Face book blocks access in India to controversial page

[EjazR]

Daily Times -The protests, the ban and the faithful! –Junaid Zuberi

We have left no stone unturned to prove that we are indeed a community that believes in violence and that does not have an iota of tolerance and forgiveness

The Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered a temporary ban on Facebook and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) went several steps ahead by first announcing complete blockage of the popular networking site for an indefinite period followed by a ban on YouTube.

The nation is swimming in the ocean of ignorance characterised by unchecked emotions. In our quest to prove our righteousness and moral superiority, we are prepared to go to any length. And we have shown this many times. If a western country publishes objectionable material, zealots here burn their own buildings, vehicles and property. Perhaps the decision to ban the website altogether was taken to pre-empt a replay of these horrific examples from the past. The PTA had already blocked the link to the group accused of holding the highly objectionable contest on Facebook. But the petitioner lawyers brimming with hate in the name of religion were not ready to settle for anything less than a complete ban. And while the matter was sub judice, the religio-political parties and their militant student wings had started raising their voice and instigating fear of violence in case immediate action acceptable to them was not taken.

We have become slaves of this wave of intolerance that is increasing by each passing day. We are deeply entangled in this web that has overpowered our sense of reasoning and rationality. What do we achieve out of these bans and protests and whom do we actually serve? Certainly not the perpetrators and the targets of our anger and anguish.

We ascribe our violent reaction and protest to the love of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) but do our actions really display love and affection? I assume the righteous and the pious who take on streets have all read the various accounts of the Prophet’s (PBUH) life. The exalted man they claim to love set a very different example of dealing with criticism. Reading various accounts of Seerat, one comes across incidents where the Prophet (PBUH) was criticised, threatened and jeered at. One even finds an incident where a woman would throw garbage at him as a mark of extreme hate. However, the reaction of the Prophet (PBUH) to such mockery was that of forgiveness. If he wanted to convey that a prophet cannot be criticised and questioned, he would have taken the critics head on and asked his companions to silence all the opponents. However, he wanted to convey to the people that he believes in tolerance and forgiveness and his message is the message of love and humanity. If I am wrong, the staunch believers and self-proclaimed custodians of faith may correct me please. If indeed the example we have is of violence, intolerance, vindictiveness, malice and retribution, then I will take back my words.

The Muslim community today has a very negative image the world over. If we do not look within and continue to point fingers at others, we would never be able to change our image. The world looks at us suspiciously. And we never fail to disappoint them. Do we realise how much damage we ourselves are causing to our community? We have left no stone unturned to prove that we are indeed a community that believes in violence and that does not have an iota of tolerance and forgiveness. Our own conduct defies all that we claim.

I am not building an argument to justify anti-Islam acts. I only want the angry protestors and critics, many of whom can be found online on various blogs and forums, to analyse the reasons behind the West’s antipathy towards us with an open mind and instead of pushing the gap further, use their energies, talent and examples from history to narrow it. We have totally forgotten the message of love that many revered Sufis spread on our soil. They were epitomes of love who drew people towards our religion while we are epitomes of hate repelling people away from our religion.

In the complex and shrinking world that we live in today, ban on means of information and technology will neither function nor be appreciated. People will always find alternate routes to information. There are millions of websites promoting hate and anti-religion material targeting all faiths. Likewise, **** and other similar type of undesirable stuff is spread all over the cyberspace. Does that mean we ban the internet altogether? What about e-mail then? People may start sending undesirable and ‘immoral’ e-mails, so let us ban that also. What if the people switch to cell phones and text messaging? Put a ban on that too. Is there an end to it?

If we simply ignore these sites and exercise self-control, we would save ourselves from a lot of unnecessary trouble and backlash. The believers who take the Prophet’s (PBUH) name should go back to take lessons from his life. While he was most forgiving, we are most vindictive and bigoted. Our chequered history carries many such examples of hate crimes and violence where the followers of majority faith have targeted minority faith communities. When the zealots killed many Christians and targeted their sacred sites in Gojra last year, the western world dominated by the Christian faith did not take to the streets demanding a ban on Pakistan, Pakistani products and so on. They registered protests with dignity, using the available diplomatic channels. If everyone resorts to violence, the world will become an even more stifling place to live in. And that would be a much bigger disservice to our children. But is anyone listening?

 

[harish]

On topic, Indian laws prohibit any content that is deemed insulting or demeaning to any community in India. This is not just for Muslims.

While Ejaz is technically right here, at ground level the Indian state has always been more sensitive to the sentiments of the muslim minority for fear of 'alienating' them further, than the sentiments at large of the hindus, who as the vast overwhelming majority are supposed to be charitable and take it on the chin more than once for fear of sending the 'wrong' message across of the majority victimising the minority. MF Hussain did much the same in his paintings of our dieties, but the cases against him were thrown out by the Delhi High Court if memory serves me correctly. No Indian living in India today and having grown up in India can truthfully deny the divisive vote bank politics played out in our country every day. Dating as far back as the Partition, and continuing to sow the seed and water the sapling of mutual distrust between the two biggest communities of our country to this day. And it helps no one at all. It fosters resentment within the hindu community. And the muslim community are made to feel 'different' which no proud Indian would ever like or welcome. Ejaz bhai I hope you are not going to brand me also an Islamaphobe for speaking my heart truthfully here.

