Local Muslim reaction to cartoon controversy

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AHMED THARWAT - Twin Cities

A lot has been said about the so-called "Moslem reaction" to the Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist -- from clash of values to clash of stupidity, freedom of expression to freedom of protecting the sacred!

In actuality, more people protested on the anniversary of the Harreiri assassinations in the small country of Lebanon this week --more than a half million-- than all the cartoon protesters put together.

The 24/7 TV images of angry Moslems in the streets, protesting and screaming out of control at god knows what, were presented without much context or analysis, without reference to history -- in short, with little perspective beyond the events at hand.

The un-humorous Moslems appeared to go nuts overnight over one tasteless and excessively offensive cartoon (which would make a sequel to the Albert Brooks' movie "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World," seemingly impossible).

However, if you listen closely when Moslems get together privately, they are very funny (if you don't believe me, ask President Bush; he probably has overheard enough private religious jokes from Americans-Moslems already).

In fact, the Arab-Moslem press reaction to the cartoon fiasco is diverse and complex, ranging from blaming Arab business opportunists to the inept Moslem governments.

The Christian tradition of humiliating Moslem symbols runs deep in the Moslem psyche. Macalester professor Ahmad Ahmad has pointed out that as early as the 8th century, John of Damascus depicted Muhammad as a Nestorian Christian who deviated from the correct Christian doctrines in order to promote a religion of his own.

Five hundred years later, the image finds its way into Dante's Divine Comedy, where the Prophet Mohammed appears in Inferno -- or Hell -- with his belly open and his intestines pouring out. That may explain why we don't see many Moslems participating in the winter Olympics in Italy.

When you look deeper at the so-called Moslem world reaction to the cartoon humiliation of its prophet, there is a political undertone, which came out in attacks on embassies and boycotts of Danish products. We do not see Moslem cartoonists fighting back by portraying Jesus with a Hitler mustache or dropping bombs over Hiroshima as symbol of the ugly Christian west.

Even the most idiotic Moslem reactions, the Holocaust cartoon contest, still addresses a human tragedy, and the European Muslim group posted on the Web a cartoon of Anne Frank -- but not the virgin Mary --- in bed with Hitler.

In the American reaction after the 9/11 tragedy, we have a born-again Christian president who takes guidance from God -- and a whopping $500 billion dollar military budget --- to fight the evil-doer Islamists, invading and destroying two Moslem countries in two years. What is more fundamentalist than that?!

Ahmed Tharwat is the producer and host of Belahdan, an Arab-American program that airs on the Minnesota Channel on Twin Cities Public Television.

IMANI JAAFAR-MOHAMMAD - Twin Cities

The first time I saw the cartoon from Denmark depicting the Prophet Muhammad was in an anonymous fax sent to the Al-Amal Islamic School. Upon seeing the cartoon, a picture of a sinister-looking man with a bomb lit in his turban, I was disappointed that anyone would publish such a hateful image. Just because you have the right to publish something doesn't mean that you should.

But I was equally disturbed by the violent reactions of some groups of Muslims living abroad. The word "Islam" literally means "peace through submission to God." And all Muslims, regardless of race or ethnicity, use the greeting "As'salaam'mu'alaikum," which means, "May peace be upon you." The Prophet Muhammad taught non-violence and approached people peacefully, even when he was physically attacked. He taught Muslims to use their hands, their words, and their hearts to peacefully improve the world they live in. To use the teachings of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad to justify violence just doesn't make sense.

I was proud to see that instead of violence, American Muslims responded to the incident with press releases and offers to educate others about Islam. Here, in Minnesota, the Islamic Resource Group sent out a press release that explained the emphasis on peace in Islam and why violent reactions to the cartoon are actually contradictory to the core teachings of Islam. Educating people is a good start, but there is much more to be done to change the many misperceptions about Islam.

I am an American Muslim, born and raised in this country, but I often am still treated like an outsider. When my husband and I bought our first home, our neighbor started harassing us the first day we moved in. He didn't even know our names. He saw my hejab – my headscarf – and that was enough. Over several months we endured him shouting "terrorist" at our windows, throwing pork into our backyard, opening our mail, and even sending us a letter that said people like us didn't belong in the suburbs. And he still didn't even know our names.

After that neighbor moved, I started to tell my friends the story, and I was shocked by their responses. Many of them had suffered violent hate crimes and threats from people who didn't know their names either. I realized, then, it didn't matter that we were nameless faces to all these people. The fact that we are Muslims was enough for them to justify their hateful actions. I will never forget that day, talking about what had happened to all of us; it was so sad and sobering. We are all American Muslims, but we didn't feel like any of us had been treated like Americans as we shared our stories that day.

