The xenophobic attitude of many in Europe has been strengthened particularly after 9/11 by the highlighting in the European press of the actions of extremists. The fear that there is an unbridgeable incompatibility between Muslim and western values has grown mistrust among both parts of the world.
In view of foreign observers, these few days have been the worst in Muslim world, with rallies and protests resorting to major acts of civil disorder. How did things come to this pass? How did the initial muted outrage over the publication of inflammatory cartoons reach the stage where the masses in almost all the Muslim countries exploded?
An estrangement between France and Muslim nations is growing after French President Emmanuel Macron stated earlier this month that Islam was in “crisis”. Macron’s comments came after a teacher was beheaded earlier this month for showing cartoons depicting our honorable Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The murder caused anger and sparked a wave of Islamophobia with France vowing strict measures to fight “radical Islam”. The murder took place weeks after Charlie Hebdo once again shared controversial satirical caricatures of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The reprint of the caricatures stirred backlash among Muslim communities. President Macron, however, backed the magazines and vowed measures against what he called “Islamic separatism”.
The President has allowed such insults to be projected on government buildings yet when it comes to insults against his leadership and his country, he has a different point of view about “freedom of speech”. There is no freedom of expression when it shatters the feelings of other beings. Rather, it is an act of violation against people who have the right of freedom to be at peace. If your freedom of speech allows you to mock and disrespect deeply held sentiments of other people, then by that logic even a psychopath is justified to do whatever he feels like doing. Then why do we need law and order if anyone is allowed to do whatever he wants without considering the consequences? Would you call this a civilised society where a particular community, who is living among you and is just like you with the only difference of following a different religion, is targeted and persecuted?
It is one thing not to believe in any god, or only to believe in your own god, but to denigrate other people’s deeply rooted beliefs just because you do not share them is not justified. While proselytizing religious extremists of any persuasion, people are also guilty of disrespecting other faiths, however, it is clear that faith is a very positive force for many people in shaping and guiding their lives.
Across the Muslim world, people have condemned France and Macron and are calling for a boycott of French goods. Prime Minister Imran Khan criticized Macron’s remarks on blasphemous caricatures, calling them “encouragement of Islamophobia”, and wrote to Mark Zuckerberg seeking a ban on Islamophobic content on Facebook.
The French insult is not the first. However it is the breaking point. The hearts of millions of Muslims around the world are saddened by this act. This time, not only individual Muslims are vilified, but Islam in general. Our principles, our values, our sentiments, our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) all have been targeted. If we allow others to distort us as people, not just in their movies but also in their political campaigns, then we also give them free reign to subjugate and massacre us. The unfathomable and contradictory hubris feeds itself with our complacency and silence. We should raise our collective voice because if we don’t, then the hegemonic states will always find an easy excuse to attack and incarcerate our people.
About the writer: The writer is an English Literature and Linguistics graduate based in Islamabad.
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Twitter: ZainabNazir28