Opinion | Columnists
Westerners call for calm
Western community leaders have criticised the publication of offensive cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and have called for calm in the wake of violent protests.
- By Daniel Bardsley, Staff Writer
- Published: 00:00 February 7, 2006
Western community leaders have criticised the publication of offensive cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and have called for calm in the wake of violent protests.
The Danish newspaper that first published the pictures displayed "a profound ignorance" of Islam, according to Fulvio Fabreschi, chairman of the Australia and New Zealand Association in Dubai. Those that later reproduced the pictures showed "a lack of judgement".
"They do not know how important it is that pictures of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) are not shown.
"Western people who have not experienced the Middle East are thinking: 'What is the problem?' but those of us here know it is very offensive," he said.
He said that Muslims, because they recognise that Jesus Christ is a prophet, would not offend Christians by insulting him in the way that newspapers in predominantly-Christian Western Europe offended Islam by picturing Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Fabreschi felt overall that the world's Muslims had not overreacted in recent days, saying the media had focused on Muslims who had responded in an extreme way rather than the majority who had "shrugged their shoulders" in resignation.
Irresponsible
Jonathan Castle, chieftain of Dubai Caledonian Society, which represents Scottish residents, condemned the publication of the cartoons as "irresponsible" and said it was "done with the intention to provoke".
However, he criticised the violence that followed the publication, such as the recent torching of the Danish embassy in Damascus.
"I long for the cool voice of reason to stop this. It doesn't serve Islam or the West. We need to get some perspective from both sides. I hope both sides calm down.
"I understand Islam has been profoundly insulted, but there were lots of religious figures parodied in the original publication," he said.
Turning to the issue of whether the publication was justified on the grounds of freedom of speech, Castle said "freedom of speech is one thing, freedom to insult others is another".
He said that even in countries such as the United Kingdom which are seen as having a free press there were blasphemy laws to prevent serious insults against religion.
US Citizen Pastor Dan Marshall, of the Emirates Baptist Church International in Dubai, said Christianity had been subjected to similar attempted humour and even vilification "for centuries".
"The Christian response is that even though we don't appreciate insults, that we know they are wrong and blasphemous, our reaction is to love the people despite their ignorance and blasphemy.
"Rather than respond with violence we should have a loving compassionate response. That's been the standard, at least in recent history," he said.
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