Cartoon Blasphemy - Build a Response!

[graphican]

Today I was called by one of my friends and he asked me "What is the collective response that Muslims of Pakistan should offer to make sure this blasphemous crime never happens again" and like most of us, I was unsure. Yet again, I was realizing and intensely so that how helpless and easy target Muslims of the world has become. Our fault, we accept but this is time when we got to correct ourself and get things right. But by doing what? I was looking for directions from somebody who is sensible and wise enough to guide this nation and Muslim Ummah what we should do.

While writing this post, I am thinking of Dr. Zakir Niak that may be he is the person that can lead Muslims in this regard? Or Tahirul Qadri? Immame-e-Kaaba? I don't know... I just know I need answer but who's going to give that is not clear. Muslims of Pakistan and Ummah need direction. Burning tires and breaking streetlights is not the response that would harm Zionists, they would rather be happy that they successfully started yet another issue in a state that is already fighting with 10s of problems. I rather think Pakistan Government for the first time has taken preventive measures at the right time and have blocked such content that would inflame sentiments of anger. 20th of May has Passed and fear of knee-jerk reaction is over that is mostly violent. BUT we still need to respond the Zionists who likes to ridicule Prophets in the name of Freedom. We need to prove freedom comes under limitations and freedom without limitations is called madness. We need to stop that part of the world who think they are free to call names, draw cartoons and offend every possible way and other part of the world should stay quiet, tolerate this and would bare their insanity in the name of Freedom.

I am inviting my countrymen to discuss and build a response that will make sure such thing will never happen again.

 

[graphican]

Level of Respect that Muslims are asked to offer is evident from this Surah in Quraan.

Referene: Quraan - Al-Hujurat 49:2

Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo la tarfaAAoo aswatakum fawqa sawti alnnabiyyi wala tajharoo lahu bialqawli kajahri baAAdikum libaAAdin an tahbata aAAmalukum waantum la tashAAuroona

49:2 O ye who believe! Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk, as ye may speak aloud to one another, lest your deeds become vain and ye perceive not.

Imagine the level of Respect Allah has asked moment to offer. If Sahaba could loose their all deeds for raising their voice above voice of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, how do some of us tend to think Drawing Shameful Cartoons and writing Name of Prophet Muhammad over dirty things should be tolerated???

 

[Hyde]

well our top religious scholars should give input on about this issue and i find Imam-e-Ka'ba the most respectable person of all.

But unfortunately Saudi Government is very strict and they have forbidden Imam-e-Kaba to give political opinion on any kind of issue (as far as i know).

So this is not going to happen, may be Mufti-e-Azam of Saudi Arabia can guide us

We have difference of opinion about Zakir Naik or Tahir-ul-Qadri or other religious scholars so we cannot find a concensus on their fatwah's

 

[Bushy]

You see graphican, when someone who is out of the purview of law commits a crime, not much can be done. But aspects of society such as morals, humanity, empathy and sensitivity know no boundaries. So in such cases you can always do one of the two things. You can issue threats to those who you think have been insensitive to you, or, forgive them and apprise them of the emotional harm they have rendered upon you.

Both the actions will bring out different results.

Issuing death threats may appear more like questioning the courage of the one who committed the act, and the threats may become counterproductive. As it happened in the recent case of facebook.com page. After all, everyone likes to show off his/her courage, esp when they no they can't be harmed.

However, if you apply the second approach, of forgiving the person, but not without educating him/her of the emotional harm his/her actions made you go through, then certainly it will make that person sit and think before he/she undertakes a similar action again in future.

There is no guarantee of the success of the latter approach, but it certainly will not leave them with a morally strong and easy ground to harm your emotions again in a similar way.

I visited that page many times, and realized that it had rather become a platform for the cool headed Muslims to successfully educate those who were simply abrasive and dangerously ignorant about Islam.
However, those hot-headed Muslim users who were aghast at the page, went on to abuse others (specifically Jews) and ended up prompting the other moderate people to add their versions to the page's picture album.

I think I can understand how outraged the Muslim community might have been because of whatever happened facebook.com, but please do remember that a decision taken with a hot mind more than often backfires.

 

[Patriot]

We should just ignore it and anyone who creates counter group like Holocaust Celebration is also committing a Sin.

 

[TechLahore]

Level of Respect that Muslims are asked to offer is evident from this Surah in Quraan.

Referene: Quraan - Al-Hujurat 49:2

Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo la tarfaAAoo aswatakum fawqa sawti alnnabiyyi wala tajharoo lahu bialqawli kajahri baAAdikum libaAAdin an tahbata aAAmalukum waantum la tashAAuroona

49:2 O ye who believe! Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk, as ye may speak aloud to one another, lest your deeds become vain and ye perceive not.

