Source & Credit: Oregon Live | The Stump
By Harris Zafar | Portland, OR | May 23, 2010
May 20th was a pivotal day for many reasons. It was a day in which human decency was forsaken by many. It was a day that tested the limits of patience. It was a day of celebration and of anger. It was a day of censorship and the abuse of freedom.
May 20th was the highly plugged “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day,” labeled by some as a demonstration of free of speech. A Seattle cartoonist originally proposed the idea in response to the death threats South Park producers received for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a teddy bear costume. That same cartoonist, however, withdrew her support of this idea once she saw it spiraling out of control. While some participated in this day by drawing a simple picture to show how harmless it is, others took this day as an excuse to display the Prophet of Islam in a vile and vulgar manner.
To claim this day is a celebration of free speech is an exaggeration to say the least, if not a bold-faced lie. This is a mud-flinging contest to see who can throw the biggest insult. This does not constitute a ban on free speech by any means. What this does warrant, however, is introspection on why people feel the need to not only insult others but to cause pain and sadness. Where is the human decency that once told us not to go out of our way to cause pain to others? Why has that been replaced with this mentality that “I can say what I want, when I want, and I don’t care who it offends?”
This is not the free speech that our founding fathers had in mind. They were searching for ways to liberate people; not childish ways to insult people.
With that said, as a Muslim, I find the reaction of other Muslims to threaten those drawing pictures of the Prophet Muhammad absolutely repugnant. Islam has never prescribed violence as the answer to insults. The Prophet Muhammad never responded to hate-filled insults with violence, though he was frequently insulted right to his face.
What did the Prophet Muhammad do to the village that sent all its youth to pelt him with stones and rocks when he sought to preach there? He was injured and bloodied from that attack. Did he attack back? Did he even threaten them? No. He prayed about it. When asked through divine revelation whether he would like that village to be struck by divine punishment, he responded saying no because maybe someday someone from that village's future generations may accept the truth. The fact that the Prophet forgave those who threw stones at him and harassed him illustrates that insulting the Prophet Muhammad is not punishable in Islam.
This is the example of Islamic patience and fortitude. Not calls for censorship and violence. It’s a shame that Pakistan (filled with Muslims claiming to follow the example of Muhammad) was the foremost country to ban Facebook all together. Many protests across the country called for such action. A 21-year old protester said “if Facebook and other such tools continue to be used for blasphemy by the Western nations, then we will target their embassies.”
This is ridiculous. This is not Islam. Such people are a complete disgrace to Muslims. Islam does not call for censorship, nor does it advocate a violent response to these incidents. Islam calls on us to exhibit high levels of human decency and patience, something that people on both sides can learn a lesson from.
Harris Zafar is the national director of community service and local coordinator of faith outreach for a Muslim youth organization, and a freelance writer based in Portland. Reach him at hrzafar@gmail.com
Read the original article here: A lesson in human decency and patience
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