Have Muslims Become Caricatures?
Another point of view

We Muslims are getting ridiculous by the day -- now we are waging Jihad against humor -- killing people and dying dying for it!!!!

...the major responsibility for this irrational behavior of the community also lies on the goddam shoulders of the Goddam leaders of the Muslims communties and Muslims countries...

Mr. Momani and Mr. Khalidi are the normal sensible rational Muslims who had the guts to stand up against a raging insanity and tell their community hold it -- what are you doing --

and they are not the rarity -- they may be in that kingdom -- but there are millions of Muslims like them all of the world who are as horrified as anybody else at the irrational f behavior of their own people.

the king of Jordan and his government that arrested -- apparently the only two sensible normal Muslims in his whole goddam kingdom -- in turn becomes the inciter and perpetrator of this crime against rationality -- justifying the hooliganism -- and his ambassador in Washington becomes an accessory.

these crazy mindless people have made us Muslims a laughing stock of the whole civilized world.

There is no community in the world that acts so irrationally right now -- except us.
A Jihad against Humor? -- who has ever heard such a weird crazy idea like this....ever.

We Muslims are totally f``cked up sick. Period.

RELEASE MOMANI AND KHALIDI AT ONCE...YOU a bunch of SHAMELESS COWARDS

have the guts to stand by the side of your editors against all this looting, burning and killing -- instead of arresting them -- Shame on you Jordan.

HP

Re: # 38

Admittedly, I did not look at the matter from the perspective of `Saudi fundamentalism`. You do seem to have a point :-)

Most of us have come to the same conclusion, despite where we find ourselves in the debate over this issue: this is a story with plenty of villians and few, if any, heroes. But there is a true hero in this story, a partisan on the side of freedom, who has made a great sacrifice. His name is Jihad Momani.

Jihad Momani was the editor-in-chief of the Jordanian weekly newspaper Shihane. On Thursday, Jan. 26th, Mr. Momani published three of the Danish cartoons in Shihane, running them alongside an editorial penned by Mr. Momani which said ``Muslims of the World, be reasonable.``

`` What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?`` asked Mr. Momani.

Mr. Momani was arrested the following day, after which he was sacked by the paper and the publisher pulled all issues from newsstands. A few days later, another Jordanian, Hashem al-Khalidi, editor-in-chief of a weekly tabloid called Al-Mehwar which also reproduced a few of the cartoons, was likewise arrested.

If we are friends of freedom, we will stand united with Mr. Momani. I urge each of you to contact the Jordanian embassy, and let the Ambassador, Mr. Karim Kawar, know that neither Mr. Momani or Mr. al-Khalidi should go to jail. They will be having their next hearing in the next ten days.

Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
3504 International Drive, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Telephone number: (202) 966 - 2664
Fax number: (202) 966 - 3110
E-mail: HKJEmbassyDC@aol.com

Nice write-up.

This newspaper thing had very little to do with ``freedom of speech``. It wanted to incite people and it did achieve its purpose. While ``Muslim death threats`` are being widely reported, newspapers are having a field day publishing fascist (read anti-Muslim) op-eds and reports. My grouse with ``Muslims`` is that these writings are not vigorously and itelligently opposed.

#33 by ahmadzai

“If we let these attacks pass us by unchecked, the frequency will only increase.”

My take is a little different. I think more of such things would sort of “immunize” Muslims.
What is reasonable: make your life better or worry about these things? Why these things should be such a big deal to take out huge rallies or attack properties? I think it is childish and faster people come out of this mindset which allows others to provoke them, would be better for them.

Dante’s inferno had the worst caricatures but nobody talks about them now. Because no body cared. The West came down from its high pedestal of civil liberties, tolerance and respect for all faiths and religions and chose to ridicule a religion, why others have to emulate them?

I agree that like the Danes have the right to publish the drawings, the Muslims have a right to protest that too. Economic protest is perhaps the best form and boycotting Danish products, brought out the apology real fast but once the apology was rendered, what is the point of continuing with the protests?

