On the Blasphemous Cartoons

By

Abdur-Raafi Adewale Imaam

I read in the yesterday (February 08, 2006) online edition of The Punch a report titled: “Cartoon fury: Kano cancels N3bn Danish contract, lawmakers burn flag.” The report quoted a former Gambia Deputy Ambassador to the Middle East and North Africa, Prof. Salayman Nyang as saying: "It was over six months after the cartoon was published before it started generating violent reactions. Their reactions were supposed to be immediate if they were genuine. Because it was orchestrated the violence started after six months." It seems the honourable ex-ambassador, if he was not fronting for his Western paymasters, got the whole issue wrong.

One, the controversy started in September last year and not “over six months ago” as claimed. Two, the Danish Muslims, had made all efforts to peacefully resolve the issue within Denmark, and it was only after all their efforts failed to yield any fruits but additional insults to them and to their religion from the said newspaper and Danish authorities that they sent an SOS call to the Muslim world.

I hope the following English translation of the communiqué issued in Arabic by the Council of Muslims Organisations in Denmark would remove the ambassador’s misconceptions and those of others about the issue:

"The Kingdom of Denmark is a north European Scandinavian country. Though its inhabitants are mainly Protestants, they are overwhelmingly secular.

The country’s contact with Muslims is very recent. And most of the Muslims are Turks and immigrants from war-ravaged Muslim countries like Lebanon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Somalia and Iraq. The Muslims’ population is about 170,000.

The Muslims in Denmark are facing some difficulties in the sense that there is still no official recognition of Islaam as a religion; hence they could not secure permission to built mosques.

Attacks on Islaam and racial profiling of Muslims in different forms and manifestations have increased in the wake of 9/11 attacks. And this injustice reached its climax when a section of the Danish media published mischievous and blasphemous caricatures in an attempt to mock the Prophet of Islaam, may my father and mother be his ransom, and may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him, under the guise of exercising freedom of expression.

Though some artists have refused to draw any caricature depicting the Prophet, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam fearing the backlash from the Muslims, the Danish daily, Jylland-Posten, criticised that stand and went on to hurt the Muslims’ feeling by encouraging some forty artist to submit cartoons depicting the Prophet of Islaam in a competition. It did this, taking democracy and freedom of speech as a pretext.

Only twelve of these artists responded to this overture and the daily went on to publish the blasphemous caricatures on its 30/9/2005 edition with a note from its editor-in-chief that the Muslims should accept the cartoons with open minds since they are a demonstration of democracy and freedom of expression.

In view of the seriousness of this issue, Danish Muslim organisations met on 2/10/2005 and agreed to confront this devilish attack on the greatest personality in this history of mankind.

To face this challenge, certain points were agreed upon namely:

•       Setting up a committee to defend the Messenger of Allaah of Allaah, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam, under the chairmanship of Shaykh Raed Hilayhil.

•       Refuting what this newspaper published. This was done by one of the Duat and was translated to Danish, but only parts of this were published.  

•       Encouraging Muslims to write letters to this newspaper and telling it that it has crossed the red line and that the matter affects all Muslims and not only the scholars.

•       That the newspaper should apologise, promise not to repeat the same or and that it should respect the Muslims’ symbols.

•       Collecting signatures of Muslims who condemn this atrocious attack and similar ones.

•       Sending letters to political organisations and parties to let them know the enormity of the issue.

•       Contacting embassies of Islamic countries in Denmark to encourage them to do their responsibilities in this issue.

•       Acquainting local and international media organisations of the development.

•       When the Muslim organisations did not receive any positive response from the authorities of the organisations, and after the Prime Minister deliberately ignored the Muslims’ concerns by refusing to meet the ambassadors of Muslim countries when they requested an audience with him, the council of Muslim organisations in Denmark held another meeting and a communiqué was released and sent to local and international media houses.

•       When Aljazeera channel aired this news, the offending newspaper increased its attack and set up a section on its website under the title “The Prophet’s Image” in which it posted an article in Arabic titled: “The Free Speech”. It mentioned what Aljazeera aired but stubbornly asserted that it has not done anything wrong. Not only that, it gave the issue a wider coverage, depicting it as a confrontation between freedom and suppression.

