After the initial hustle and bustle revolving around Chinese New Year in this part of Asia, I turn my eyes now to Europe where a storm is once again brewing. It has been brewing since October last year and the row has now intensified. All because a Danish newspaper has published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in various forms as written here:

The caricatures include drawings of Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers.

Many Arab nations and Arab organizations in Europe, including the Muslim Association of Britain have protested against the publication of such material. It would have been settled had it not been for the act of a French paper picking up after the Danish. As of this month, “seven publications in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain all carried some of the drawings” (as quoted from BBC’s article on the matter).

Citizens of many Arab countries are upset. Veiled or direct threats in form of boycotts and kidnappings have been made, both towards embassies, representatives and citizens from the above countries. Effigies and flags have been burnt.

All because a few people do not have what it takes to live in a multicultural world.

All because a few people do not understand that globalisation does not give you barriers to hide behind when you decide to insult someone.

All because a few people do not understand that freedom itself is an illusion.

This has become a global battle. Press freedom versus religious tolerance in an era of where the public image of Islam has been turned into something resembling a mix of terrorism and extremism.

However, it was not even about how the Prophet Mohammed was depicted. This whole row was started from one fact: he was caricatured. The Quran has mentioned that depiction of human beings, especially of God and the Prophet can lead give rise to idolatry. It is bad enough that newspaper editors, after the Danish apology of the first publication, ignored this (and the uproar that came when the Danish published the offending material) and went ahead with another round of publications; this time with their own justifications.

The front page of the daily France Soir on Wednesday carried the headline “Yes, We Have the Right to Caricature God” and a cartoon of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian gods floating on a cloud. Inside, the paper reran the drawings.

Germany’s Welt daily also printed one of the drawings on its front page on Wednesday, arguing that a “right to blasphemy” was anchored in democratic freedoms.

“The appearance of the 12 drawings in the Danish press provoked emotions in the Muslim world because the representation of Allah and his prophet is forbidden. But because no religious dogma can impose itself on a democratic and secular society, France Soir is publishing the incriminating caricatures,” France Soir said.

Press freedom with no limits is just as a good as a barbaric world
True. We live in an increasingly secular world but does modernization and secularism give us the right to be inconsiderate of other people’s beliefs and culture? Does modernization and secularism give us the right to be disrespectful to our fellow human beings? Does modernization and secularism give us the right to be discriminatory?

Yes, that is the one prevalent image of Islam that most Western people are bombarded with constantly. Islam, a religion of peace (even the word ‘Islam’ means peace), has been so tarnished by a group of people who profess the same faith but not the same tenets of belief. The modern secular world now is trying to make amends with the second major religion of the world and these idiotic newspapers just had to go publish a picture of the Prophet in a derogatory manner. It was bad enough that He was published. But the manner in which is He was pictured?

The equivalent insult would be perhaps Al-Jazeera coming up with a cartoon of the Pope screwing some small boys, or drinking wine up to his nose. Or Buddha eating exotic meat and killing wild game for fun. Or Ganesh slaughtering a cow and BBQ-ing its meat. Jesus? Well, Jesus could be depicted as a gay frolicking amongst the transsexuals and homosexuals at a local Mardi Gras parade.

The excuse that the Buddhist, Christian and Jewish religions have all been caricatured just does not hold water. How have they been pictured? Have they been drawn in the above manner to which some (and even me although I’m a protestant Christian) may find disgusting, revolting and utterly insulting?

I find the lack of tolerance from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain inexcusable as these countries have seen the admission of large numbers of individuals of the Muslim faith over the last ten to twenty years. (France has the biggest Muslim community in Western Europe with a population of 5 million Muslims residing in the country.)

Freedom is not absolute but governed by moral and social principles dictating good taste and respect towards all. Funny how the most ‘cultured’ group of countries became the most disrespectful.

And yet bad apples exist everywhere…
We should never fault innocent bystanders for the mistakes of either its agencies or its government. Boycotting Danish, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Italian companies will not help mend the already strained situation. Neither will it stop the newspaper from publishing more insulting stuff. Burning flags is a sign of disrespect. And the murder threats? What can we make of those? If the point is to show that we can be as equally disrespectful as they are, we are stooping to their level, aren’t we?

Why fight fire with fire? What hope is there for a world of peace if two parties cannot sit down and solve things like adults instead of flaring up like children when something does not go their way? Why not live up to the name of the faiths we profess to be part of?

If Islam is understood to be a religion of madmen and terrorists, threatening to kidnap and kill citizens of offending countries will not tell people that you are from a religion of peace. It only reinforces what they know about the religion already.

When I look at the pictures of protests, the flames burning brightly, licking away the flags and then look at the words, I cannot help but see more clearly as to why there are two sides of every story. Some would call this a chicken and egg situation; others would see fault in only Muslim believers and not the newspapers and the rest? They would just move along and wait for another juicy bit of story to read in the morning papers.

I cannot help but wish that developed countries would send their people for cross cultural communication workshops in order to understand people better and that Islamic extremists would stop resorting to threats and violence every time someone crosses them.

Perhaps the idealist in me is sovereign today. Either that or I just refuse to see that tolerance is just another word in the dictionary.

Further reading:
(recommended) Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
Muhammad cartoon row intensifies
Q&A: Depicting the Prophet Muhammad
Muslim anger at Danish cartoons
Papers reprint Islam row cartoons
Storm grows over Mohammad cartoons