Imagine the level of Respect Allah has asked moment to offer. If Sahaba could loose their all deeds for raising their voice above voice of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, how do some of us tend to think Drawing Shameful Cartoons and writing Name of Prophet Muhammad over dirty things should be tolerated???

Please don't misuse verses of the Quran to suit your purposes.

First, the verse says "raise not your voices" - it does not say, don't let others raise their voice. In fact, others DID raise their voice and the true companions of the Prophet did not attack them just for criticising the Prophet.

Second, the consequence of this verse is that "lest your deeds become vain" - in other words, not that you will be killed, but that by raising your voice over the Prophet, i.e. thinking your opinion to be more important, you will become misguided. The penalty of such a misguided person is not given by man, it is given by God in the hereafter.

If you are trying to twist this verse into justifying attacks against those who draw these ridiculous cartoons, you are really out on a limb. The more you feed them, the more they will continue their acts. People who have made a huge deal out of this and have burnt down shops, closed businesses and made threats are the reason why this is coming back to haunt us over and over again. If no one had taken note of the Danish cartoons you and I would not be having this conversation today.

 

[graphican]

Please don't misuse verses of the Quran to suit your purposes.

First, the verse says "raise not your voices" - it does not say, don't let others raise their voice. In fact, others DID raise their voice and the true companions of the Prophet did not attack them just for criticising the Prophet.

Second, the consequence of this verse is that "lest your deeds become vain" - in other words, not that you will be killed, but that by raising your voice over the Prophet, i.e. thinking your opinion to be more important, you will become misguided. The penalty of such a misguided person is not given by man, it is given by God in the hereafter.

If you are trying to twist this verse into justifying attacks against those who draw these ridiculous cartoons, you are really out on a limb. The more you feed them, the more they will continue their acts. People who have made a huge deal out of this and have burnt down shops, closed businesses and made threats are the reason why this is coming back to haunt us over and over again. If no one had taken note of the Danish cartoons you and I would not be having this conversation today.

Where did you get the feeling that I am asking about sheer attacks and killings??? Having said that, I am seeking a SOLUTION to the PROBLEM and PROBLEM is that these incidents are increasing and we need to put a cap to them. Now we are open to options.. if imposing sanctions and restricting financially is going to give us the results, we all will be satisfied and but if a military action against these freaks is presented as solution then why not.

 

[Itachi Uchiha]

Assalam-o-Alaikum

Adil Najam

This is a painful post to write.

Ideally I would have preferred not to have had to write this post. But I have over 300 messages in my in-box of people fussing over the so-called “Draw Muhammad Day” page on the social networking site Facebook and now the Lahore High Court’s decision calling for a ban on Facebook has forced the issue. And that is what pains me.

I hope that Facebook administration will remove the page. Not because of any “banning” movement and not because of the Lahore High Court. Just because the page and the idea behind the page is inflammatory and offensive. Regardless of what your belief or religion might be, to throw out offensive and hateful vitriolic for the simple and primary purpose of hurting someone else’s feelings - when you know that (a) those feelings will be hurt and (b) when hurting those feelings is really the only purpose of doing what you are doing - is inhuman, cruel, and clearly offensive. If Facebook does not recognize that, then it knows nothing either about “social” or about “networking” and certainly not about “community.”

But at one level, that matters little now. Whether Facebook removes the offensive page or not. The page and its creators have already fulfilled their purpose, met their goals. And it is we ourselves who have helped them do so. And that is what pains me.

I have not visited the offensive page in question and do not intend to. I had also not intended to help publicizing that offensive page, but by having to write this post that is exactly what I am doing. And that pains me. I am offended by the idea that page purports and the goals it seeks to achieve. So, why should I dignify it by a visit? Why should I publicize it? Why should I give it the attention it was created to seek. Yet, all of us (now me included, which is why writing this is uncomfortable) are doing exactly that.And that is what pains me.

Many of the emails I have received give me the link to that page and invite me to visit it so that ‘I can see for myself how offensive it is.’ I do not need to do that. Yet, that is exactly what we have been doing. We have been acting exactly as the creators of that page intended us to. Acting as the promoters and publicists of that page. And now having turned it into an international legal matter giving the attention seekers behind the page the exact thing they wanted: Attention.

But we have done more than that. With the Lahore High Court decision we have allowed the PTA and authorities another precedent and excuse to aggressively “manage” the internet; something that can and will be misused in the future.

I have not been receiving emails from the proponents of that page. The only ones who seem to be noticing us is us Muslims (and for some reason Pakistani Muslims more than any other). If we too had ignored the offensive page - as it deserves to be ignored - it would have gone the exact same way to oblivion as thousands of other sophomoric attempts at cheap attention seeking on the Internet. Instead we have now turned it into an international incident and given it far more limelight than it ever deserved.

