Perspective: Is freedom of speech a license to insult? | Nayyar Ahmed

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Using freedom of speech as an excuse, this magazine [Charlie Hebdo] has managed to ostracize itself from some of its staunch supporters who had previously stood by it for drawing disrespectful cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. 

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Go Erie
By Nayyar Ahmed | September 15, 2016

The loss of human life caused by a natural calamity can only melt the human heart and draw sympathy. As member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, my prayers go out to the victims of the deadly earthquake in Italy.

Many Western countries have become melting pots for the free exchange of original ideas, a hallmark of a civil and balanced society. However, there are those who upset this balance, such as Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine. Its latest debacle is a cartoon depicting Italy’s earthquake victims stacked up as lasagna. To say it has gone overboard is an understatement.

Using freedom of speech as an excuse, this magazine has managed to ostracize itself from some of its staunch supporters who had previously stood by it for drawing disrespectful cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. The question is, is freedom of speech a license to insult and offend at one's discretion?

Islam condemns such practice, as the Holy Quran exhorts people to refrain from even disrespecting deities and personalities of other beliefs, let alone mocking their dead or killing them (such as the Charlie Hebdo shooting).


— Nayyar Ahmed, Muslim Writers Guild of America, Pittsburgh


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