Why the Muslims are so angry

Why the Muslims are so angry

09/02/2006 10:05 - (SA)

As the Muslim world seethes with anger over the depiction of their Prophet Muhammad, there is a deathly silence in Saudi Arabia, the original home of fundamentalist Islam.

Since the furore over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad has exploded across the world, expats in Saudi have nervously discussed the issues at home, wondering why there haven't been any loud noises coming from the Saudis themselves.

We'd discuss the issue among ourselves, sure, but wouldn't dare talk to Saudis or any other of the millions of Muslims from all over the world, living among us about how they felt about their Prophet being belittled.



The topic is just too hot and sticky. And also because we know just how sacred the Prophet is to Muslims, and how upset they're bound to be.

But to write this column, I had to step over the barrier. I phoned a well-known and respected Saudi businessman from Jeddah, Dr Hosam Joma. A well-educated, proud Saudi and moderate Muslim.

He explained that firstly, protests are outlawed in Saudi. And secondly, the Saudis, a civilised nation despite how many Westerner journalists portrayed them, have chosen to respond by boycotting Danish products, from butter to hi-fi equipment and insulin medication.

In Friday sermons imams across the Desert Kingdom urged followers to not buy Danish as a more sensible way to protest the cartoons than by creating hate speech posters or setting light to embassies.

He says that up to 50% of all Denmark's agricultural produce is sold in Saudi Arabia, and sure enough, there isn't a pack of Lurpak to be seen anywhere.

Some 11 000 Danish workers face the sack if boycotts of their products stay in place in the Middle East. While the European Union has threatened to take legal action against Saudi Arabia if they boycott Danish products, the Saudi government said they didn't order the removal of Danish products, the people did it themselves. You can't fight that.

So why, exactly, are Muslims so angry?

Dr Joma explains. "The main difference between Western culture and the culture of Islam is the West holds nothing sacred anymore, and it's evident in their movies, literature, referring to God as 'the guy upstairs', etc. Religion may be something they indulge in once a week on a Sunday, but for a Muslim, there is no separation between every day life and religion. Your religion permeates and directs every aspect of your life.

Muslims view all the prophets, Jesus included, as sacred, as they do the Bible, Quran and Torah which all embody the holy word of God.

In Islam, the Prophet Muhammed is the highest, most sacred person to ever walk the earth, and if someone disgraces him, and if you don't do something to stop it, it will be a sign of having weak faith.

It's your duty to defend his honour because if you don't, even not in the smallest of ways, your life will be without meaning. Those who interpret the Quran more literally believe the Prophet instructed them to punish and execute whoever insults a prophet.

The Prophet Muhammad plays such a central role in the faith of more than the 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide, that to them his status as a messenger of God makes him second only to God (Allah) himself.

While the Quran doesn't explicitly prohibit the depiction of human figures, Muslims read certain Quranic verses as meaning that Allah and His prophets cannot be captured in an image by human hand - such is God's grandeur.

And if anyone tried to do so, it leads to idolatry, where the representations themselves can become the object of worship. Aside from the pictorial representations of the Prophet - what has angered even secular Muslims, are attempts to equate him and Islam as a whole with terrorism. (One cartoon shows an image of Muhammad with a bomb tucked into his turban.)

'Insult me, but not my religion'

My dear friend Muhammad from Bangladesh says "people can insult me, but not my religion. Nobody has the right to insult or disgrace anybody's religion, regardless of what it is. There is no freedom in that."

He illustrates, without justifying, the rising anger among Muslims against Western nations by comparing the two worlds to two children. "If a father treats one child with love and kindness, and he beats, kicks and belittles the other, the rejected child will turn to violence himself, in turn beating, kicking and belittling those who are against him."

Many Muslims agree that violence and aggression are not the right way to defend the Prophet's honour, and are calling for calm and encouraging people to use their right to impose economic and political boycotts.

Unfortunately this message is not reaching the farther slung corners of the globe, where some Muslims are raging a holy war against any nation involved in publishing the cartoons.

"The result is they are giving the West even more reason to portray the Prophet as a terrorist and violent aggressor. That's just what the West wants. So they can say 'See, we can't talk to them' and 'Theirs is a bloody religion'", says Dr Joma.

And what with the howls of "democracy and freedom" from the one corner, and the storming of embassies and burning of flags from the other, the voice of moderate, sensible Islam is drowned out.

'Part of the West's strategy'

If Muslims have felt there has been a conspiracy against them, starting with the invasion of Afghanistan, then Iraq, (and comparing it to the Christians' Medieval wars against Muslims in the Holy Land) they feel it all the more so now. They view the cartoons as part of the West's strategy to eradicate Islam and destroy the Muslim culture.

Up to now, most Muslims have felt they could tolerate the killing of thousands of innocents in Iraq, but the cartoons have unified Sunnis, Shi'ites; all the Muslim sects, like no other single act of Western aggression against them has.

"They've actually done us a favour", says Dr Joma. "Instead of driving us apart, they've drawn us together. No Muslim, regardless of how conservative or moderate he or she is, will tolerate the denigration of their most sacred symbol; the most revered person in Islam.

The Danes and their supporters have made a double mistake. Not only did they insult Islam, they insulted the Prophet." It's not a mistake, whether committed out of ignorance or arrogance, the Muslim world will easily forget.

Why did it take so long for the story to gain momentum? Apparently Danish Muslims wanted to take the matter up with the Danish prime minister, but he refused to give them an audience. When they tried to go via the courts, they were told 'they have no case'.

So they took it outside of Denmark and within a couple of weeks the world was split in two. France, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and more rallied behind Denmark, while Muslims countries including Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and those in the Middle East, stood up in defiance.

Can anybody tell me when will the voices of reason finally be given centre stage? And the wonderful free press that increasingly feeds off blood and guts, take responsibility for its actions? Surely you can't throw a cat among the pigeons and then stand back in horror when there's a fight for survival?

I'll leave you with the words on the Arabian website The Nomad Universe: "In our imaginary universe the right and left are just placeholders for confusion."

Laura van Niekerk, or Laura of Arabia, is a South African expat currently living in Saudi Arabia.
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