•       It is noticed that the European Union also supported Danish Prime Minister’s stand that he would never interfere in what the law guarantees as freedom of speech.

•       It is on account of this that the Council of Muslim Organisations in Denmark issued another communiqué requesting the Muslim world to interfere because the matter affects all Muslims, and not only the Danish Muslims. The person of the Messenger of Allaah, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam should not be allowed to be maligned or insulted under whatever justification.

The salt is rubbed to the wounds with the following facts:

1. Mocking Islaam, let alone its adherents, has become a flourishing business in the sense that a newspaper (Weekend Avisen) that was almost dead became alive again by publishing worse caricatures mocking the Messenger of Allaah, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam.

2. The Danish Muslims, especially those who condemned the publication of the blasphemous caricatures, received hate messages in which they were openly threatened and the Qur’aan was brazenly attacked. These messages also contain worse caricatures about the Prophet, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam. This indicates that a deep-seated malice is harboured against the religion of Islaam.

3. Denmark hosted the Somali script-writer of a film that maligned Islaam and that was screened in Holland. In an interview on a Danish TV channel, the script-writer shamelessly rained insults on Islaam. Strangely enough, the Prime Minister who had refused to give audience to the ambassadors of Muslim countries received this writer, conferred on her a medal and expressed that he respected her brave stance and supported her liberal views!!!!

It is against this backdrop that the Muslim organisation decided in an urgent meeting to send emissaries to the Muslim world to acquaint them with the grievousness of the issue and encourage them to participate in defending the Noble Prophet of Islaam, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam.

One of the delegations visited Egypt and received very positive responses. It visited the Egyptian ministry of Foreign Affairs, that promised to raise the issue with the Arab League; the Secretariat of The Arab League; Shaikh al-Azhar, who requested for a special session of Al-Azhar Scientific Council on how to face this challenge, and the Mufti of Egypt who passed a verdict that the Danish products should be boycotted if the Danes did not stop this impetuous act.

One of the delegates also attended a special session of the Scientific Council held on 8/12/2005 after which a communiqué was issued strongly condemning the extremely deplorable deed that crossed the red lines and promising to raise the issue with the concerned UN commissions and human rights organisations in defence of individual rights and cultural diversity and to prevent the culture of hate and deriding of others.

The Muslim organisations in Denmark is therefore, calling upon all concerned Muslims to join the campaign of defending the Prophet, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam and making all efforts to firmly establish laws that guarantee respect for all things that are religiously sacred.

Editor-in-Chief of the Offending Newspaper Speaks:

On 30/9/2005, the editor-in-chief of the Danish daily, Jylland-Posten wrote an article in which he claimed that the majority of the Muslims were living life in Denmark peacefully and that they did not, in the least, feel offended whenever their religion was criticised and that the problem only lied with those ignorant ones who were still holding the mediaeval thoughts, suffering from insane arrogance and believing that it were they only who have the monopoly of religious interpretation.

He added that the Muslim spiritual guides were suffering from pathological sensitivity whenever their persons are criticised and misinterpret that as an attack on their Book and the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wasallam. And he said it is on account of this that they felt compelled to denigrate their opponents, and that this led some of their followers to kill these opponents.

The editor-in-chief added that the caricatures and mocking statements that touch all topics and ideologies are harmless criticisms accepted all over the world, with the exception of those that affect Islaam. He therefore expressed his astonishment as why only Islaam should enjoy such sanctity!! Therefore, he asserts, this hypersensitivity should be attributed to some clerics and mullahs who arrogate to themselves the right to criticise and interpret all that has to do with the Prophet, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam.

The writer supported his warped thoughts by criticising cases like when some artefacts were removed from an ancient museum, when a group of writers and critics went anonymous after publishing some articles and when some Danish artists refused to draw sarcastic covers for some books simply because of the fear that it might hurt the Muslims. He also quoted a popular Danish cartoonist who said that the fear of hurting the Muslims’ feelings has, for a long time, been preventing him from mocking the Qur’aan directly on air.

