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As the crisis that has emerged in the aftermath
of the publication of the infamous cartoons that claim to
depict the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God upon
him, escalates, we would do well by stepping back and attempting
to analyze the situation as dispassionately as possible. By
doing so, as Muslims, we can hopefully formulate a more productive
and meaningful response, and avoid being exploited by either
side in the ongoing conflict. Saying this, I do not mean to
imply that Muslims are not justifiably angry over the caricatures.
However, I would agree with those who argue that responses
that involve wild outbreaks of frenzied violence are inappropriate,
and they only affirm what the cartoonist is trying to imply.
Namely, that Islam is a religion that encourages obscurantist
violence and terrorism.
The
current crisis shows the extent we Muslims are vulnerable
to media manipulation, superficial shows of piety, and counterproductive
one-upmanship militancy. If we start with the issue of media
manipulation, it is clear that Western and Eastern media outlets
played a large role in stirring up Muslim, and now Western
sentiments. When the crisis initially broke in September,
it was barely a blip on the media radar. Few outside of Denmark
even knew of the cartoons. The Danish Muslim community, appropriately,
by and large ignored the story. [1] It was only after a campaign
undertaken by a delegation of Danish Muslim community activists
to stimulate greater interest in the issue that the crisis
reached the proportions we are currently witnessing. These
activists traveled throughout the Muslim East trying to draw
attention to the issue. When the issue was popularized by
Iqra and other Arab satellite channels, and the cartoons were
reprinted by several European papers, the crisis deepened.
In light of that reality, it would be hard to deny the role
the media has played in sparking and now perpetuating the
crisis.
A
question we must ask is if these cartoons, which are an example
of hundreds of other anti-Islamic slights occurring daily
in Europe and America, were not brought to the attention of
Muslims by the media, would we be undergoing the current brouhaha?
- Clearly not. That being the case, what does this say about
our strategic vision? What does this say about our level of
political maturity? And what does it say about our ability
to engage in meaningful proactive work? The answers to these
questions are obvious. We get angry about Israeli troops breaking
the bones of Palestinian children, as long as it is in the
media. When it disappears from our television screens, our
interest vanishes with it. We raise millions of dollars for
those affected by the Tsunami, as long as the images of death
and destruction are beamed into our homes by the media. However,
when the coverage shifts to other issues, the donations dry
up. As for those crises that do not make the news in a big
way, such as the ongoing famines in Mali, Niger, and the Horn
of Africa, we are hardly stirred to action.
Furthermore,
we go on living our lives oblivious to the ongoing abuse of
Islam and our Prophet, peace and blessing of God upon him,
until it becomes a major media event. At that point based
on urgings issued by parties, the origins of their dubious
agendas unknown to us, we are expected to drop everything
and hastily rush into the fray. In many instances, our ill-conceived
actions only make the situation worse.
Sometimes,
those actions may constitute superficial shows of piety emanating
from the mob hysteria underlying them. In the mob we are empowered,
and find it easy to confront our opponents, defy the rule
of law, behave with wanton abandon, or engage in other acts
which under the proper circumstances we may view as supporting
Islam. In terms of more constructive mass actions, such as
emerging into the streets by the tens of thousands to protest
the brutal, authoritarian regimes that make a mockery of the
prophetic ideals of justice, mutual consultation, and service
to the oppressed and downtrodden of society, we come up terribly
short. Similarly, there are no credible grassroots efforts
towards forming effective anti-defamation organizations to
bring constructive legal action against transgressing organizations
and individuals, on a fulltime, proactive basis. As individuals,
we find it difficult to support the Prophet, peace and blessings
of God upon him, by adorning ourselves with his lofty character
traits, or reviving His Sunnah in our daily lives.
On
the other hand, as mentioned above, it is all too easy to
get swept up into the mob hysteria generated by the crowd,
and then engage in outrageous actions that only affirm the
offensive claims of the transgressing cartoonist. It is as
if we are saying, “We’ll show the Kafirs our Prophet, peace
upon him was no terrorist! We’ll defame the symbols of their
religion [2] burn their embassies, murder their unsuspecting
innocents, and behead the bloody cartoonist if we get our
hands on him.” [3]
This
brings us to my third point, that of counterproductive, one-upmanship
militancy. It is during these crises that all Muslims are
supposed to drop everything and join the latest “Jihad” fad.
Those of us who urge restraint are mocked as not being militant
enough, or ridiculed as cowards who are afraid to “stand up
to the real enemies of Islam.” No differences in understanding,
interpretation, or strategy are allowed, because there is
only one correct approach, the one stumbled upon with the
aid of modern, sensationalizing media.
Such
a reactive, haphazard approach is counterproductive for a
number of reasons. First of all, it destroys the basis for
proactive work based on the existence of a strategic vision.