 

[ajpirzada]

Daily Times -The protests, the ban and the faithful! –Junaid Zuberi

ya y shouldnt he start teaching everyone wat Prophet (peace be upon him) taught everyone.

there is nothing violent we have done. all we are doing is denying them to take any economic benefit out of us. and if they have a freedom to insult our Prophet (peace be upon him) then at least we pakis have some freedom to deny them economic access.

for those who talk about freedom they should also respect our freedom to react.

i see this ban as a fair trade.

 

[FlickerSingh]

Insults on the Prophet of Islam is now increasing due to the fact that Muslims in general come out in His defence or take personal such insults. Usually these attacks are from people ignorant of the message of goodwill which was spread by the Prophet. Sadly it is usually Muslims who have no idea of what Islam is truly about who spearhead the defence of the attacks on the Prophet. Those attacking the Prophet in turn justify the attacks by pointing out the often violent responses received. I would suggest that Muslims should start a mass education programme to non Muslims through the internet to point out the true nature of the Prophet's words and deeds. Until then such stupid messages and internet sites will flourish. Ignorant people such as those who set up these facebook sites believe that they are attacking terrorism by attacking Islam.

 

[Speaker]

I would suggest that Muslims should start a mass education programme to non Muslims through the internet to point out the true nature of the Prophet's words and deeds.

Well there are certain Muslims who are doing that. I went to the page last evening and one lady was not giving up - she kept putting up messages of peace and clarifying misconceptions on the forum. But I got a feeling she was getting frustrated with the barrage of ridicule and insults.

I am all for free speech and I support the existence of the page for that reason. But such things should be moderated and done in the right spirit. I am not a Muslim, but I was disgusted with the kind of comments and cartoons people were coming up with. This is post-9/11 paranoia gone crazy. Some of the jokes on that page were not even remotely funny and depicting bombs and terrorists, OBL etc in the cartoons was in really bad taste. I don't care what religion they belong to, but treat other humans with respect, if that is the least they can do.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

I personally think everything should be allowed by law, but should not be done anyway.

Quite right,
Freedom of speech is not synonymous with freedom to 'wilfully' hurt or offend- and NEVER WILL BE!
However, one wise way to deal with similar situations is just to simply ignore the perpetrators (as long as their actions) do not have any physical consequences.
If i ignore you, it as if you never existed on the face of this planet or never will. Not easy to do, but still worth trying; especially collectively.
If the recepient is even half-sensible, it will hit somewhere.
And if the recepient is fully senseless, the world is already doing fine without (or in spite of) his existence.

No Worry!

 

[ajpirzada]

Insults on the Prophet of Islam is now increasing due to the fact that Muslims in general come out in His defence or take personal such insults.

this argument is very weak. had this been the case, we wouldnt have been seeing all the insulting prophet Jesus related cartoon characters for which no one complains. going by ur logic, it should have died its own death but it didnt. wonder y

 

[Unbeliever]

The group is not about insulting or agitating the average Muslim, but about showing extremists like xMustiiej70 or Aamir Zia(see Here )who would use violence to enforce their religious traditions on people of different or no religion.

If moderate Muslims would stand by those who just want to exercise their human right of freedom of expression (and for anyone who doesn't know: yes that includes criticism and insults of any kind) than this group would probably die down quickly.

But as long as you apologies for these people instead of criticizing and protesting against them and they try to intimidate people into following their tyrannical dogma that every one needs to follow the rules of the suni tradition of not depicting Mohammed by threatening or using violence, people of the free nations will stand tall to defend on of their most important and basic rights.

You are always free not to look at those pictures, so every one reacting with anger should close the page, calm down and take a walk and maybe not look at it again?
However for those of you here, living in the West, you don't have the right not to get your feelings hurt. No one does, part of our free societies is that we live by Voltaire:
"I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

So you better get used to it, free speech is non-negotiable. Especially when it comes to religion since our forefathers fought for hundreds of years and lost many lives to free ourselves from the tyranny of religion.

 

[ajpirzada]

o really? so this wise group is insulting the whole muslim community only to expose few?

well at least now i know wat 'freedom of expression' actually means. it includes 'criticisms and insults of any kind'. if that is the logic u use then many suiciders can use the same logic to defend their freedom to blow themselves in public.

btw do u also respect our freedom to react? i mean i can see u are very pro freedom of any kind.

 

[JonAsad]

The group is not about insulting or agitating the average Muslim, but about showing extremists like xMustiiej70 or Aamir Zia(see Here )who would use violence to enforce their religious traditions on people of different or no religion.

If moderate Muslims would stand by those who just want to exercise their human right of freedom of expression (and for anyone who doesn't know: yes that includes criticism and insults of any kind) than this group would probably die down quickly.

