Abusing Freedom: "Draw Mohammed Day"

And yet another controversy regarding artists and their "freedom of expression".

A Muslim group responded angrily to a depiction of Prophet Muhammed on a South Park episode, sending a thinly veiled threat to Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

In response, CACAH (Citizens Against Citizens Against (alleged) Humour) have decided that in retribution for a tiny minority of maniacs, they're going to have an annual "Draw Mohammed Day", where they make as many insulting depictions of the Prophet as they can.

Let me, first off, say two things. I have no regard for the lunatics who invite this sort of stuff by sending death threats. But I have even less regard, and absolute contempt, for the scum who try to exploit their "freedom" to make jibes and insults in the name of "freedom of expression".

With freedom comes responsibility. It may have garnered overreactions from a small group of extremist Muslims, but this stance is insulting to billions of Muslims worldwide.

Islamically, I have no pretensions to being a scholar or expert, so you should check up these facts in the books of ahadith, fiqh and the Quran, but the main reason for not being allowed to draw images of people and living things (not just the Prophets--peace be upon them--but all living things) is that mankind, if not on the right path, has a tendency towards idolatry.

The first idolaters were the people of Prophet Nuh (Noah), peace be upon him, who decided to sculpt statues of their most pious people so that they would remember them, and, so they thought, remember Allah.

The thing is, in Islam there is no "go-between" between the person and Allah. A worshipper directly prays to Allah, and any worship of created objects or beings is Shirk, idolatry, which is completely against the point of life and existence itself. And even non-Muslims cannot deny that lifeless statues and paintings have been given tantamount importance in their cultures.

That said, the purpose of these CACAH cartoons is clearly to taunt, insult and provoke.

I think there are two views here.

a) Turn the other cheek. The Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings on him) was a calm and composed character. In the Quran it says that by Allah's mercy, He created His last Prophet as a pleasant and decent man who attracted people to the religion, rather than a harsh and forcing character. In the Quran it also says to respond to evil with good--because evil and good are not alike, and Allah loves the Muhsineen (good-doers).

The Prophet was insulted and persecuted during his lifetime many many times, and he chose simply to forgive and ignore the insults. For example, a non-Muslim once twisted the Islamic salam when meeting the Prophet (S.A.W.), saying, "As-SAAM u alaikum"--meaning, instead of peace, that DEATH be upon you. The Prophet's wife Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was enraged, but the Prophet simply replied, "And upon you", thereby retaining dignity and calmness.

b) It is a well-known fact that Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) would never be upset for his own sake--over his possessions, or over his honour, or over opponents' insults--the only times he was angry was when a person was disobeying Allah. In that regard, we can well say "turn the other cheek".

The unfortunate truth of the modern era is that even seemingly little things like this are infused into popular culture, and that is something we Muslims must work to stop. How? Well we've seen that violence and threats, apart from being against the spirit of Islam, have only achieved a countereffect and made the insulters even more gleefully provocative. So what do we do?

I think--and again I'm not officially speaking, since I'm not a scholar or a leader--that, maintaing our dignity and our decency, we should in a lawful and composed manner make our unhappiness at this clear. What many in the West, unfortunately, do not realize is that with Freedom comes Responsibility. How would they like it if the Holocaust was similarly satirized, or if racist or bigot jokes were made? With outspoken arguments like these, we can InshaAllah make our point clear without sacrificing our dignity and composure.

And Allah knows best.

About this blog

Bismillah

Assalamualaikum. Peace be onto you.

This is a blog being written by a Pakistani Muslim on world matters. Unfortunately Muslims don't have much say in the media nowadays and so I'm hoping to start a blog that may or mayn't attract notice, hopefully the former, and perhaps do some good.

Note: I consider myself a moderate, practising Muslim, but I do NOT claim to represent the views of all Muslims and there are probably thousands of Muslims who would disagree with some of my analyses and arguments.