The writer then opined that it would be nice if this fear could be overcome but added, “it was unfortunate that a film producer was killed for hurting the Muslims’ feelings and a university professor was beaten up by his students for reciting the Qur’aan in a way seen as improper”.

The editor went on to say that the Muslim spiritual guides, in many cases, instead of answering questions thrown to them, only babble that Islaam is a religion of love and peace and interpret topics of the Qur’aan that they are only historical matters that are unrelated to the realities of the Danish society. And if they are asked about a specific verse of the Qur’aan on how it should not be taken in its literal meaning, they go beating about the bush.

He also pointed out that in a meeting that took place at the Prime Minister’s Office; some participants suggested that some sections of the press should be curbed because they publish things that hurt the Muslims’ feelings. He felt that this was very strange for it contradicted the philosophies of western societies and that it could lead to forcing the society back to medieval issues that had been eradicated since the Age of Enlightenment.

He concluded his write-up with the hope that the majority of the Muslims who really want to live peacefully with themselves and their neighbours would take a decisive stand and reject this gloomy history.

After this write-up in which the editor-in-chief clearly stated his newspaper’s stand, the Council of Muslim Organisations in Denmark issues a release titled: “We Shall Never Be Silent for Fear of Democratic Suppression” and signed by Shaykh Raed Hilayhil.

The release clarifies the stand of the Muslims in Denmark in the following points:

1. The status of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam in the hearts of the Muslims is unequalled, and neither he nor any of his fellow Messengers such as Prophets Moses and Jesus [peace be upon them] should be disparaged. No sensible person should therefore, allow any Prophet who enjoys such an honour in the estimation of his followers to be vilified in whatever way and under whatever pretext.

2. Would anti-Semitism be allowed in Europe under the pretext of free speech and democracy?!!!

3. The Muslims need no lessons in democracy. We are the ones who are more qualified to teach it to the world. The existence of churches and synagogues in Muslim countries right from our glorious days and until now is the best proof for that.

4. Promoting democracy in a dictatorial manner, in whatever form or shape, is strongly repudiated and rejected.

5. Is it logical to slaughter values and religious sanctities at the altar of the so-called “freedom”? This is rather a democracy in which the strong exploit the weak!!

6. There should be a balance between freedom of expression and opinion and freedom of religion; and if any of the two is allowed to suppress the other, it could lead to undesirable consequences.

7. The Muslims do not know which of the two stands they should believe: Is the West waging war against only a section of the Muslims because of its conduct and claiming that Islaam is a Divine and respected religion or it is waging war against Islaam itself as a religion, with all its symbols and sacred things and disparaging the Prophet Muhammad, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam by calling him ‘the first terrorist’? The article published by this daily vividly supported the second stand.

8. Does Democracy mean deriding the Muslims’ most honoured individual while expecting them to keep quite, not feel hurt and calmly accept the insults so that they could be commended that, at last, they are now progressives who accept others’ criticism even if that should be at the expense of the fundamentals and values of their religion?!!!

9. Concerning the issue of integration, could it be logical to think that this irresponsible manner is the best way to achieve that? What this newspaper published has undoubtedly aggravated the situation and the perpetrators should be made to face the consequences of their stupid actions, the least of which is the polarization of the society at a time there is dire need to unite it.

10. This daily Jylland Posten should make appropriate restitutions, the least of which is to retract its senseless statement, withdraw the caricatures and then apologise to the Muslims for deriding their Prophet, Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam – if they truly respect the feeling of the Muslims who live with them in this country.

11. The wise people of the kingdom of Denmark are urged to play their role by putting a stop to this comedy and not manipulating the so-called war on terror to attack Islaam, its adherents and all that they hold dear."

Therefore, the ambassador's insinuation that the Muslims' reactions were insincere is to say the least, deeply troubling and atrociously misleading.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Abdur-Raafi Adewale Imaam