But as long as you apologies for these people instead of criticizing and protesting against them and they try to intimidate people into following their tyrannical dogma that every one needs to follow the rules of the suni tradition of not depicting Mohammed by threatening or using violence, people of the free nations will stand tall to defend on of their most important and basic rights.

You are always free not to look at those pictures, so every one reacting with anger should close the page, calm down and take a walk and maybe not look at it again?
However for those of you here, living in the West, you don't have the right not to get your feelings hurt. No one does, part of our free societies is that we live by Voltaire:
"I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

So you better get used to it, free speech is non-negotiable. Especially when it comes to religion since our forefathers fought for hundreds of years and lost many lives to free ourselves from the tyranny of religion.

If i practice my freedom of speech and start a new thread namely Hail Hitler .. Death to jews, will you just ignore it? I have been to germany.. Can you even tolerate if i just salute like nazi's in germany?

 

[r3alist]

the more you block it the more attractive you make it, let the haters have their fun, its better we can see the people who openly hate islam.

 

[Hyde]

Good decision by facebook - but i wonder what changes it will bring afterall most of those pics will be accessible through google search engines - its not like those pics will be protected on facebook page only. Many other sites will copy and easily be accessible from search engines too

Still a good decision though

and very well said jonasad in post number 6

 

[Speaker]

The group is not about insulting or agitating the average Muslim, but about showing extremists like xMustiiej70 or Aamir Zia(see Here )who would use violence to enforce their religious traditions on people of different or no religion.

If moderate Muslims would stand by those who just want to exercise their human right of freedom of expression (and for anyone who doesn't know: yes that includes criticism and insults of any kind) than this group would probably die down quickly.

But as long as you apologies for these people instead of criticizing and protesting against them and they try to intimidate people into following their tyrannical dogma that every one needs to follow the rules of the suni tradition of not depicting Mohammed by threatening or using violence, people of the free nations will stand tall to defend on of their most important and basic rights.

You are always free not to look at those pictures, so every one reacting with anger should close the page, calm down and take a walk and maybe not look at it again?
However for those of you here, living in the West, you don't have the right not to get your feelings hurt. No one does, part of our free societies is that we live by Voltaire:
"I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

So you better get used to it, free speech is non-negotiable. Especially when it comes to religion since our forefathers fought for hundreds of years and lost many lives to free ourselves from the tyranny of religion.

I agree with you on this point; but to get to the rabid hate-mongers of the world, you don't need to become one yourself. I still do not advocate banning the page because that will send out the wrong signals to the extremists on both sides. I was only pointing to the fact that people on the Facebook page were not necessarily behaving in the right spirit.

I believe in god, but I look at all religions objectively from a historical perspective. In my opinion, the Prophet forbade his followers from depicting him so they don't indulge in worshiping his picture or statue, something that would defeat the purpose of his teachings. From that point-of-view, I don't find the very idea of the group objectionable. But some caricatures have been created to equate him with terrorism, which is not something you should do even to another human being. I would not stop or harm them, for I still think they are within their "rights" to do what they are, but their feelings can come out more constructively and creatively.

 

[Unbeliever]

I was only pointing to the fact that people on the Facebook page were not necessarily behaving in the right spirit.
....
but their feelings can come out more constructively and creatively.

Maybe. Maybe not. The point is that it is not ours or anybody's decision to make how people use their freedom of expression. That is the very meaning of the word freedom, you would probably agree.

The reactions to these cartoons show so many of the pathologies (like false grievances etc.) of dogmatic, literalistic faith, that for some moderate believers (who are supposedly in a vast majority) it might be a tipping point towards self-reflection and a more reasonable approach to religion.
It is one way at seeing why "causing offense" (on many matters, especially to powerful institutions such as religion, government etc.) is important for social progress and ethical betterment. You know Martin Luther caused incredible offense too..
Call it far-fetched, but there are many layers to this whole affair in my opinion.

 

[Vande Mataram]

You don't seem to understand.

When you attack black people,they call it Racism.

Being black isn't a belief or idea.

When you attack Jewish people,they call it Anti-semetism.

Yes, because Jewish PEOPLE are PEOPLE. What you CAN do is talk about their beliefs (Torah, Jesus) etc if you want.

When you attack women,they call it Sexism.

Being a women isn't a belief or idea.

When you attack homosexuality,they call it Intolerance.

Being gay isn't an idea or belief. They are what they are.

When you attack your country,they call it Treason.

A country is not a belief. It's a thing. You cannot attack governments (physically) <-- verbal is okay.

When you attack a religious sect,they call it Hate Speech.

No, actually this is also freedom of speech.

But
When you attack our Prophet, they want to call it "Freedom of Speech"!!!

Because your prophet ain't my prophet.

Your comparison makes NO sense.
The constitution of the country I live in, and FB is in doesn't protect beliefs of people. It protects their rights. And you don't have the right to deny someone's opinions or expressions. They aren't directed towards you. Draw a Muhammad page does not say "Kill all Muslims"

It's permitted.
Stop your obsessions over petty things like this.

Edit:
amusing thing i found from someone else

If your faith is challenged by silly things like this, then your faith is not strong enough to withstand the fact that most of the people in the world do not share your beliefs - get over it.