recognized this, but the West cannot accept it.
The publication of the blasphemous cartoons has become a cause celebre throughout the world and has hit the Islamic world like a Tsunami spreading in fast and unpredictable ways. The cartoons have lit a match and setoff an Islamic prairie fire that will soon set the whole region ablaze. Pakistan has been shaken up like a sleeping person from a tranquilizing dream. The people of Pakistan have broken their deafening silence and have taken to the streets. In the history of states and peoples there comes a turning point which alters the course of history. A turning point may also occur in the peoples mind. That is what has happened in Pakistan today. People have overcome fear and seem to have crossed the psychological barrier. They are filled with anger and angst. Who has the capacity and will to channelize and guide this rage? Sometimes the right man appears in a key historical moment and changes the course of history.
ABDUL WAHID OSMAN BELAL
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{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]
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