When Jyllands-Posten first published the outrageous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him, last September, there was a low hum of outrage. Danish Muslim were rightfully upset and hurt at the cavalier attitude taken by Denmark’s intelligentsia at the spiteful portrayal of their Prophet, peace be upon him, and their faith. It was the latest and to-date the most egregious volley in a long line of public attacks and ridicule of Muslims in a country that has been in grip of rising xenophobia for well over a decade.
When Q-News met with Danish-American professor Jytte Klausen (who recently completed a landmark study of Muslim political elite in Europe) in October, she was furious and embarrassed that the political discourse in her native country had fallen to such putrid depths. The caricatures - hateful, ignorant and provocative - reminded her immediately of the images of European Jews popularised by the Nazis and their sympathisers in the 1930s and 1940s. Those images served to prepare public opinion for anti-Jewish edicts and ultimately, “The Final Solution”. The cartoons - then and now - are frighteningly similar. Klausen mused openly about the impact such images would have on public perceptions of Muslims, their faith and the man they hold so dear.
The matter has now developed into something completely different. News travels fast in our globalised, media-obsessed world. Make no mistake - these caricatures were intended to cause offence. The editors at Jyllands-Posten did what they did, simply because they could. Their freedom of speech meant to them also the freedom to offend. Little attention was paid to the value of these images or their impact. It was the worst kind of arrogance. The news that Jyllands-Posten rejected cartoons depicting Jesus three years ago on the grounds that they would be offensive to readers, made their current apology look miserly and cynical. The reprinting of the cartoons in other European newspapers was equally ill-thought out and simply fanned the flames of mistrust between Muslim minority communities and their fellow citizens. The right to free speech doesn’t abrogate social responsibility.
Simon Jenkins, in his typically incisive style, wrote, “These cartoons don’t defend free speech, they threaten it... For Danish journalists to demand ‘Europe-wide solidarity’ in the cause of free speech and to deride those who are offended as ‘fundamentalists... who have a problem with the entire western world’ comes close to racial provocation. We do not go about punching people in the face to test their commitment to non-violence. To be a European should not involve initiation by religious insult.”
Muslim deeply love the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him - it is at the core of our way of life. We seek to emulate his character and his way in everything we do, because he represents the very best of what it means to be human. In the Holy Quran, he is described by God as ‘a mercy to all the worlds’ - he does not ‘belong’ to me or the Muslim next door but to humanity. Muslims in turn aspire to become agents of mercy and compassion. Our anger is justified, but that does not give us the licence to behave without the dignity, restraint and intelligence that are the hallmarks of his character.
The behaviour of some Muslims over the past week, I fear, has done as much if not more damage to the name and honour of the Prophet. While previously unknown Danish cartoonists are now international martyrs for “freedom", the hooliganism of Muslims has now taken centre-stage.
Protest - peaceful, forceful, moving and creative - is the hallmark of a vibrant civil society. Conduct at the demonstration by the Hizb ut Tahrir for instance, was exemplary and the group’s condemnation of the debacle the day before, welcome.
Defending the honour of the Prophet is one thing, the antics of some demonstrators is quite another. Dressing up as a suicide bomber, waving placards calling on Muslims to “Butcher those who insult Islam” and shouting “7/7 on it way” - the inhumanity of it all is so utterly shameful and depressing. Clearly, it’s not just Danish cartoonists and their apologists who are ignorant of the Prophet. As families of the 7/7 victims no doubt watched in horror, I wonder how the parents of the child wearing the I Love Al-Qaeda cap would have felt had their son or daughter been sitting on the No. 30 bus on that day.
In fact, many of those who so violently took to the street claiming their love for the Prophet belong to the same heterodox, literalist school of thought that criticises Muslims for venerating the Prophet, peace be upon him, ‘too much’. These people condemn the mawlid - the celebration of Prophet’s birth - and seek to silence those who honour the Prophet through sacred music, art and poetry. One zealot, recently invited to deliver a sermon, declared he would refer to the Prophet as “Brother Muhammad” because he saw the Prophet as ‘no more than an ordinary man who received God’s revelation’.
The protests reveal other deeper frustrations. Many Muslims genuinely feel alienated, marginalised and besieged by ‘an Islamophobic media’. These perceptions cannot be ignored. We need to tackle these issues together before crises happen.
It is times like this that many will wish that the late Dr Zaki Badawi was still with us. His wisdom and directness were invaluable. His absence is felt greatly and deeply.
At last year’s first national mawlid gathering in Wembley our publisher Fuad Nahdi called on Muslims to dedicate the year to the celebration of the Prophet and to making his message of mercy, compassion and service a central feature of our lives and our communities. That call is more relevant today than ever. As we go to press, Muslims across the country are organising gatherings of education and celebration to counter the violent protests held by a small but noisy minority.
We cannot forget that the Prophet, peace be upon him, was insulted and vilified during his life and in fact, throughout history and yet, his example has survived and his message for humanity is as relevant today as it was fourteen centuries ago.
The Prophet was once asked by a companion, “Give me some advice by virtue of which I hope for good in the life hereafter", and the Prophet repeatedly said, “Don’t get angry.” The Prophet also said that anger is like fire, which destroys you from within, and it can also lead you to the fire of hell by your own unjust expressions of anger. In whatever way we choose to protest and engage in the issues stirred up by the current controversy, this is advice that we should truly hold dear.

Fareena Alam