What bothers me the most about this whole situation with the cartoon and the subsequent violence comes back to the fax I saw at Al-Amal School. Someone had actually typed obscene comments under the cartoon before faxing it. The picture and the comments were so full of hate, and it made me sick to think that a person would send such a message to a school full of children. Eventually, this cartoon and the violence that it's caused will fade away and be forgotten. But every day, Muslims in America will continue to fight hate, discrimination and racism for trying to practice a religion that teaches peace, tolerance, and love for all humanity.

TAQEE KHALED-- Edina

I was born at the University of Minnesota hospital in 1981, went to public schools in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and North Mankato, and graduated from Edina. I played alto sax in the marching band and JV soccer. I figure, having been here for almost 27 years, that my parents are just as Minnesotan as most people, give or take – blueberry muffins, wild rice, loons, 14,000 lakes, not just 10.

These days, though, I don't know how to feel about my identity. See, I'm a Muslim and I'm beginning to wonder whether or not people today really believe that my way of life is based on fanaticism and terror. Don't get me wrong. I don't expect everyone to agree with Islam, and I know there are those who act in its name to ends that are clearly unholy. But what does the person, Muhammad, have to do with that?

Maybe it's my fault because I never told anybody why I love Muhammad. I love him more than I love my parents, more than I'll love my future wife or children. The Muhammad I know is the person who taught me that the souls of men and women are of equal worth, that the poor are to be given aid and orphans protected, and that blood spilt without right is the equivalent of massacring all humanity. In his farewell sermon, Muhammad reminded people that everyone descended from Adam. He said that no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab and that, to God, only piety determines nobility.

In Muhammad's time, those who knew him well and wanted to exterminate both him and Islam didn't even resort to maligning his character. Similarly, in modern times, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, and Gandhi never professed belief in Islam, but considered the character of its prophet to be quite unparalleled in human history.

If you look at the north wall of the Supreme Court's main courtroom, the fourth figure from the right is a man, dressed in robes, whose face is purposely unrecognizable. He holds a book in one hand and, in the other, a sword by the hilt, facing downwards. That man represents Muhammad, and that book is the Qur'an. In 1931, German sculptor Adolph Weinman was decorating the Supreme Court with revered, historical lawgivers. Weinman knew that Muslims don't make images, but he wanted to show that Muhammad and the Qur'an are at least as significant as Moses and the Commandments, Hammurabi and his Code, and King John and the Magna Carta.

See, these protests and boycotts against Denmark aren't really about cartoonists drawing pictures about Muhammad; if this issue were actually about the institution of free speech, there probably wouldn't be any Muslims demonstrating in the streets. I think this is about something deeper – namely, that a lot of people in the world today actually believe that the negative depiction of Muhammad in those cartoons is true. It hurts me knowing those feelings are out there and upheld under the banner of free speech. But I believe this wouldn't have been the case if I just had told you who Muhammad really was.

NAJAT KESSLER-- Twin Cities

I am a Muslim, and I find myself utterly disturbed by the hype over the cartoons about the prophet Mohamed. To me, such reaction is nothing but an act of despicable bullying. I am amazed that we, the Muslims of the world, somehow lost our religion to extremists. We all sit and watch as they take over and speak on our behalf, and it seems that it is spinning out of control. Who dares to speak up? None of us does; we are afraid of physical, violent retaliation!

What a sad state of affairs. To name but a few examples of unnecessary acts of bullying others for what they think, here is a very short list of great thinkers that suffered or lost their lives to Muslim religious abuse: Salman Rushdie, a British citizen, had to go into hiding for writing a fictional book. Irshad Manji, a Muslim and Canadian citizen, had to hire a body guard and bulletproof her house after her book, The Trouble with Islam, came out.

Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker was assassinated by a religious Muslim fanatic after he dared to make a controversial movie asking questions about violence against women in Islam. Today, a cartoonist dared to draw cartoons about the prophet Mohamed and a frenzy of violence by Muslims among Muslims sweeps the world. Yes, the cartoon that represented the prophet as a terrorist is offensive. I do not think, however, that the cartoonist or the newspaper that published it is the only one responsible for such offense.

We, the Muslims of the world, share equal or more responsibility. "How so?" my fellow Muslims may ask. In the last 30 years the center stage of mainstream Islam has been occupied mostly by very offensive Muslim extremist groups. The rest of us who do not belong to such groups have sat silent, and have had almost no presence whatsoever, except for few voices here and there that get bashed down very quickly, if not gunned down. The Muslim extremists have spoken and are speaking, and have acted and are acting in offensive, abusive and aggressive ways: from issuing death treats, to bashing Jews, from assassinating to bombing and suicide bombing. Be it on Muslim lands or non-Muslim lands, all is done in the name of Islam and the prophet Mohamed. These self-appointed ambassadors of God promote hate of whatever differs from their philosophy via internet, public speeches, newspapers, books, tapes and CDs.

