A Danish newspaper recently published some cartoon caricatures of Mohammad, the prophet of the Muslim
So what does the global Muslim community do in response? Act in violent and extremist ways, that's what! I'm all for free speech of course, and I'm all for free protest too. But Muslims are causing property damage to Danish embassies in Indonesia and other regions, all the while shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is the greatest). I'm not in favor of property damage, obviously. Also, I am not in favor of anyone reacting violently to an insulting caricature of a person who isn't even alive. But since in Islam, all pictures and drawings of Mohammad are considered immoral, I doubt they would be much happier even if the caricature was all flowery and complimentary.
Independent action and self-responsibility is a foreign concept to most Muslims (as well as most pro-afterlifers in general), and it's evident in how they praise God for every single causal act that happens in their lives. Newborn baby? Allahu Akbar! Death in the family? Allahu Akbar! Win the lottery? Allahu Akbar! A Yankee bomb falls on your house? Allahu Akbar! Got cancer? Allahu Akbar, dammit!
The Danish Prime Minister's reality check has gone unheeded by the infuriated Muslim protestors. The Danish Prime Minster said:
"A Danish government can never apologize on behalf of a free and independent newspaper. This is basically a dispute between some Muslims and a newspaper."
His legitimate disclaimer went unheeded because Middle-Eastern Muslims don't typically understand that a newspaper in the West can have an unrestricted and independent "mouth" that the Government cannot or will not control. The Muslims think that all of Denmark, indeed all of the Western World, is responsible for this offensive cartoon. Flag burning has not been restricted to the Danish variety over this issue. Why don't they just burn the UN flag? I think it would be more appropriate, since the UN flag has a picture of the entire planet on it.
I am also curious as to why Muslims think that their all powerful and all merciful Allah needs the help of their (by comparison) puny little selves to defend and protect Him? For God to even get offended is to imply that a human can force reactions out of Him, which would imply that humans can have power over Him, which would make the all-powerful Allah not so all-powerful, which would of course make Him not God.
While the whole Western World isn't responsible for the cartoon, a lot of Westerners definitely think of devout Muslims in the same way the cartoons portray. So the Muslim community is in a sense lashing out over their anger of how the West views them. At any rate, the Muslims are projecting. They want to blame the West for this offense, but in reality the only thing responsible for this portrayal of Mohammad is the institution of Islam itself! It is the
Who is responsible for this whole outrage? Nobody, unless you count Mohammad. The proper question is: What is responsible for this whole outrage? The answer is Islam. The answer is afterlife-belief, and it's dehumanizing, alienating, and demoralizing attributes. Think about it. The Muslims aren't even defending themselves, but their faith and their prophet. They are offended not because they were the target of an insult, but because their institution of Islamic faith was insulted. It is the Islam that the West is poking fun at, not the Middle-Easterners. And it is the afterlife-belief, in this case the Islamic faith, that is the problem.
I think that the French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, sums it up terrifically when he says:
"I am totally shocked and find it unacceptable that -- because there have been caricatures in the West -- extremists can burn flags or take fundamentalist or extremist positions which would prove the cartoonists right."
Yes, Monsieur Douste-Blazy, the cartoonists are right.
Allahu Akbar!
5 comments:
For God to even get offended is to imply that a human can force reactions out of Him, which would imply that humans can have power over Him, which would make the all-powerful Allah not so all-powerful, which would of course make Him not God.
This is a great point!
ON a MySpace.com group forum to which I belong, they are discussing this concept. This quote can be found there:
"Because Muslims believe that any visual depiction of Mohammad is blasphemous and may lead to idolotry[sic], they call for the death of anyone or any nation that merely creates a cartoon inteneded to be Mohammad..."
Now, I'm still plishing up my understanding of Islam, but uh...I thought they're whole thing was teh importance of ALLAH. As in, no man can compare, and emphasis on any human is idolatrous. They always emphasize that they do not worship Mohammed. But if this claim 9that no representation of the "prophet" is true, then there's a contradiction going on here.
I'll have to ask my Muslim homeboy.
Then again, it sounds as if the cartoon draws a parallel between Islam and violence/terrorism.
Imagine that.
But the point is, if this is the case, then it's not a Mohammed issue, it's a faith issue.
If they're offended, maybe they should edit out all of the violence and make a Qu'ran Cliff Notes version.
But in the meantime, all these threats of violence are just serving as an Islam for Dummies of sorts. And proving the cartoonist(s) correct.
Hmm. I think that the Islamist religious leaders should blind themselves so that they will never have to gaze upon such blasphemy again. Think that suggestion would go over well? That would at least prove that they are sincere in their outrage, and not just using this as an excuse to raise the rabble and riot.
For God to even get offended is to imply that a human can force reactions out of Him, which would imply that humans can have power over Him, which would make the all-powerful Allah not so all-powerful, which would of course make Him not God.
Very true. The fact is that if the true God has a bone to pick, He doesn't delegate it out - He takes care of it himself. The Allah of Islam is not God, he's Mohammed behind a curtain, still trying to lord it over the other tribes of the world.
Loved this post. Very funny and true at the same time.
im sorry to tell u people that talk about saddam and biladin but let me remind u of some history because u might not learn it in ur social class that saddam was put in power by whom? by USA. TALIBAN WHICH I HATE WERE GIVEN WEAPONS BY WHOM??? YES AGAIN BY THE USA. MUSLIMS PEOPLE DONT LIKE PEOPLE MAKING CARTOONS AND WRITING STUPID THINGS ON THEM, SAME LIKE U HAVE U HEARD OF A MUSLIM NEWSPAPER THAT HAS THE " RIGHT OF SPEECH" SAYING THINGS ABOUT OTHER RELIGIONS OR DRAWING PICTURES OF THEIR PROPHET OR SON OF GOD OR THE ENLIGHTEND ONE ECT NO BECAUSE WE RESPECT WATCH THEY BELIEVE IN AND SOME OF U NEED TO START TO HAVE SOME RESPECT BACK..
WHERE ARE UR CAMANDMENTS PEOPLE . DOES IT SAY TO MAKE FUN OF OTHER RELGIONS OR DOES IT SAY TO RESPECT THEM. IF U DONT KNOW THEN START READING THNAX
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