Manama: The Council of Senior Scholars, Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body, has condemned the publication this week of caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) by French magazine Charlie Hebdo, saying that it had nothing to do with freedom of speech or creativity in any way.
“Hurting the feelings of Muslims through the publication of the caricatures does not really serve any cause or achieve any positive goal,” Fahd Bin Sa’ad Al Majid, the secretary-general of the Council, said on Friday.
“In fact, it ultimately serves the fanatics and extremists who are looking for excuses to commit their acts of terror and to kill. The world has a duty to build mutual trust and positive coexistence, and this cannot happen through insulting religious icons,” he said.
Islamic tradition does not allow the representation of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) by drawing or acting, even if it is in a positive or educational way.
Millions of Muslims said that they felt betrayed by Charlie Hebdo and several figures in the West after the satirical magazine again published the offending cartoons.
“It is really sad,” Rasha, a teacher in Bahrain, said.
“We sympathised with Charlie Hebdo and stood by them following the terrible terrorist attacks, and yet it rewards us by printing the cartoons again.
"It is their decision to be defiant, but it is our decision not to support someone who insults our venerated prophet [PBUH] and abuses our faith despite all the good intentions we clearly showed them."
In several Gulf countries, users changed their profile pictures on Twitter as part of a campaign to support Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), using a green icon with the name of Mohammad inside a heart. Facebook users also changed their profile pictures to an icon supporting him.
“This is the very least we can do as part of our commitment to supporting our Prophet [PBUH] who is being targeted by hate speeches,” Duaij, a blogger, said.
“Insulting the Prophet [PBUH] cannot be freedom of speech. I do not know whether they believe in God or not, that is their choice, but they have to respect my faith and all other faiths.
"It is not a matter of defiance or a show of force, but rather a matter of mutual respect.”
‘Ungrateful’
Omar, another blogger, said that he changed his profile picture on Facebook for the day to help give a boost to the campaign.
“When Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists, we supported them because they were victims,” he said.
“Now, they are exploiting the sympathy from the international community to attack Islam and abuse Muslims.
"They are totally ungrateful and their attitude is an unjustified provocation to 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
"We do not regret our earlier support to them because it was based on our principles to oppose terror regardless of its sources and targets.
"But this does not mean that we should lapse into silence and accept their insults to our faith in the name of freedom of expression."
