Picture This

The thing making the news recently is the offensive pictures/cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by a certain Danish newspaper and the Muslim reaction thereafter. But the matter I would like to address is not so much the publishing of the pictures itself but the Muslim reaction to it.

There is no doubt that the pictures are offensive in every sense of the word. It is insensitive and has absolutely no tact and the continued publication of it by other newspapers in the name of freedom of press is the most moronic thing to do. The unfortunate culprits responsible have long since apologized. Unfortunate because I don’t think they even knew that drawing pictures of the Prophet Mohammed is considered heresy. At best they were guilty of insensitivity and ignorance but I guess when it rains it pours.

But on the other side of the coin, I think the some of the Muslim reaction to it was overdone, childish and immature. When the pictures came out, they could have just complained, bring the matter to light and demand an apology, the retraction of the pictures and asked the other newspapers not to publish it again. But instead they turned to angry mobs, flag burning and calling people infidels. That is dangerous because they are now using the same language as the terrorist they are trying so hard to distance themselves from.

Islam is without a doubt one of the world's great religions, but I think it is far past its golden age and this fiasco just proves it. Gone are the days of the Moors whereby Jew, Christian and Muslim can befriend each other and talk about religion without starting World War 3. The Moors were in fact a beacon of peace, solace and prosperity in a Europe that was otherwise chaotic and bogged down by war after war during the dark ages. That was the golden age of Islam where there was mutual understanding between the religions.

So I think that is the keyword here, mutual understanding. What some Muslims fail to realize is that freedom of press to some is a religion and when the Muslims leaders tried to suppress the pictures in their not so subtle way, the newspapers saw this as a threat to their freedom and try to defend their keep by the continued publication of those cartoons. In order for this thing not to happen again, I believe that the Muslim world must reach out and develop a certain and viable understanding of the world outside and how it works. Then and only then, can they be understood in return. And it is in this system of mutual understanding that such events can be prevented. In order get yourself understood, you must first understand others.