Ahmed said the work of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which has been threatened for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, is offensive and based on lies that have “hijacked the religion of Islam.”
Source/Credit: The Otawa Citizen
By Meghan Hurley | January 8, 2015
An Ottawa imam has denounced the terrorist attack on a Paris weekly newspaper that killed 12 people, but he says satirical cartoons of religious leaders should be illegal.
Imtiaz Ahmed, an imam with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said it should be against the law to publish cartoons that depict religious figures in a derogatory way.
“Of course we defend freedom of speech, but it has to be balanced. There has to be a limit. There has to be a code of conduct,” Ahmed said.
“We believe that any kind of vulgar expression about any sacred person of any religion does not constitute the freedom of speech in any way at all.”
Ahmed said there should be limits placed on freedom of speech to prevent the publication of offensive material. He says that seems to be the case for events such as the Holocaust. Members of the public denounce those who say the Holocaust never happened.
“We don’t want the Jewish community to be hurt by these sentiments,” Ahmed says.
Ahmed said the work of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which has been threatened for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, is offensive and based on lies that have “hijacked the religion of Islam.”
Instead of looking at the few “disturbed individuals” who have committed terrorist attacks, the focus should remain on Muslims who are peaceful, Ahmed said.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has opposed such illustrations in the past in a peaceful manner. Ahmed said members of the community have gone to universities to educate students about Prophet Muhammad. He has also become involved in a campaign called Stop the Crisis to tackle the radicalization of Muslim youth.
“They are very offensive, but one thing I must say: there’s not a single verse of the Prophet that allows a Muslim to take the law in his own hand and commit horrific crimes against humanity,” Ahmed said. “We denounce that.”
mhurley@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/meghan_hurley
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
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