As long as the enemies of Islam know that they can mobilize
the Muslims to chase after an unimaginable number of distracting
issues, divide our ranks by those issues, and diffuse our
energies through their debate and the pursuit of their resolution,
they will possess a trump card that will affect our ability
to unite and work more effectively towards creating and implementing
an agenda capable of effecting meaningful change in our circumstance.
It also blinds us to the underlying agenda that reckless spontaneous
action might be unwittingly serving.
For
example, it is interesting that these events have come to
a head in the immediate aftermath of the stunning landslide
victory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections. That victory
has rekindled, both in the East and the West, the debate around
the implications of supporting democratization in the Muslim
world when the biggest winners will be Islamic parties and
movements. There are secularists in both the West and the
Muslim world who advocate ending the democratizing experiment
on that basis. However, they know that denying the democratic
will of the Muslim peoples cannot be done without the support
of the masses of people in Europe and America. These masses,
especially in Britain and America, are increasingly wary of
their governments’ nefarious agenda for the Middle East. However,
the frightening images of crazed crowds rampaging, looting,
and burning provides a powerful justification for the extreme,
repressive policies being advocated by the far right for dealing
with Islam and Muslims, both domestically, and internationally.
Democracy in the Muslim world, they argue, will bring the
advocates of mob rule to power.
If
brutal draconian measures, such as those employed to end the
democratization process in Algeria in the early 1990s, are
employed elsewhere, the Western public will be psychologically
prepared to accept those measures, because of the fear that
has been created around the “Islamic” alternative. That fear
can not only be used to justify denying the democratic will
of the Muslim peoples, it can also be used to justify denying
their legitimate strategic ambitions. A recent editorial in
the Jerusalem Post links the fanaticism of the cartoon protests
to the lawful nuclear ambitions of Iran. It states, “If anyone
wants to appreciate why the West views with such suspicion
the weapons programs of Muslim states such as Iran, they need
look no further than the intolerance Muslim regimes exhibit
to these cartoons, and what this portends.”
This
crisis has also occurred in the immediate aftermath of the
appearance of the latest “Bin Laden” tape, intensified warnings
of an imminent major terrorist attack in the West, something
"on the scale of 9/11," and it coincides with the escape of
the alleged mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole from
a Yemeni jail. The fear associated with the latter two events,
combined with the images of hysterical protesters, work to
create a climate that can support unprecedented measures if
another major terrorist attack were to occur in the near future
–whoever the perpetrators may be.
In
addition to the setbacks on the psychological front, the current
crisis indicates just how bad we are losing in the Jihad of
ideas. It is not without significance that the ultimate objective
of Jihad is linked to ideas. The Prophet Muhammad, peace and
blessings of God upon him, was asked about a man who fought
to display his bravery, another who fought out of fealty to
his tribe, and a third who fought to show off. Which had fought
in the Way of God? He replied, peace and blessings of God
upon him, “The one who fought to make the Word of God uppermost
has fought in the Way of God.”[4] Is the nature of the current
campaign working to make the Word of God uppermost? Every
Muslim needs to ask that question.
As
Muslims, we are carrying the Word of God in an increasingly
secular, militarized, and alienated world. What it means to
carry that word is not an unknowable abstraction. We carry
it by following the concrete example of our Noble Messenger
Muhammad, peace and blessings of God upon him. In carrying
the word, he endured unimaginable abuses and he persevered
through them because he was inspired by a grand vision. That
vision was to see his people saved by the life-giving, life-affirming
message of Islam. No greater illustration of this can be given
than the story of his expulsion from the city of Ta’if, after
the arrogant leaders of that town unleashed the fools, slaves,
and children against him.
In
the aftermath of that onslaught, the Prophet, peace and blessings
of God upon him, humbly raised his hands towards the sky and
prayed:
O,
God! Unto you alone do I plead my lack of strength, the paucity
of my efforts, and my humiliation before the people. O, the
Most Merciful of all! You are the Lord of the oppressed, you
are my Lord. Unto who have you dispatched me? To a distant
host who receives me repugnantly? Or to an enemy you have
authorized over my affair? If you are not angry with me, I
care not. It is only your goodness I seek to be covered with.
I seek refuge with the Light of your Face, through which the
darkness is illuminated and all the affairs of the world and
hereafter are rectified, that you do not cast your anger down
on me, nor cause your wrath to settle upon me. There is neither
strength, nor power but with You. [5]
Two
significant events are then related after this prayer was
uttered by the Prophet, peace and blessing of God upon him.