Let’s think about it, what did the creators of the offensive page want to do when they set it up? First, they sought attention, and hits, and notoriety in a world where attention is too easily confused with fame. Second, they wanted to ridicule Muslims by the reaction they excepted from this. If you think of it, irrespective of whether Facebook removes the site or keeps it, the organizers of the page have achieved their goal. Well beyond what they expected. Now every other Islamophobic nutcase will get new ideas about how to have his little 10 minutes of fame spewing bigotry and hatred against Muslims.

But more importantly, they simply could not have done this without us. The only people who have turned this from nothingness into a huge issue is us. I am sure that those who set up the page are jumping up and down and thanking us for making their page such a huge success! And that is what pains me.

I am also pained by the sacrilege of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that this entire drama signifies. As pained as anyone else, and as pained as I would have been at the sacrilege of any other Prophet or religion. But unlike for many others, that pain is neither reduced nor resolved by protesting against Facebook. For me, the antidote to that pain is in the teaching of the Prophet (PBUH) themselves. What would the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) have done in such a situation.

The one thing I am absolutely positive of, is that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would not have done what we are doing now: making an international public spectacle of ourselves. Most likely he would have just walked away and ignored (the ‘look the other way when someone throws garbage at you’ model), he might have negotiated with Facebook on the basis of their own stated rules (the Hudabia model), he might have reasoned with detractors (the discourse and discussion model). Nearly certainly Muhammad (PBUH) would have handled it with grace, with composure, and maybe even with a touch of good humor. Most importantly, the Prophet (PBUH) would have kept focusing on his own actions and proving his point with his own deeds rather than with slogans, banners and naara-baazi.


__________________________________________________________________

i m newer thats y cant post the link so i paste the whole thing written by Adil Najam




Best regards
Saad aka Itachi Uchiha

 

[graphican]

Please don't misuse verses of the Quran to suit your purposes.

First, the verse says "raise not your voices" - it does not say, don't let others raise their voice. In fact, others DID raise their voice and the true companions of the Prophet did not attack them just for criticising the Prophet.

Second, the consequence of this verse is that "lest your deeds become vain" - in other words, not that you will be killed, but that by raising your voice over the Prophet, i.e. thinking your opinion to be more important, you will become misguided. The penalty of such a misguided person is not given by man, it is given by God in the hereafter.

If you are trying to twist this verse into justifying attacks against those who draw these ridiculous cartoons, you are really out on a limb. The more you feed them, the more they will continue their acts. People who have made a huge deal out of this and have burnt down shops, closed businesses and made threats are the reason why this is coming back to haunt us over and over again. If no one had taken note of the Danish cartoons you and I would not be having this conversation today.

Tech I apologize if I sound harsh but intention is to make a confusion clear on your part.

Suppose somebody insults, ridicules and offends somebody you love, lets say parents or somebody equally close, right on his/her face and in your presence. What will be your reaction to that? Since you didn't do that insult, will you sit and stay calm imagining you are not responsible and since you offer them love so you don't need to take action??? I guess NOT.

Now let me quote another saying of Holy Prophet Muhammad in which he has explained what is his position in the hierarchy of respect and worth. Holy Prophet Said, your Imaan will not become complete until I become the most beloved entity in your life, even more than your money, children, parents and every other thing you love in life.

What do you think being a Muslim a blasphemous cartoons asks us? Sit quite imagining we didn't do the insult and our part is clear? No Sir, certainly not.

Regarding punishing the people who did this crime, I am only sure that they need to stop doing that but how is what I am trying to find. If financial penalty would do the job, good enough but if they need physical force before they could stop, then this is what Ummah needs. I would again assert, We need RESULTS and it is irrelevant how those results are achieved.

 

[usmanjilani]

We should just ignore it and anyone who creates counter group like Holocaust Celebration is also committing a Sin.

True!!!!!!!!!Counter Groups are also not good....................But ignoring it again isn't the answer...........

What Clerics in Jummas Sermon were saying today....................."Kill e'm......... "and narrating different stories..............:

 

[Awesome]

Today I was called by one of my friends and he asked me "What is the collective response that Muslims of Pakistan should offer to make sure this blasphemous crime never happens again" and like most of us, I was unsure. Yet again, I was realizing and intensely so that how helpless and easy target Muslims of the world has become. Our fault, we accept but this is time when we got to correct ourself and get things right. But by doing what? I was looking for directions from somebody who is sensible and wise enough to guide this nation and Muslim Ummah what we should do.

