A Muslim Fed Up with the Hype over the Danish Cartoons

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 at the fact that we the Muslims of the world somehow lost our religion in this day and age to extremists.  We all sit and watch as they took over and speak on our behalf and it seems that it is spinning out of control.  Who dares speaking up?  None of us does, we are afraid of physical violent retaliation!  This is what it comes down to being a Muslim in the world today. What a sad state of affairs!  To name but a few examples: Selman 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 bullet proof her house; after her book The Trouble with Islam came out.  VangGo, a Nederland citizen, movie maker lost his life assassinated by a religious Muslim fanatic after he dared to make portraying a movie asking questions about 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; however, I don't think the cartoonist or the newspaper that published it is the only ones responsible for such offense. 

We the Muslims of the world do share equal or more responsibility than anybody else. How so my fellow Muslims may ask? Well, in the last 30 years the center stage of main stream Islam has been occupied mostly by very offensive Muslim Extremist groups. The rest of us who do not belong to such groups 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 spoke and are speaking, acted and are acting in every offensive, abusive, aggressive way. From issuing death treats, Jewish bashing, assassinating, bombing, suicide bombing, etc… You name the offense they have done it and doing it. 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 through and by all means, internet, public speeches, newspapers, books, tapes, cds, etc…How can this be going on for at least the last 30 years and we Muslims blame a Danish cartoonist for drawing a cartoon of our prophet as a terrorist?  I say he is not to blame, we are!  This artist 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 by an offensive reaction, if the prophet Mohamed did such thing in his life he would have killed most of his own people who were very offensive to him in the start of his religious leadership.  The prophet Mohamed need not to be defended, he finished his deed centuries ago and he is where non living human can harm him offensive cartoons or not.  God need not to be defended either; for he created the whole in a diversified way with zillion of religions. May be there is wisdom in the creation as is with all its opposite facets.  So let us stop the hype, relax, listen, observe, learn, and enjoy the day.

The prophet Mohamed was a religious and historical figure that belongs to the whole human race. The religion of Islam like all other religions is by no means an exclusive Muslim propriety, but a human heritage that belong to all human beings. Maybe it is time to give up this sense of entitlement to God and what he wants in the Muslim thought.

I thought the faith of a human being lies in his heart and soul. The faith of a human being is that which can not be taken or altered only by himself. So how are some cartoons drawn by a stranger in foreign lands can affect so badly my fellow Muslims faith that they are ready to kill many? I say to my fellow Muslims, you need to take example on the prophet Mohamed life. Maybe a strong faith is not about screaming bloody murder because someone misspoke about the prophet Mohamed. Maybe a strong faith is the opposite of this reaction; stay peaceful and calm and not to be phased by the offense at all.

Aren't we Muslims fed up with this victim identity business?  Is being a Muslim became synonymous of being an angry victim?  If that is the case then we Muslims have a much bigger problem in our hands than the Danish cartoons. As a Muslim, I am so sick and tired of the extremists' propaganda and rhetoric such as: God needs to be defended? The prophet needs to be defended? Jewish people are conspiring against Muslims! The west is out to get Muslims! I say enough already, let us 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 3^rd world; poverty, social injustice, lack of opportunities, is predominantly the realities of Muslim daily life. Yet, we keep reinforcing the victim identity that is already overwhelmingly prevalent in most Muslim countries. Victims don't particularly make inspiring leaders, so let us switch from seeing ourselves as such. Let us start conceiving that we are human beings that can be greater than our conditions. Let us have big dreams, let us believe we have a chance. Let us have faith, faith in God, faith in ourselves, and faith in others.

Islam today needs a real introspective and an honest debate among both Muslims and Non-Muslims. I challenge my fellow Muslims to learn how to practice descent! I challenge my fellow non-Muslims to learn about Islam, ask questions and please don't be politically correct and don't be shy to share your criticism and comments. Let me remind every Muslim living on planet 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, and we have nothing to show for as Muslim; so let us not demand respect of others for being close minded, extremists but let us earn the world respect by becoming enlightened, wise, tolerant Ijtihadists. This of course takes much more effort than just reciting the verses of Koran and repeating them like a parrot or preaching the righteous extremists thoughts of abuse and submission; it take a greater intellectual effort and much harder effort on ones own heart opening process to became a Muslim Ijtihadist. I dare my fellow Muslims to take the high road of Ijtihad and start debating every verse of Koran not in order to convince someone else but in order to start learning about what it means to be a Muslim. Not to prevent others and ourselves from talking, criticizing or debating Islam but start re-learning the art of descent within Islam aka Ijtihad. I dare my fellow Non-Muslims to learn about their world history, geography, and humanities; and find out and acknowledge their shared responsibility in the birth of the beast of religious extremism in the Muslim world.

 © Copyrights 2006, Najat Fares Kessler, All rights reserved