Jyllands-Posten Muhammad Cartoons Controversy

Every day now for the past week I can’t seem to get away from the constant onslaught of news articles relating the protest by the Muslim world over the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed from a Danish newspaper. So I did my self some digging to find out just what the different parties involved has to say.

Have a look at the twelve cartoons that were published by the Danish newspaper. Also see them in The Brussels Journal.

First of all I would like to put my self in perspective. Although I am not a Muslim I have lived in many countries, and in particular for over 6 months in a 98% African Muslim society. I wore their clothes, grew a beard, studied their religion and culture, and gained respect from the religious leaders during my stay. I have also been involved in protesting and more recently participated in the WTO protest in Hong Kong. I am all for respecting others and more notably for freedom of expression.

There is certainly a lack of understanding on all sides. There is a very concise article entitled “Honourable Fellow Citizens of the Muslim World” written by the Danish newspaper that published these cartoon the Internetavisen Jyllands-Posten where they clearly apologize for their offending anyone and in the same note categorically state that this was part of an ongoing debate of how people felt of Islam. They furthermore have issued a direct appalling statement to the extra cartoons that they did not ever publish and would not ever publish because of their ethics stance. This leads me to believe that there are people at work adding fuel to the fire and new cartoons to the list. I wonder who these people are and what their goal in doing this might be? One article has called this The Cartoon Hoax.

There are countless Muslims scholars that condemn these riots and even a Lebanese Minister that has quit his job. Not to mention the mass amounts of damage to buildings and many deaths as a result. Is all this protesting really necessary? It seems to simply show the lack of respect and control that is having drastic ramifications on those who are not in any way involved. Peaceful demonstrations certainly have great impact on showing the world true feelings. If someone took my God (and I am very religious) and defamed and offended that sacredness I would certainly like to show my feelings…however when they involved killings of innocent people I think this is gone way to far. Allah will judge these people and give them their reward…the protesters and the cartoonists.

I give Islamic community a certain respect to speak out and express their feelings as the cartoons have been reprinted in more that 30 countries. They have a right to show disapproval and demand apologies. The simple difference I see is the lack of separation between state and religion in many parts of the Islamic world. While in the west we see cartoons of Bush for example which are morally degrading yet scream freedom of speech. If someone posted morally degrading cartoons about the Ayatollah would that person fear for their life?

Has not enough damage been done to innocent people to prove a point? I initially supported the respectful protest of Muslims and yet now all I see is disaster and lack of understanding…for it has been said that “God is a God of understanding.” I pray resolution to this challenging ordeal.