Abuse fuels outrage over drawings
Mohan Gupta
Who can separate his faith from his actions or his beliefs from his occupations? asks Lebanese poet philosopher Kalil Gibran (1883 – 1931) in his renowned book, The Prophet.
Whether we are conscious of it or not, one’s daily life is one’s religion, to paraphrase another of Gibran’s observation. People generally act based on their beliefs, whether those beliefs include some notion of a god, some religious principles or some other type of belief like a victim mind set or self interest.
Religion has gotten a bad rap over the years. While its main purpose is to guide humans in how to live well with each other and to serve as a source of strength and enlightenment, practitioners of any number of religions have engaged in an orthodoxy that has become more of a prison for religion than a door to a fulfilling spiritual and temporal life.
So it is that an editorial decision in September in year 2005 by the Danish newspaper, Jyyllands-Posten, to run 12 editorial cartoons – caricatures – of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed has exploded on the world stage after a number of other European newspapers took up the free speech banner and ran the same cartoons. When Jyyllands –Posten took up on the Muslim religion it is, as the saying goes, within their right to exercise free speech, but the response from outraged Muslims worldwide was the cumulative reaction to what has become a war of persecution and the reaction to it that reached a tipping point on Sept. 11. 2001.
The outrage the world is now seeing – including business owned by Muslims boycotting Danish goods - has much to do with the intolerance nature of Islam.
Remember the riots in France in year 2005 summer? Those riots, mainly by Muslim youths, were not isolated from discrimination and abuse on the basis of religion. There has been simmering hatred of Muslims in Europe for some time now.
In this current wave of protests, the publication of 12 drawings made by 12 individuals in a newspaper in Denmark has already led to deaths, the burning of the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Syria and the Danish diplomatic mission in Lebanon. All of this belies Islam’s basic tenets of peaceful co-existence and tolerance.
But in one sense, even the public venting of the anger we have witnessed over the past few weeks is preferable to the psychological terror of the unexpected suicide bomber killing himself or herself, and taking along as many innocents as possible in the name of religion.
Muslim Board man wants
cartoonist killed
Pioneer News Service /
Lucknow
Prominent Muslim leader and senior member of the All-India Muslim
Personal Law Board Zafaryab Jilani on Saturday Feb 18, 2006 defended Uttar
Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Haji Yakoob Qureshi declaring a bounty of Rs
51 crore for anybody who beheads the Danish cartoonists who caricatured Prophet
Mohammad.
Mr. Jilani said Haji Qureshi
had not done anything objectionable by announcing a reward for killing the
cartoonists.
"After all, Qureshi's announcement
highlights how offended the Muslims feel by this heinous act of the cartoonists.
Moreover, Qureshi's offer stands for anyone from the Muslim world and not
India alone and the statement is
within Islamic laws", he said.
Both Sunni
and Shia Muslim organisations have planned a mammoth protest march here on
Sunday against the cartoons and India's stand on Iran's
nuclear programme at the IAEA.
However, Haji Qureshi's announcement in
Meerut, calling
for the death of the Danish cartoonists, on Friday has led to strong reactions
from political parties while the State Government has refused to comment on the
issue.
The BJP has demanded action against Haji Qureshi with State unit
president Kesharinath Tripathi pointing out that Islamic law is not above the
Indian Penal Code. Mr. Tripathi said the Minister has committed a criminal
offence and is liable for punishment. He demanded that the Government take
cognisance of the matter and register a case against Haji Qureshi.
Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh wondered whether the decision
to announce the reward on the cartoonists' heads was taken in a State Cabinet
meeting since the Government has maintained silence over the issue. "The Chief
Minister should come clean on the issue. His silence is shocking and
surprising", Mr. Singh said.
The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board,
however, has officially distanced itself from Haji Qureshi's announcement.
AIMPLB spokesman SQR Iliyasi said Haji Qureshi's statement was an attempt to
incite passion and cannot be justified. "Though the publication of the cartoons
of Prophet Mohammad is highly deplorable and condemnable, this kind of statement
could inflame passion," he told PTI over phone.
‘Minister justified, was only speaking as a Muslim’
Rs 51 crore for cartoonist’s head
Posted online: Sunday, February 19, 2006 at 0153 hours IST
LUCKNOW, FEBRUARY 18: UP Minister for Minority Welfare and Haji Yaqoob Quereshi who announced Rs 51 crore as reward for anyone beheading the Danish cartoonist for caricaturing Prophet Muhammad, today drew strong support from his Cabinet colleagues.
‘‘The law of the land doesn’t permit a minister to speak like this. But I am sure that he spoke all this as an individual...(But) we can pay even more than Rs 51 crore to teach a lesson to such people who hurt the sentiment of the Muslim community,’’ Samajwadi Party MP from Moradabad Dr Shafiqur Rahman Barq said. ‘‘Whatever he said may be intended towards sending a clear message that those who commit blasphemy on Islam won’t be spared at any cost. Killing the Danish cartoonist is the only option and we are ready to collect much more to pay as reward to one who punishes him.’’
The All India Waqf Welfare Council, meanwhile, held a meeting today and supported the call, saying Lucknow would contribute substantially to the bounty.
Hamid Kokab, Tourism Minister, meanwhile, tempered his support. ‘‘The announcement of reward for beheading the cartoonist may be his personal opinion. As a minister, he cannot say so. It seems that his statement is an emotional outburst of a Muslim because the cartoon hurt the religious sentiment of a community,’’ he said.
It is very unfortunate the present uprising by the Muslim Community around the World due to the mistake made by the Danish Editor.
In this context I feel it will be nice if it could be brought to world’s notice a recent incident of a similar nature to the world audience who watch you , as this will bring the 2 billion Muslim people around the world to understand the rest of the 4 billion non - Muslim people better.
Recently the most celebrated painting artist Mr. M.F Hussain , a Muslim who also is an awardee of the highest art academy of India drew paintings depicting most of the Gods and Goddesses of the Hindu Religion in sexual acts with each other.
1.3 billion Hindus worldwide consisting of all the religions existing in the world have accepted this and have only requested Mr. Hussain to stop the sale of these pictures .This act is from the most popular Muslim artist in the world who was trying to maximize his profits by depicting Gods and Goddesses of Hindu Religion in such a humiliating manner.
Please let the 2 billion Muslim world know to respect the rest 4 billion people in the world, which includes the Danish Editor (who like Mr. Hussain has made a mistake).
This comparison of the two will go a long way in making these local Muslim people in world about the violent nature of their behaviour.
Non Muslim religions do not go about creating a squad of suicide-bombers, nor issue edicts to murder so-and-so, etc.
People should go into the issue of whether Islam has contempt for other cultures. A recent study in the UK has shown that more than 40% of the Muslims there want to be governed by the Sharia and not by the laws that exist in the countries that they have migrated to.
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Rama G.
expected something like that from Iran or Pakistan, not India.
http://www.truemasters.blogspot.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/ReligionNewsWindow
Mohan Gupta <mgu...@rogers.com> wrote: