I fail to understand why they keep doing it again and again? Haven't the people advocating freedom of expression understood by now that depictions of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are considered blasphemous and will cause fury int he Muslim world?Yet, they publish and re-publish the caricatures, make crude references in comedy programmes and now run sketching contests on facebook! Does the world really feel that this time, the Muslims won't be hurt and will take it in their stride? Every Muslim is a fundamentalist when it comes to protecting Muhammad (PBUH)'s honour and it's a truth the sooner the world learns, the better.
That said, I must say I don't like the way Pakistan has reacted to the online contest. Of course, everyone is hurt and angered; I was distressed when I saw some of the depictions on the page, but is banning whole websites the solution? Now, there is a huge vaccum in the cyberspace that the growing middle class and urban population used to vent their opinion in.Pakistan could have blocked the specific URLs, compalined officially to facebook and youtube, made diplomatic remonstrances; we could have countered the hatemongerers via the media they had used; but now there is vaccum. the world cannot hear the Pakistani voice.
I wish there could have been another way to show the world that we care about this sensitive topic, that we are hurt by your actions and you should listen to why it is blasphemous. But there seems to be no way the deaf world can hear our protests. Even now, they seem to be wondering what's all the fuss about. I know that even if facebook is restored today, many users would delete their accounts; it has lost its respect but do we, the western world and the Muslims, need to resort to such extreme measures to tell the other side of our view?
I often wonder what the Prophet would have done. He would most probably have ignored the whole episode and have tried to explain to the other people why depictions of any prophet are blasphemous in Islam. Sadly, we, the Muslims, rarely wonder anymore what the prophet would have done. We love him too much and give knew-jerk reactions. Muhammad (PBUH) was patient, loved people, genuinely cared for them, was tolerant and would never have resorted to violence to fight people for his own cause. We have come a long way from the spirit of Islam in Medina and I long for the road that would make us go back or rather forward towards peace.
Faroha Liaqat
Agreed to ur post. Banning few websites wont give them any blow. Only our nation will be deprived from bringing their voice to them. We should realise that only through communication we can make our point to them. Also one thing i wana say is that our media is really not doing anything on its part. They have to show their responsibility and take the voice of our nation to the world. Only giving breaking news and covering the rallies is not at all helpful. I would suggest that this is the time that media should play its role.
ReplyDeleteYes, Afaf, that's true but if we even want to say this to the other people in pakistan, some may even question o le for the Prophet. For them, even this sort of thinking is a sign of weak imaan. But I believe that presenting our viewpoint to the world is the only way we can remove prejudices against Islam and its Prophet. Banning any response would be a disservice to islam.When we have the arguments and the voice to tell them that they are wrong, why should not we tell them?
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