First of all, when presented with an offer by the Angels that
God crush the city of Ta’if, the Prophet, peace and blessings
of God upon him, refused saying that perhaps from the offspring
of the offending hosts, there would emerge those who would
worship God. This incident is well known. A lesser known incident
associated with the journey to Ta’if occurred when the Prophet,
peace and blessings of God upon him, was preparing to reenter
Mecca, in the company of his companion Zaid bin Haritha. Zaid
asked, “How can you reenter their presence when they have
expelled you?” The Prophet, peace and blessings of God upon
him, replied, “O, Zaid! God is bringing about through these
events you have witnessed a great opening. God is most capable
of assisting His religion, and manifesting the truth of His
prophet.”
One
of the most disturbing aspects of the current campaign to
“Assist the Prophet,” for many converts, like this writer,
is the implicit assumption that there is no da’wah work being
undertaken here in the West, and no one is currently, or will
in the future enter Islam in these lands. Therefore, it does
not matter what transpires in the Muslim East. Muslims can
behave in the most barbaric fashion, murder, plunder, pillage,
brutalize and kidnap civilians, desecrate the symbols of other
religions, trample on their honor, discard their values and
mores, and massacre their fellow Muslims. If any of that undermines
the works of Muslims in these Western lands, it does not matter.
If it places a barrier between the Western people and Islam,
when many of those people are in the most desperate need of
Islam, it does not matter. If our Prophet, peace and blessings
of God upon him, had responded to those who abused him in
Ta’if with similar disregard, none of the generations of Muslims
who have come from the descendants of those transgressors
would have seen the light of day.
These
campaigns of desperation also implicitly display a lack of
confidence in God’s ability to protect his religion and defend
the honor of His Prophet, peace and blessings of God upon
him. We should do what we can do within lawful limits, and
then we depute the affair to God. When we despair of help
from God and find ourselves with limited strategic resources,
we sometimes press forward with the most desperate tactics
imaginable, taking little time to assess the compatibility
of those tactics with Islamic teachings, or their long-term
implications for the cause of Islam, especially in the West.
There
are certainly more constructive and productive ways to defend
the honor of the Prophet, peace and blessings of God upon
him. Why are we calling for a “Day of Outrage” when our Prophet
has instructed us repeatedly not to become angry? There are
surely times when we should become angry for the sake of God.
However, under the current circumstances, are anger and outrage
appropriate responses? Why not a “Day of Familiarization,”
where we teach people who the Prophet was and what he really
represents, peace and blessings of God upon him? Why not a
“Day of Sunnah,” where we all vow to revive a Sunnah we have
allowed to slip away from our religious life. Such a day could
also include the Sunnah of showing concern for ones neighbors?
We could visit them and tell them about Islam and our beloved
Prophet, peace and blessings of God upon him.
Whatever
we do, as Muslims in the West, we may be approaching the day
when we will have to "go it alone." If our coreligionists
in the East cannot respect the fact that we are trying to
accomplish things here in the West, and that their oftentimes
ill-considered actions undermine that work in many instances,
then it will be hard for us to consider them allies. How can
one be an ally when he fails to consult you concerning actions
whose negative consequences you will suffer? No one from the
Muslim east consults us before launching these campaigns.
No one seeks to find out as to how their actions are going
to affect our lives and families. The confused incompetence
of the Muslim countries around the issue of moon-sighting,
a situation that has painful consequences for Muslims here
in America is bad enough, the added pressure generated by
these reoccurring crises is becoming unbearable for many.
We
have a generation of Muslim children here who have to go to
schools where most of them are small minorities facing severe
peer pressure. During these crises they do not have the luxury
of losing themselves in a frenzied mob. Their faith is challenged
and many decide to simply stop identifying with Islam. Is
that what they deserve? If they are largely lost to Islam,
what is the future of our religion here? We have obedient,
pious Hijab wearing women, who out of necessity must work,
usually in places where they are the only Muslims. Should
their safety, dignity, and honor be jeopardized by the actions
of Muslims halfway around the world?
I
reiterate that I am not saying these cartoons, and other denigrations
of our religion and our Prophet, peace and blessings of God
upon him, should be totally ignored. Imam Shafi’i stated that
anyone who is angered and does not respond; he is a jackass.
However, our responses should be weighed on the basis of a
strategic calculus we construct. Their timing should be determined
by that calculus, not by media sensationalizing. They should
be undertaken in consultation with those who will be directly
affected by the responses they generate. And their long-range
implications should be deeply considered. In conclusion, one
should not see the ongoing crisis as a clash of civilizations.
Phenomena as deep and complex as civilizations cannot be thrown
into conflict overnight by media-driven campaigns. A clash
of civilizations would also involve the overwhelming majority
of people identified by a particular civilizational nexus.
The current crisis is the result of a regrettable incident
that has been exploited by an uncivilized minority of provocateurs
both in the West and the East to advance their conflicting
agendas. As long as that exploitation continues, the crisis
could aptly be called the clash of the uncivilized.
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