Egyptian blogger Big Pharaoh is asking a question that has been haunting me the last two days. He wonders A question to my fellow Muslims and Arabs: isn’t this picture more of an insult to Islam than the silly J-Posten cartoons? And don’t you think i…

And while there is no justification for the artist’s needless insensitivity towards those of the Islamic faith, it appears that he is acting under his right to freedom of speech to illustrate how the Islamic faith has portrayed itself to the rest of the world over the last several years.

The rub:

1. A Danish artist depicts how much of the world views Islam in light of various atrocious acts committed by extremists over the past several years.

2. Muslims around the world protest and the most vocal vow retribution.

3. Extremists burn churches, kidnap and harm innocent foreigners, and jeopardize political interests in an inane attempt to discredit and disprove the allegations made by the cartoons (which, ironically, do more to prove the point than to disprove it).

Perhaps if I relate a story that happened recently. A soldier from a small town 20 miles from where I live died in Iraq.

At his funeral, protesters showed up to denounce his participation in the war. Phelps was the guy who led this protest.

Now, I betcha that the parents of this man loved thier son as much as some muslims love thier prophet. However, at their sons funeral, they were subjegated to this circus of people yelling and screaming about the war in iraq, and strangely, how homosexuals are sinning against god.

Now that is offensive free speech at a funeral, and yet it was allowed to happen.

In Islam we’re not even allowed to draw pictures of the Prophet peace be upon him.

We dont draw pictures of Jesus or Moses, we respect all the prophets.

We love our prophet peace be upon him.

Intensions by some major newspapers in Europe to publish these cartoons I found very childish. Why can not they just support freedom of speech and Jyllands Postens right to publish whatever it wants without publishing the pictures again and raising more anger?

I do not support USA liberal`s opinion to go chase western media about creating the hostile image of Islam (for me this is again matter of freedom of speech). Anyway I absolutely hope that the most responsible medias in West start to show also positive images of Islam. Islam is not just a religion followed by handful of terrorist but also religion followed by more than 1 billion peaceloving people. Quoting Aldous Huxley: “Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations.” Far from that I associate western media with totalitarian propagandists eventhough there are some irritating similarities. It is just that newsmedia are always there were some action happens not where peaceful people do there everyday routines.

One of the first things that came to mind for me when this whole mess started was, “here we go again with another Salman Rushdie.” I make this point today because several times you have suggested that one of the reasons that these cartoons are hate speech is because they don’t have artistic merit. This case can hardly be made for the works of Mr. Rushdie, yet the backlash from Satanic Verses, seemed similar to what we’re seeing today. But that is merely a side note.

My second point goes to what I think is at the root of this whole situation and that is that although we don’t often say it, people in the West are increasingly looking at all Arabs as possible terrorists. There’s an islamophobia that is spreading throughout the Western world and no one is doing anything about it. These cartoons are just one example of how the West is increasingly coming to view Arabs and I think the Arab world wants the governments of the West to do something to stop this trend.

Regulating free speech seems like an unlikely solution to this problem to me. It took most European states centuries of fighting and millions of lives to get the freedoms they have and they’re only going to create new regulations in the gravest circumstances. I think a better tactic would be to go after the Western media instead of Western governments. Here I’m not just talking about the newspapers that publish cartoons, but all the media: radio, tv, internet, and print. They are what is creating the hostile image of Islam and that image is what needs to be changed. Even the way they have reported this story seems to make the Muslims protesting in the streets look crazy. And that only encourages the West to be afraid of these “crazy terrorists.” I want to see someone protesting in the streets burning a CNN flag next time I watch CNN, it is only then that I think the real issues might begin to be understood by everyone.

Thanks for providing this forum; this has been a great discussion.

Thanks for the post. I have so far refrained from writing about this for many reasons. While I agree with most that the cartoons are offensive, I feel that the conversation that is taking place is merely a waste of energy and time. Had the discussion been focused on actual racism and Islamophobia in the post-September 11th world which have triggered the publication of these caricatures, this would perhaps be an interesting and valid discussion.

What bothers me, however, is that the voices of so many of us are lost when it comes to the occupation of Iraq, the illegal Apartheid Wall Israel is building in the West Bank, the daily humiliation of Palestinian civilians at Israeli checkpoints, the rising poverty levels in Jordan, the globalization of the world over, and the increasing hegemony of an uncontested American Empire.

I realize that all this may sound repetitive in light of your excerpt from Al-Ahram Weekly but I am astounded at the muteness and cowardice that characterize our silence when it comes to these issues: Where is peopleâ??s anger (and indignation) when it comes to these issues? How come we have stood silent about Palestine? How come we have allowed ourselves to become complicit in the pain and suffering of Iraqis? How come we have not opposed American imperialism and power which have manifested themselves in our own backyards?

I feel like this silence â?? and our insistence on busying ourselves with inane discussions â?? is becoming far too debilitating.

Dana

Steve, thank you for your comment. as for western culture, it, like any other culture, has its ups and downs so do not feel shamed by the actions of some who revel in the “down”. i dont feel ashamed of Islam because of Bin Laden and neither should any other Muslim. The same applies to the west. take care

Amen.

I would like to congratulate you, Naseem, on the new layout. It is clean and simple, and very eye-friendly. Love it, a job well done.

Aso the ignorance of the Arab world astounds me. How can they ask for the Danish, French, Spanish, etc, governments to apologise on behalf of the free press.

I salute the former editor of Sheehan for his timely remarks. I think what he did took a lot of courage and what he said was extremely insightful.