Cartoons: Why the controversy now?

Barak Obama, the Democratic party hopeful in the November 2008 election in the US, in the garb of a Muslim divine in Somalia or the hideous cartoons caricaturing the prophet have become the motif of rejuvenated impact of Islam on the West. Those with vested interest in defaming Muslims go back to the Middle Ages when the prophet was habitually maligned by the Christians who were so far untouched by the so called Enlightenment. If the Middle Ages were Dark Ages of blind dogmas, then what about this wonderful 21st century?
Is it really a matter of ‘freedom of expression’ that the cartoons are published again? If Osama bin Laden is so terrifying in the aftermath of the cold war, and never during it, why his terrific features crowd out the benevolence of the deeds of the prophet? Ali, the son in law of the prophet, had lived in his house and had absorbed the essence of Islam. He forgave a man who had spat on him. If this is the level of tolerance in Islam how come the Danish people do not resource this if they are interested in religion of the Muslims? By no means have all the Muslims taken to what Osama bin Laden is doing.
In sharp contrast the Israelis have let hell lose upon the Palestinians in Gaza since the beginning of March 2008. In fact it is the Jewish Jehovah who wants an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth kind of justice for his people. The Israelis are doing just that in the Gaza strip. Yet, you do not have any cartoon appearing in the western media caricaturing this. It is obviously the result of the Jews owning much of the media in the west. They can also destroy any corporation that does not toe their line. Is this the kind of ‘freedom of expression’ the Danish and the French want to have?
What if Barak Obama had Muslim ancestry? Islam in America is the most endearing part of the people there. Living in a free world they stick to their faith despite much of the Muslim world being ‘different’ from, if not indifferent, to them. The much vaunted ‘secularism’ of the west must be of sorts if it functions this way. If you are suspect in the eyes of the fellow citizens only because you have Muslim ancestry it is the very undoing of the Enlightenment.
But who is concerned with values of reason of Enlightenment or the humility and humanity of religion where money matters more than anything else. One is reminded of the magic realism of Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses”. It would have been of tepid interest had he only portrayed a character Aeysha walking naked through the southern states of India with butterflies hovering around her giving her the proverbial fig leaf. Even her madness to march to Mecca through the parted Indian Ocean would not have been much horrifying. But his caricaturing the wives and daughters of the prophet that too in the most horrible professions is beyond decency. It is this coveted feature that boosted his sale. And boosting the sale of the Danish publications is the main motive behind the slur campaign with the ideological addenda. The Grand Rabbi of Paris Joseph Sitruk is more forthright when he said that “We gain nothing by lowering religions, humiliating them and making caricatures of them. It is a lack of honesty and respect.” He also emphasized that freedom of expression is not without limits.




Looking at the divine with a worldly view is a heady brew. There can be ulterior motives of offence or publicity. Making the divine look like the profane is outright offending In 2002 Nigerian journalist Isioma Daniel wrote an article about Prophet and Miss World contestants which sparked deadly riots
The Gallup World Poll with regards to the cartoons shows two wonderful aspects of the relationship of the Muslim world and the West. Overwhelming number of Muslims would like the West to know what Islam really is and have no bias against them and, surprisingly, they want the freedom of expression for themselves. Thus the two are in complementary situation. Who will take the lead and walk the extra mile?
The cartoons were published originally in Denmark in September 2005. In February 2006 they were reprinted in seven publications in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain all carried some of them. Again they are appearing in March 2008. In the first there are mullah like figures worked up in fury ready with scimitars and guns and bombs, a Muslim divine asking them to relax as it is only a sketch drawn by a Dane from south west Denmark. In the second there is a teacher who is pointing with his teaching aid, a stick, what he has written on the blackboard in the class: that the Jyllands Posten’s are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs. In the third there is a Dane artist who is drawing with finicky care the haggard looking face of Osama. The fourth cartoon is a burlesque of seven Muslims of different origin. The fifth is that of another divine who is asking the would-be suicide bombers to stop coming as they have run out of virgins in heaven. In the sixth there is an ominous looking but blindfolded patriarchal octogenarian armed with scimitar with two veiled women with terrified eyes. The seventh directly depicts the most central prayer of ‘there is no god but god and Mohammad is his prophet’ in the turban of a fierce looking man with the fuse of a bomb in his turban smoking. In the eight a poor rustic is walking with his donkey laden with bombs and rockets through the desert. The ninth is a drawing of signs of the stars of David over arching the crescent. In the tenth is a Dane wearing turban with an apple with PR stunt written on it. The eleventh is a caricature of a Muslim divine as a cuckold and the last a disfigurement of the crescent and the star metamorphosed into the face of a divine.
The cartoons purportedly aim to show that [1] Muslims are extremely backward. [2] There is hardly any development in their primitive land of birth except the barren terrain and rocks. [3] They are too violence- prone and do not know what they are doing. [4] They would do any reckless act at the bidding of their divine. [5] They have bombs and rockets so easily made available to them without their having learnt anything or done anything. [6] Their holiest dictum excites them to violence. [7] They have many women in their thralldom waiting to be slaughtered as if they are sacrificial animals. [8] Their women cuckold them. [9] Their national flag represents what is abominable rather than what is their pride of achievement. If this is what the west relishes through its ‘freedom of expression’ it is nothing else but an excuse for maligning Islam.