One thing that I am hearing again and again is that after the Danish Muslim protested in October, the whole affair had simply died down. But right after the Haj, the Saudi Newspapers wrote articles after articles against the drawings, the Saudi government was the first one to protest with the Danish government and tried to force them to apologize and then was the first to promote boycott of the Danish Products.

Why the Saudi government is so hot on this issue? I think the Saudi government is again using this whole affair to promote its brand of fundamentalism on the ME societies. They had suffered several setbacks but now with Hamas win (with financial support from Saudi) and this protest, the fundamentalists in the ME, who have strong support from Saudi Arabia, would regain the political ground they were losing fast.

This protest is clearly led by people who support Saudi Arabia see the Flags in the protest with kalima etc on them. Fundamentalism and especially the Saudi brand is not good for the ME and other Muslim countries.

There is a need to look at the political fallout of this whole drama and see who is benefiting from it. If the beneficiaries are fundamentalists, then there may be trouble ahead in the ME.

#28 by anil

I completely agree with you. Sometimes reforms are forced.

Tolerance Toward Intolerance

By Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff

It`s worth remembering that the controversy started out as a well-meaning attempt to write a children`s book about the life of the prophet Muhammad. The book was designed to promote religious tolerance. But the author encountered the consequences of religious hatred when he looked for an illustrator. He could not find one. Denmark`s artists seemed to fear for their lives. In turning down the job they mentioned the fate of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, murdered by an Islamic fundamentalist for harshly criticizing fundamentalism.

When this episode percolated to the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, the paper`s cultural editor commissioned the caricatures. He wanted to see whether cartoonists would self-censor their work for fear of violence from Muslim radicals. Still, the European media ignored this story in a small Scandinavian country. It took months, a boycott of Danish products in the Arab world and the intervention of such champions of religious freedom as the governments of Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Libya (all of which withdrew their ambassadors from Copenhagen) for some European papers to reconsider their stance on the cartoons. By last week it was not an obscure topic anymore but front-page news. And it wasn`t about religious sensibilities as much as about free speech. That`s when the cartoons started to show up in papers all over Europe.

Much of the U.S. reporting about the fracas made it appear as if Europeans just don`t get it -- again. They struggle with immigration. They struggle with religion. They struggle with respect for minorities. And in the end they find their cities burning, as evidenced in Paris. Bill Clinton even detected an ``anti-Islamic prejudice`` and equated it with a previous ``anti-Semitic prejudice.``

The former president has turned the argument upside down. In this jihad over humor, tolerance is disdained by people who demand it of others. The authoritarian governments that claim to speak on behalf of Europe`s supposedly oppressed Muslim minorities practice systematic repression against their own religious minorities. They have radicalized what was at first a difficult question. Now they are asking not for respect but for submission. They want non-Muslims in Europe to live by Muslim rules. Does Bill Clinton want to counsel tolerance toward intolerance?

On Friday the State Department found it appropriate to intervene. It blasted the publication of the cartoons as unacceptable incitement to religious hatred. It is a peculiar moment when the government of the United States, which likes to see itself as the home of free speech, suggests to European journalists what not to print.

The writer is Washington bureau chief of the German newsweekly Die Zeit.

#33 by ahmakzai

[If we let these attacks pass us by unchecked, the frequency will only increase.]

I bet that`s what the man who beheaded Theo Van Gogh thought, how wrong he was!

[According to one estimate published in Toronto Star today, Danish economy is suffering a loss of US$2 million per day due to the biycott of its products.]

That is a piddly $ 730 million in a year. Only Pakis think that it is a huge amount.

[Muslim scholars and even politico-religious leaders had expressed their disappointment at that event.]

How come no one outside Pakistan knew this ``expression of disappointment``? Or is this yet another ``world famous in Pakistan`` thingy?

An excellent article as usual HP...