How can we Muslims blame a Danish cartoonist for drawing a cartoon of our prophet as a terrorist when this has been going on for 30 years? He is not to blame; we are. This cartoonist is only mirroring back to us the message Muslim extremists have been hammering to the world. And we, the non-extremists Muslims of the world, are not helping the situation by letting self righteous extremists speak on our behalf.

Besides, who says that it is wise and Muslim-like to respond to an offensive action with an offensive reaction? If the prophet Mohamed had acted in this way, he would have killed most of his own people. They were very offensive toward him at the start of his religious leadership. The prophet Mohamed need not to be defended; he finished his deeds centuries ago, and he is where human beings cannot harm him, offensive cartoons or not. God need not to be defended either, for he created the whole diverse, with zillions of religions.

The prophet Mohamed was a religious and historical figure who belongs to the whole human race. The religion of Islam, like all other religions, belongs to all human beings. Maybe it is time to give up this sense of arrogant entitlement to God and what he wants in our Muslim thoughts.

I thought the faith of a human being lies in his heart and soul. The faith of a human being is that which cannot be taken or altered by others, but only by himself. So how can some cartoons drawn by a stranger in foreign lands affect so badly my fellow Muslims' faith that they are ready to kill others? Fellow Muslims, you need to take as an example the life of the prophet Mohamed. Maybe a strong faith is not about screaming bloody murder because someone misspoke about the prophet Mohamed. Maybe a strong faith is the opposite: staying peaceful and calm and not being fazed by the offense at all.

Aren't we Muslims fed up with this victim identity business? Is being a Muslim synonymous with being an angry victim? If that is the case, we Muslims have a much bigger problem on our hands than the Danish cartoons. As a Muslim, I am so sick and tired of the extremists' propaganda and rhetoric: God needs to be defended. The prophet needs to be defended. Jewish people are conspiring against Muslims! The west is out to get Muslims!

Let's practice the skill of taking responsibility instead of blaming the universe for our shortcomings. The whole Muslim world today is part of what is called the 3rd world; poverty, social injustice, and lack of opportunities are the predominant realities of Muslim daily life. Yet, we keep reinforcing the victim identity that is already overwhelmingly prevalent in most Muslim countries. Victims don't make inspiring leaders, so let us switch from seeing ourselves as such. Let us start believing that we can rise above our circumstances. Let us have big dreams. Let us have faith: faith in God, faith in ourselves, and faith in others.

Islam today needs an introspective and honest debate among Muslims and non-Muslims. I challenge my fellow Muslims to learn how to practice dissent. I challenge non-Muslims to learn about Islam and to ask questions (and please don't be politically correct or shy to share your criticism and comments.) Let me remind every Muslim living on earth today of what used to be a tradition of Islam in its brightest days in history: the forgotten practice of IJTIHAD, which means critical thinking, debating, dissenting, and practicing openness and tolerance within the religion of Islam. Islam is living its darkest days today. Let us not demand respect from others for being closed-minded extremists, but let us earn the world's respect by becoming enlightened, wise, tolerant Ijtihadists.

MURAD MOHAMMAD -- Twin Cities

As a Muslim living here in Minnesota, when I heard about the Danish cartoons depicting the image of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, I must admit, the first thought that went through my head was not one of outrage. Further, at no time did the thought ever cross my mind of using violence to address any concern I may have had. Rather, I met the news of the cartoon with indifference. It wasn't because I believe the depiction of the Prophet in images, something strictly forbidden in Islam, is okay. It was quite the opposite. I reacted indifferently because people attack and demonize Muslims, the religion of Islam, and the Prophet of Islam daily.

Almost every day, a quick perusal through news Web sites, blogs and other media outlets turns up a multitude of hateful comments and speech directed at the religion of Islam. The things I read on a daily basis are much more inflammatory than the cartoons, and some contain targeted threats to Islam and its peaceful followers. Just try reading the "Discuss" or "Viewers' Comments" section after articles on Islam on Web sites such as Yahoo!News.

What I have trouble understanding is: What is it about this particular offense, the cartoons, that triggered the violent reaction in the Muslim world? If Muslims were looking for discriminatory, offensive material and hate speech to riot over, they certainly did not have to wait this long. Sure, the cartoons may have been the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back," but this is too obvious and too simple of an explanation for a complicated situation. Rather, could this current violence be a result of the mounting persecution and scrutiny of innocent and peaceful Muslims? The caricatures of the Prophet of Islam perhaps represented the ultimate offense in the minds of Muslims: the deliberate and unprovoked assault on the most revered, most respected, most peace-loving individual in Islam.

Yes, I believe what the Danish paper did was wrong and insensitive. But equally wrong are the individuals who felt the appropriate reaction should involve violence and rioting. Here in the United States, Islamic mosques and representatives of Muslim interests denounced the acts of the rioters. Under no circumstance should violence replace a peaceful resolution. I can only wonder if the violence could have been avoided if someone had simply written a letter of peaceful dissent to the Danish paper.

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