Seeking Non-Muslims’ help to solve the Muslim-Extremist Cartoon Problem

Seeking Non-Muslims’ help to solve the Muslim-Extremist Cartoon Problem

Some predicaments are inter-cultural and to seek their potential solutions, you have to rely on people who understand both the cultures at play. I am a Muslim having lived half of my life in Pakistan and the rest half in America. I understand both the Eastern and Western cultures quite well now and want to make an attempt at bridging a gap of ideology between the two cultures.

In October 2020, the world witnessed a number of horrific events where a deeply disturbed student in France killed his teacher. His motive was to punish him for disrespecting Mohammad, the holy prophet of Islam by showing his caricatures.

These incidents are not new and over the years the French publication Charlie Hebdo has published similar cartoons multiple times and there have been similar attacks and resultant killings over the years.

Now here is the sad part. There is major disagreement between the Western and Eastern-Muslim philosophies when it comes to finding a solution to this ongoing problem.

The Muslim world always condemns the killings but also demands an end to promotion of such cartoons. The West feels differently and maintains that publishing such cartoons is their right claiming this to be exercising “freedom of expression.” Anybody who states that such cartoons should not be promoted is labelled by the latter as a terrorist-sympathizer.

Two wrongs do not make one right. There are extremists on both sides. The West needs to understand that publishing cartoons of the Holy Prophet is as much of an extreme measure as killing of the cartoon-maker is. The Western philosophy does not agree with the notion that the intensity of both the actions is similar.

Perhaps, through some examples within the history and culture of the Western world, you may understand where the Muslims are coming from.

In the United States, slavery of Black people was the norm for centuries. In modern times, slavery and later segregation were abolished. Slaves used to be called “niggers” and the use of this word was as ordinary as any other household word. American classic literature is rife with the use of this word. Over the years, it was decided that this “N-word” was inappropriate to use and although currently there is no criminal penalty to the use of this word, it is considered so inappropriate to use that nobody can even think of using it in any context without serious repercussions. One could lose a job or incite a riot very easily leading to violence and killings by using this word in the Western world.

My daughter is a freshman in high school and she was assigned to read “To Kill A Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee. I decided to read it along with her. The story set in the American South revolved around Atticus Finch who is a White lawyer who decides to defend a Black man. I mentioned to my kids how in the book Atticus was called a “nigger-lover.” At the mere mention of this word, which is included in an American Classic, which is being studied as a school assignment, my kids started jumping in their seats reprimanding me for using the “N-word” and asking me never to use the word again. It was delightful to see the American culture correcting itself within a span of less than a hundred years.

There are other examples. We all know about the atrocities of Adolf Hitler against the Jews. Now if someone started praising Hitler publicly and proclaimed him to be a great leader and supporting his killing of the Jews, this would incite reactions, riots and disharmony.

In recent years, several American states and counties have taken away statues of the Confederate Army with the thought that they symbolize the era of slavery. There are critics to this practice who say that this is part of American history and culture but then there are others who feel that there should be no shame or regret in identifying the wrong doings of one’s ancestors and prior generations and to remedy today what was a wrong of the past.

Recently there was a mob attack on American democracy labelled as an insurrection incited by the words of former President Donald Trump. This led to blood-shed at the heart of the nation’s capital in broad day light. He is facing an impeachment trial for his actions. One could argue that he only used the words and did not take part in the violence himself but on the contrary, very appropriately so, he is being held accountable for his inflammatory rhetoric.

The Muslim world does not disagree with the notion of Freedom of Speech and Expression. However common sense and decency should be prerequisites. The Western world needs to understand and be sensitive to issues that touch other people’s hearts and sentiments.

I will try to give you an example from everyday life. If the Principal of the school tells me that my child has beaten another child, I would highly condemn it and ask my child never to do it again. If I ask him why he had to resort to violence and if she or he told me that it was because the other child was constantly disrespecting his/her mother in front of other kids, I would ask the parents to have their child stop disrespecting my child’s mother. If the other parent and the Principal tell me that they cannot help this situation and will actually encourage the other child to continue disrespecting and name-calling my child’s mother, how could they expect me to stop my child from reacting? Let’s all try to act as adults here.

I don’t see much of a difference between Charlie Hebdo and ISIS/Al Qaeda. One promotes extremism by military terrorism and the other by publishing sentiment-attacking materials. And we know that the pen is mightier than the sword. The only difference is that a majority of the Muslim World condemns the actions of ISIS but perhaps an equal proportion of the West endorses and propagates the actions of Charlie Hebdo.

Nobody has ever justified killing someone for insulting the Prophet. We, as tolerant and conscientious Muslims, try anything that we can to curb the extremist views that thrive among some extreme ideologies. We need your help in achieving that goal. However, the West accuses Islam to be sympathetic to these murders without changing their own actions.

This is what I would say to the French people. Look: there are extremists on both sides. We condemn extremists on our side for those killings but you need to condemn extremists on your side for publishing the cartoons. If your President Emmanuel Macron is going to stand in front of the world and proclaims that France will not give up their cartoons, he is in fact to be blamed for these horrific killings and for siding with hypocrisy and inciting violence.

Please do your part that will help us do our part. Our goal is the same. Tolerance. Respect. Peace.

This article was published on Medium.com on January 29, 2021

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