The media has been in a frenzy over the Salman Rushdie uproar. Everywhere you go on the net you see pictures of enraged Muslims holding banners and shouting for Rushdie’s death. A lot of sarcastic comments also happen to come after the pictures.
Doesn’t this remind you of a word starting with a P? Propaganda? What is the point of all those pictures? These sites and forums aren’t discussing the situation anymore; they’re condemning it without further thought because it seems ridiculous to them. They’re calling the Muslims names like Mooselimbs and making fun of them, and not in a pat-on-the-shoulder friendly kind of way. Getting caught up in the fringe of the storm and going berserk and egoistical over this matter is not going to help matters. It’s equivalent to doing the exact same thing the protesting Muslims are doing – fighting for your side of the battle without thinking.
Firstly, not all the Muslims think the same way. The ones you see in the photos are part of the Mob. Mobs don’t think; they follow leaders. They don’t reason; a single spark in the midst of a volatile situation and off they go. I don’t mean this as pertaining to just one particular religion. All humans, religious or not, act the same way when faced by a situation that threatens their existence or something they treasure. Religion, being the single most uniting factor in about all of human history, is particularly explosive in nature. Look at all the wars and conflicts in our years since we evolved into homo sapiens. Every single conflict concerning religion has devastating effects on humanity, compared to wars over ammunition in the Cold War, or civil wars over territory. Think of the Christian/Catholic war in Ireland. Religious wars are the one of the most scarring, because it plays on people’s faith in their religion. You can’t have an economic fanatic, but you can have a religious fanatic. A religious Mob – those are the most terrifying sorts of protestors, because they provoke outrage and anger simultaneously and they won’t listen to reason. Furthermore, they are mistaken for representing all the citizens of the country.
INDONESIAN MUSLIM ACADEMIC ZANNUBA ARIFAH CHAFSOH ON ANTARA NEWS AGENCY
We deeply regret and strongly criticise the knighthood… But we cannot revoke his right to express his views. Even those who do not believe in God have rights. They cannot be punished or killed or subjected to arbitrary acts. Islam does not teach violence.
INDONESIA’S SUARA MERDEKA
We ought to worry that the fanaticism and motivation of hard-line groups will once again revive as a result of the “provocation”.
ABEER MISHKHAS IN SAUDI ARAB NEWS
I think we Muslims are wasting our time protesting about what happens in other countries when the whole Islamic world has far bigger problems to face within its own borders… We should stop causing trouble outside our borders, no matter how strongly we feel.
This is an extract from a BBC News article which you can view here.
What does it show? It shows that not all Muslims approve of the strong outcry over Rushdie’s appointment. And before you say anything else, you can’t possibly say it’s not right of them to oppose his knighthood. Think in their shoes. Let’s say you were a Catholic, and someone spray-painted the figure of Virgin Mary in your church; wouldn’t you call for that person’s arrest? Lynch mobs weren’t all that rare in the past, and some causes were religious as well as racial. You would be doing the world a favour if you could look past the facade and understand their reasons for their actions. I don’t pretend to understand why they call for something as drastic as Rushdie’s murder, but I do understand why they might be motivated to do so. To them, honour is very important. Rushdie has insulted their Prophet Muhammad’s (who is equivalent to their Jesus) honour, so they feel death is an appropriate penalty. Again don’t ask me why.
The remarks that the international media have projected (and I am thinking
especially of the state-run CBC in Canada) are stereotypically and
informationally dead-ended; few Third World intellectuals have been
interviewed. The Muslim world is deeply sensitive to the plot of
international racism mounted against it (in the case of Palestine, Iran,
etc.), and to anything that attacks it, from American and Israeli F-1 8s to
the various other Arab regimes themselves. The kind of attack sustained by a
trendy, cultured Indian-British writer will be taken as an attack not only
on the hermeneutic intricacies of Islam, but also on the code of living
which has historically always been manipulated by the West for the latter’s
benefit. Edward Said, in Covering Islam, has exposed this structuration of
Western bias against Islam as it is shaped in our print and electronic media.
“The book is blasphemous, injurious and makes indecent remarks about the
Prophet’s wife that violate the Indian penal code, which prohibits any
writing which may hurt the religious sentiments of the people, and that are
in bad taste. If the importers of the book want to contest the ban, they
have the democratic right to do so.” – as said by Mr S. Shahabuddin, President of the All-India Muslim Majlis Mushvarat.
These two paragraphs from Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses by Julian Samuel speak for themself. Western media is highly critical of Islam and Muslims – remember when men wearing Arab headdresses, walking innocently along, attracted the glares of security personnel and were in some cases stopped for questioning? The media has equated Muslims to extremists, and the mainstream public seems not to notice the glaring discrimination.
Religious differences or not, whether God exists or Allah exists, we have to learn to live together. The British should show some consideration for the Muslims who have been on the receiving end of far too much haughtiness and scorning, the world should look past the murder threats and at least not turn this thing into a racist/religious event by resorting to pitiful name-calling, and the Muslims leaders should start realising that all these public protests, in and out of Parliament, are going to cost them some important diplomatic ties and more bloodshed on their hands.
I wonder how much money Jordan has made from his shoe line? Probably in the billions!