While writing this post, I am thinking of Dr. Zakir Niak that may be he is the person that can lead Muslims in this regard? Or Tahirul Qadri? Immame-e-Kaaba? I don't know... I just know I need answer but who's going to give that is not clear. Muslims of Pakistan and Ummah need direction. Burning tires and breaking streetlights is not the response that would harm Zionists, they would rather be happy that they successfully started yet another issue in a state that is already fighting with 10s of problems. I rather think Pakistan Government for the first time has taken preventive measures at the right time and have blocked such content that would inflame sentiments of anger. 20th of May has Passed and fear of knee-jerk reaction is over that is mostly violent. BUT we still need to respond the Zionists who likes to ridicule Prophets in the name of Freedom. We need to prove freedom comes under limitations and freedom without limitations is called madness. We need to stop that part of the world who think they are free to call names, draw cartoons and offend every possible way and other part of the world should stay quiet, tolerate this and would bare their insanity in the name of Freedom.

I am inviting my countrymen to discuss and build a response that will make sure such thing will never happen again.

Respond like our Prophet did. Don't just be a fanboy of the great man, follow his example.

Forgive them for Draw Muhammad Day | Facebook

 

[raleigh22]

Facebook page that led to Pakistani ban removed

ISLAMABAD — A Facebook page that was considered offensive to Islam and led to a Pakistani ban on the site has been removed, possibly by its creator.
Facebook said Friday it has not taken any action on the page. It had attracted more than 100,000 users and encouraged users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, purportedly in support of freedom of speech.
Most Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.
Najibullah Malik, the secretary at Pakistan's information technology ministry, said earlier Friday that the government had no option but to shut down Facebook on Wednesday after a court order to do so.
There was no immediate word on whether the government was lifting the ban.

The Associated Press: Facebook page that led to Pakistani ban removed

 

[graphican]

Facebook page that led to Pakistani ban removed

ISLAMABAD — A Facebook page that was considered offensive to Islam and led to a Pakistani ban on the site has been removed, possibly by its creator.
Facebook said Friday it has not taken any action on the page. It had attracted more than 100,000 users and encouraged users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, purportedly in support of freedom of speech.
Most Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.
Najibullah Malik, the secretary at Pakistan's information technology ministry, said earlier Friday that the government had no option but to shut down Facebook on Wednesday after a court order to do so.
There was no immediate word on whether the government was lifting the ban.

The Associated Press: Facebook page that led to Pakistani ban removed

Breaking News:
The stabbed dagger which caused death of the person has now been removed. As the dagger is removed, there is no point of prosecurting the one who had stabbed it..

No Sir, this doesn't make sense!

What if I abuse somebody you love for one whole day and then I would say, I should be rather quiet now. What would that leave you to do?

Lets try to be logical, even if you subscribe to the other line of the thought, you still got to stay sane and reasonable. This post is not directed "towards" you as person but as you posted, you are receiving the answer. Come again with better point of view than that.

 

[Awesome]

Breaking News:
The stabbed dagger which caused death of the person has now been removed. As the dagger is removed, there is no point of prosecurting the one who had stabbed it..

No Sir, this doesn't make sense!

What if I abuse somebody you love for one whole day and then I would say, I should be rather quiet now. What would that leave you to do?

Lets try to be logical, even if you subscribe to the other line of the thought, you still got to stay sane and reasonable. This post is not directed "towards" you as person but as you posted, you are receiving the answer. Come again with better point of view than that.

Man in normal day to day life nobody says anything abusive to my loved ones. If anyone did, I would cut off all ties with that person and walk away.

Somebody who promotes the cartoons, I'd do the same thing. I will never hit anyone nor threaten to hit them. Personally I won't even stoop low enough to say anything bad in response, but I won't find fault with you if you did. As long as the exchange remains verbal and proportionate, then its fine.

But I would strongly suggest that you don't do that. Very strongly.

Somebody very wise once said the best revenge is to live a good life. I don't want you to waste your time, your money and your efforts in giving responses to low life individuals who have nothing better to do. Who instead of fighting against crime, poverty, hunger, war and the corruption of their leaders decide to best exercise their freedom by showing they are free to piss off people. I would strongly suggest you don't get in line to become like THAT. Because THAT is pathetic, as a Muslim I hope to see you guys excel in your studies, your job and your contribution in helping out society, being kind to women, and leading a moral life.

I repeat, the best revenge is to live a good life. Make it happen.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

I am inviting my countrymen to discuss and build a response that will make sure such thing will never happen again.

Here is my suggestion - Don't get your panties in a bunch and infringe upon the rights of others living in a different nation from drawing images or talking about a figure (the Prophet Mohammed) that they do not care about.

The response of Muslims protesting this currently and calling for 'punitive action to prevent such a travesty from occurring again' should be to finally grow up, act like adults, and learn to ignore attempts to instigate them.

Seriously, how many people here know of that kid in college or school that everyone loved to pick on because he always gave you a great reaction?

Yup, that 'kid' who was so much fun to instigate because he would get offended/outraged over the slightest joke is what Muslims protesting these cartoons have turned into.