Muslims must ignore cartoons

The Pioneer, New Delhi
02 March 2006


Muslims must ignore cartoons

Violent protests against the Prophet's caricatures are anti-Islamic,
says Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Once, when Prophet Mohammad was sitting with his companions at
Kabbah, a poetess called Hind approached him and recited a poem,
which said: "Mohammad is a condemned person and we deny him." (In the
Prophet's time, poets were rather like the journalists of today.) The
meaning of Mohammad is "one who is praiseworthy"; but she called him
"Muzammam", which means "the condemned one". The Prophet just smiled.
His companion, Abu Bakr, asked how he could smile at such derogatory
language. The Prophet replied, "My name, given to me by my family, is
Mohammad, while she talks of Muzammam; so all the curses apply to him
and not me. Why should I bother then?" For him, the slight was too
trivial to merit any reaction.

Unfortunately, Mohammad's followers are today behaving in a manner
that is quite the reverse of what he would have considered proper.
Just because a newspaper in Denmark, followed by other papers in
several European countries, printed some crude cartoons of the
Prophet, Muslims are traumatising the whole world with unwarranted
protests. They should have simply ignored the cartoons. Their anger
is totally unjustified, especially after the apology made by the
Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief, Mr Carsten Juste. Islam believes
that anyone can make a mistake and if he apologises, a Muslim should
forgive and forget.

Muslims mistakenly regard it as their duty to stop any visual
depiction of Prophet Mohammad. This is untrue. It is the followers of
Islam who are forbidden to do so in order to discourage idolatry.
Moreover, Islam forbids imposing its beliefs on people of other
faiths. Even in Muslim countries, Muslims cannot impose their laws or
culture on others.

Islamic history is full of incidents that illustrate how Islam not
only respects other faiths, but also insures that every citizen in a
Muslim country is able to practice his faith, even if it goes against
the beliefs of Islam. In Palestine, in seventh century AD, during the
rule of the second Caliph, Umar Farooq, Christians were regularly
allowed to take out their sacred cross in processions. Since Muslims
do not believe that Christ was ever crucified, but was raised up by
God, this Christian practice directly conflicted with Islamic belief.
Muslims, nevertheless, allowed Christians to practice their religion
as they pleased.

Today, in European countries, making a mockery of others has become
an integral part of journalism, for freedom of expression has turned
into a religion. They believe that anything goes, so long as it does
no physical harm to others. Islam, on the other hand, must preserve
its dignity by ensuring that no one makes light of the faith. Yet,
Muslims surely cannot burn buildings and injure people on the pretext
of their sentiments being hurt. In Islam, no such action should be
undertaken if it is likely to be counterproductive. That is, if the
curbing of a lesser evil causes a greater evil, it should be strictly
avoided.

Today, when the image of Islam has been tarnished by certain militant
Muslims, it is vital not to damage it further. If an undesirable or
provocative situation has been created, the only course should be to
deal with it calmly. The need of the hour is patience. Islam's
mission is to spread the message of peace, love, tolerance and
character-building, so that people may live in accordance with the
will of God. To do so effectively, the relationship between Muslims
and non-Muslims must be smooth. Muslims are only defeating their own
purpose by creating an environment of hate and mistrust. The Muslims
are playing into the hands of the divisive forces with their violent
protests. By increasing anti-Muslim feelings, they are uniting the
world against themselves. Instead, they should aim towards normalcy.

There will always be such incidents. How we respond to them should be
our major concern. A man once came to Mohammad and asked him to give
him a formula for managing all his life's affairs. The Prophet
advised him never to become angry even in the most provocative of
situations, never to find excuses to be angry and always be patient.
What others do is not as important as how we respond, as this is
within our control and it is we who are responsible for our activities.

According to Islam, this world is a moral testing ground where we are
faced at all times with adverse situations. These can never be of our
own choice, but we can certainly choose how to react to them. In
Quran, a verse says, "People of patience will be rewarded unlimited
reward." Much importance is given to patience because human beings
are being judged according to their reactions. Therefore, we have no
option but to be patient. Islam focuses on a person's response - it
should be a positive one - and not on others' actions.

One cartoon shows the Prophet wearing a turban that is shaped like a
bomb; and in another, he is wielding a knife. Muslims should have
mulled over why the turban, which had been a symbol of peace for more
than a thousand years, has now been shown as bomb; or why the
preacher of love and peace is depicted as a knife-wielding person.
They should have realised that it is the modern development of
militant Islam that must be blamed for defaming the Prophet's religion.

In acting as they have, Muslims protesters have given others the
opportunity to denigrate Islam. They should themselves repent and
mend their ways, rather than protest against others. Ironically, they
have opted for violence, which is haram (un-Islamic). No Islamic law
permits Muslims to burn buildings or physically harm people. Muslims
have no right to take the law into their own hands anywhere.

By all standards, the Muslim reaction is un-Islamic and unjustified.
At the most, Muslims should have expressed their displeasure by
writing against the cartoonists. This, at the very least, would have
been lawful. There is no justification for violence. The ulemas and
other responsible Muslims should come out openly and condemn these
protests.

In Islam, if you see wrong being committed, you should try to stop it
- or, at least, condemn it. Otherwise you, too, become responsible
for that wrong. Muslims all over the world should stop their violent
protests, as these are absolutely un-Islamic and counterproductive.

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