Salim Chauhan:

In the other topic`s interactive board, in response to my Turkish (or whatever of it) you addressed me by Turkish word Kardesh. It was an honor. Moreover, we found a common language that we can now interact in with purdah poshi :-D

Your two options are good, except that if we settle for the first one, the attacks would only increase and we cannot settle for the 2nd at all, because all the respected figures of Judaism and Christianity are much more to us in terms of their infallibility.

My suggetion is that barring the violent protests in Syria, Beirut and Palestine, the span and scale of protests are just adequate. In this regard, please see my post addressed to HP.

Btw, as regards your many comments, neden dushmanlarla isbirligi yapiyorsun?

HP:

This is an excellent other view.

My take is that other than the violent protests in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, the scale and span of protests were appropriate. If we let these attacks pass us by unchecked, the frequency will only increase. According to one estimate published in Toronto Star today, Danish economy is suffering a loss of US$2 million per day due to the biycott of its products. In a letter to the Editor, the Jewish-Muslim Association has condemned the attack on a religion under the guise of freedom of expression drawing parallels with Hitler`s crime against Jews that had started under the same guise.

Also, somebody wrote about desecration of Buddha at Bamyan. Muslim scholars and even politico-religious leaders had expressed their disappointment at that event. Buddha like any other religious person before Mohammad (saww) is treated as a prophet of Allah (swt). No Muslim liked that act of Talibans, except perhaps the Talibans themselves.

#27 by HP on February 5, 2006 10:10am PT


We also know that they approached 40 cartoonists and only twelve agreed to do the drawings.


they were testing the theory that, in the light of what happened to theo van ghogh, cartoonists were afraid to draw ol`mo..


That shows that a majority of cartoonist knew that this exercises may not be on the up and up and their might be some strong reaction to the drawings. One cartoon is specially telling. In that, the artist is looking over his shoulders and trying to hide the drawing.


Umm..after what happened to theo van ghogh and salman rushdie, can you blame him? they weren`t scared because they were doing something illegal...they were scared of doing something legal and then having some muslim nut do something illegal..like cut their throat or something..


Now instead of blindsiding the Muslim community in Denmark, the Newspaper should at least have forewarned them about the upcoming publishing of the drawings or it should have at least consulted the community.


Fine..the next time muslims decide to knife a director of call for the death of a writer, can the muslim community please take the european society into confidence?


This makes it appear as a deliberate attempt to incite a community knowing fully well that what the reaction would be.


It was a clear statement: If you think the theo van ghogh thing scared us off, you were wrong..

Oh goody...another poor persecuted innocent muslims spiel..


Both communities protested strongly clearly showing that the Muslims do not have monopoly on both fundamentalism and intolerance.


the muslim reaction to Salman Rushdie was the same as the christian reaction to the christ in pee..Right..

This is part of the problem..muslims see a moral euivalence(or any equivalance) when there is clearly none..


The Islamophobia in Demark is on the rise.


Maybe incidents like the killing of Theo Van Ghogh and this little incident have forced the europeans to wake up and say they`re not going to put up with this kind of cr@p and if muslims revere ol`mo, they shouldn`t buy Jyllands Posten..

People forget that Jyllands posten only asked for cartoon submissions because they heard cartoonists were afraid to draw ol`mo after the theo van ghogh incident...WTF was wrong with the TVG film? Did it show ol`mo with a bomb in his turban? Nope..

the JP cartoons weren`t designed to provoke muslims sensibilities..They were designed to provoke muslim intolerance, the kind displayed by the Theo Van Ghogh ``incident``...

Here`s a timeline from Professor Juan Cole.

HP:

If the issue was limited to freedom of expression, and independence of press, the separation of church and religion would ace too.

These are interesting times, and it is all about changing time. As William Dalrympal the author of ``White Moghals`` said in one of his talks that this was only the beginning, and would end in evolving a moderate stream of Islamic thoughts, and probably separating those verses which non-believers quote so often to highlight negative sides, and OBL`s of the Islamic world used to justify killings.

