By Mahmoud Raya
With the western campaign that defies the feelings of Moslems widening and the virus of the depictions that damage the image of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH&HH) via several dailies spreading, and the “discovering” of other cases in countries other than the host of the virus – Denmark – the campaign to counter this serious flaw has to escalate because it can alter into a comprehensive plague that may leave its influence on several countries and on the rapports between the countries of the east and the countries of the west.
The reason behind all of this issue is nothing but a bunch of perpetrators who are undoubtedly tied to a conspiracy that has become clearer in some aspects.
The cartoons that hurt the prophet Mohammed (PBUH&HH) hold a danger that is represented by the fact that they are being produced under the slogan of the freedom of speech, which the west preserves when the victimized target of this freedom is a weak and helpless team. On the other hand, one cannot take advantage of those who own “media, legal and powerful authoritative fangs” under the pretext of freedom of speech, while the “free people” will keep a safe distance from them to preserve themselves and escape a bad end.
As a result of this reality, searching for a “certain justice” that rules the west relationship – with its official and unofficial features – becomes an issue that exists out of the zone of research. This is because relying on a justice of this kind goes under the framework of utter negativity in dealing with the events. Although this negativity has been ignored in several cases which the nation experienced past and present, yet this present case has left the circle of silence. This is because it damages the beliefs of the Moslem people whose number, according to the latest census, has reached more than one billion and four hundred million. This number equals at least a fifth of the number of the world population.
Thereon, turning a blind eye to this crime, represented by the circulation of these cartoons, is equivalent to one’s keeping silent towards an attempt that seeks to erase the religious and civilized identity of the Moslems. Underestimating this issue can pave the way to a very negative relationship between the western media and the Moslems’ taboos.
And perhaps this media retreated at a certain stage from dealing with utter negativity towards Moslems after the decisive act which the departed Imam Khomeini (RIP) conducted in confronting the abuse which writer Salman Rushdie showed in the late eighties, where the fatwa on his apostasy called for his capital punishment, which led to his complete disappearance from the international arena. The Imam threatened as well that any similar insolence would receive the same fatwa making such a person one of those haunted and expelled from general and public life.
This Khomeini act, although it was not translated into a tangible reality, has placed those impudent persons before a haunting fate. Therefore, the abuses that directly hurt the great Islamic taboos calmed down, while the interest of the westerners – coupled with some affiliated easterners – changed to an interest that hurts Moslems in general, far from the crucial issues of their beliefs.
However, this restraint, represented by the fatwa of Imam Khomeini, coupled with the greater Islamic anger and protest for the case of the messenger of God (PBUH&HH), was intercepted by the events which our nation has encountered over the past years coupled with this harsh attack on this nation ever since the attack of September 11, the time when the nation with its beliefs, figures, thoughts and states were placed altogether in the basket of terrorism without distinguishing between one Moslem and another.
Perhaps the cartoons came as a last issue that rendered the case unbearable and urged millions of Moslems to take to the street to protest over the issues that are deemed blasphemous and insulting to their taboos. The issue united the Moslems to carry out a campaign of boycotting Danish products—Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen backed the campaign of the conservative newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which held the cartoons, blasphemous to Islamic sanctities.
With the campaign that antagonizes the Islamic beliefs widening to include Norway, France, and other European countries, the countering Islamic campaign is on its way to include all the Moslem countries without any exception.
Although the official acts of interception remain below the level wanted, the nations that were provoked by this great insult on their sanctities are working on diversifying their options for the confrontation. This begins with demonstrations and the expressing of fury, passing through the comprehensive boycott of the Danish products, to reach in the end more drastic measures that might begin surfacing within the next few days should the wave of the “killer virus” keep spreading throughout the European newspapers.
