Charlie Hebdo and I

“Charlie Hebdo first appeared in 1970 as a successor to the Hara-Kiri magazine, which was banned for mocking the death of former French President Charles de Gaulle.^[10] In 1981 publication ceased, but the magazine was resurrected in 1992.” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo)

The planned act of violence of January 7, 2015 in which 12 people including 9 Charlie Hebdo staff members, one guest and two policemen were gunned down in Paris by two armed assailants was indeed a ghastly crime. It shook the world and some 40 heads of state flew into Paris to condole the incident.  But compared with the carnages that occur frequently in Peshawar and Karachi at the hands of religious fanatics of the same genre. it was a walk in the park. The December, 2014 terrorist attack on a school in Peshawar in which over 130 pupils and teachers were gunned down in cold blood did not seem to cause any stir in the world.

Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 CE in Makkah and Islam started when he was 40 lunar years old or about 609 CE. In the last 1406 years there has not been a single incident in which a Muslim has abused or ridiculed the Bible or the Torah or Jesus or Moses. Their names are taken with respect by all Muslims. In fact Muslims even treat Budha, Confucious and the Hindu avatars with a degree of deference. However the response of the followers of other religions has been disappointing to say the least. There is a whole history behind it.

The ridicule of Prophet Muhammad was started by the Christians, Jews and pagans of Makkah as soon as his message became known. The European compilers of the Bible didn’t shrink from putting in snide remarks about Ismail son of Abraham who is claimed by the Arabs of Makkah to be their forefather. In recent times such western intellectuals as Voltaire and Dante have exceeded all limits of decency in their criticism of Islam and Prophet Muhammad. The illustrations contained in Dante’s Inferno are simply outrageous from any standards.

It seems that Western civilization and decency have become conditioned to such vulgarities against Islam. How come that in a society where people get jailed for denying the Holocaust, mocking the king or queen or the death of a president are not questioned about their activities that clearly incite hatred on the basis of religion and race?

We accept that there is small number of people in the Muslim world who are intellectually locked in the 7^th Century and want to change the world to resemble the state of affairs of that time and efforts are being made to contain the effects of their errant thinking. The question is: are there similar people in the Western world who are intellectually locked in the “middle ages”?  If so, are they a small minority or an overwhelming majority?

The following picture shared on facebook seems to be a fair representation of the popular following of the leaders who assembled in Paris to demonstrate solidarity with vulgarity.

Innocence of Muslims

 

The ghastly conspiracy in the making of the film by above name and the universal anguished response of unsuspecting Muslims to its advertisements on internet raises a number of very significant questions.

1.       How do you classify it? The modern anti-Islamic campaign by bigoted Christians seems to have started around the 15^th century in Europe with the publication of Dante’s Inferno containing extremely objectionable material about Prophet Muhammad and Ali bin Abu Talib followed by a stream of paintings depicting scenesof Christian religious wars against Arab Muslims. They demonstrate elements of both sadism and masochism. In present day jargon it could be called artistic terrorism.

2.       Who is responsible? As far as the latest episode in this twisted crusade is concerned the heinous acts were performed by US citizens on US soil with the aid of US communication companies; and therefore the government of the USA should be held responsible. The lukewarm reaction of the US leadership rejecting the film is neither here nor there. They need to decide whether they are “with us” or “against us.” They need to do something (and more of it) about stopping this menace which occurs every now and then in the NATO territories and France.

3.       What drives the Christian Extremist? The extremist Christian is, in his own way, dedicated to the glory of Christianity and has some distorted knowledge of its basic values. But he is also confused by the vulgar manner in which the venerable personality of Jesus (I’sa) son of Mary (peace be upon them) is often treated in the West. When he studies Islam he realizes that this is where true Christianity lies. It seems logical that he should join Islam. But he cannot rise above the centuries old prejudices nor can he give up his vices and addictions. The result is that he develops an irrational attitude.

4.       Why target Muhammad? If you take out the two basic differences then there is nothing between Christianity and Islam: Muslims do not accept Trinity and Christians do not accept Muhammad’s prophethood and there can be no compromise on that. So the only way the extremist Christian can win in his contorted imagination is by vilifying, abusing and slandering Prophet Muhammad because if it wasn’t for him, Christianity would have dominated the entire world. It does no harm to Muhammad (peace be upon him), but it hurts the Muslims all over the world.

5.        What to do? If you are one of the Christian or Muslim war mongers who believe that a war between Christians and Muslims is inevitable, let the hatred grow. The sooner we get over with it the better. But if, like me, you believe that people of various nationalities, cultures, faiths, skin color and languages can live together in peace and harmony then try to talk sense into the bigots and the extremists wherever they are. If you do it consistently, it has to work.