Christianity, Hinduism, and even Buddhism has gone through reforms for which the pressure first came from outside on the institutions and persons. Islam and Mohammad are not the first ones. The first pressure came from the outside - to generate internal pressure for reforms. Outside Islam`s direct 1 billion believers, remaining 4 or 5 billion humans do not believe in it. They are not so dogmatic about Christ, Buddha, Goddess Saraswati (M.F. Hussain painted her nude). In non-believers minds, there is nothing unique about Islam or Mohammad, respect for each others religions aside. Reforms in Hinduism and Buddhism reforms came from each other being on the outside and very long ago. Among Christians and Jews reforms are fuelled by liberals who are quite brutal about fundamentalists. The caste systems is the worst nightmare of the fundamentalist hindus, and only liberals and educated are forcing a change.

Other factor is prosperity as it percolates, while economy creates more jobs to distribute wealth. These factors replace religion as the glue in the society, and religion becomes more personal.

Sadly all this wealth among muslims, has failed to create jobs to distribute wealth to be equitable among practitioners of Islam, which according its believers is the most egalitarian religion. In modern days, education is so important for empowerment, even on this count, today`s Islamic countries have not come close to matching their own past. Today the tolerance of other thoughts is probably as difficult as it was in communism. Vocal and visible majority fails to see this perspective of the non-muslims, and somehow are able to justify their actions as that of a retaliating victim. In my view muslim thinkers of liberal shade need to initiate discussions to see beyond emotions and isolate extreme interpretation of controversial verses of Quran and those who practice to live and die by these verses.

Anil Kapuria

Anil Kapuria

veeresh, Salim and Ranjit

I think before making a judgment about this being a Freedom of Press issue, we need to take a few steps back and first see the Newspapers intentions in the whole saga.

I would like you to read JP(Jyllands-posten)’s Statement and I quote it again here for quick reference.

“The initiative was taken as part of an ongoing public debate on freedom of expression, a freedom much cherished in Denmark.”

This statement clearly shows that the Newspaper expected some response from different groups. We also know that they approached 40 cartoonists and only twelve agreed to do the drawings. That shows that a majority of cartoonist knew that this exercises may not be on the up and up and their might be some strong reaction to the drawings. One cartoon is specially telling. In that, the artist is looking over his shoulders and trying to hide the drawing. This clearly showed that not only the Newspaper but the cartoonists themselves had some idea of what they were actually doing.

Now instead of blindsiding the Muslim community in Denmark, the Newspaper should at least have forewarned them about the upcoming publishing of the drawings or it should have at least consulted the community.

This makes it appear as a deliberate attempt to incite a community knowing fully well that what the reaction would be.


Now after the publication, the newspaper management even refused to discuss the issue with the LOCAL Muslim community. Why wouldn’t they write the same explanation some four months ago? Why the Newspaper continued to hide behind the Press freedom but was quick to respond when the agitation grew in the Muslim world? In other words, the paper ignored or did not care about the LOCAL Muslim community but readily responded to the international pressure.


If I were a free speech absolutist, I would agree that even the Hate Speech is protected under the broad freedom of speech interpretations. But would you expect the same newspaper to publish cartoons about Jesus having sex with Mary? Would that not be in bad taste or would that not require the editors of JP to reconsider their idea of challenging the boundaries of the freedom of speech? While we agree with their right to publish whatever they want, we certainly expect from a widely circulated newspaper to at least consider whether its initiative was an “exercise” within reason or outside of it?

On the Muslim reaction, I think I agree with Tim Cavanaugh that this controversy should rage on for as long as possible. I think Muslims sensibilities are too frail and outside the bounds of reason. If Muslims don’t appreciate Mohammed’s picture, Muslims should not draw those but other should be able to that.

Muslims have all the buttons on the remote control. If a movie shows Mohammed and they don’t like it, they should stay away from it. Similarly they stay away from the websites, TV programs, and the newspapers that publish his pictures or images but they certainly must get over the idea of violent response to such issues.

If this controversy rages on for some time, eventually Muslims would realize that they are protesting about a meaningless cause. They have the remote control and they should use it.