DANISH CARTOON CONTROVERSY WAS AVOIDABLE
By Parvez Ahmed

[Parvez Ahmed, Ph.D., is board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group.)

The worldwide flap over a series of cartoons published in a Danish newspaper was avoidable had all sides approached the issue with wisdom and restraint.

Denmark s Jyllands-Posten published the cartoons depicting Islam s most revered personality, the Prophet Muhammad, in a way that was inaccurate, derogatory and intentionally provocative. Other than demonstrating visceral hatred toward Islam, the cartoons achieved little else.

Muslim outrage over the cartoons has lead to boycotts of Danish products across much of the Middle East, resulting in hundreds of Danish employees losing their jobs. Protests across the Islamic world have been mostly peaceful, but some have unfortunately turned very violent.

Characterizations of the controversy as a clash of civilizational values or upholding freedom of press miss the point of the debate.

At the core of the reactions in the Muslim world are fears about Western motives, bolstered by lack of redress of ongoing grievances. On the other hand, lack of understanding about Islamic culture explains why many in the West seem perplexed at how a mere cartoon could draw such an emotional response.

A tasteless caricature of a religious personality, whose life has informed and guided billions of people for more than 1400 years, is neither funny nor satirical. On the other hand, burning flags, destroying embassies and threatening innocent people are hardly appropriate responses.

The Prophet Muhammad, who preached repelling evil with kindness, certainly would not approve of such violent acts. He would have responded by educating the ignorant.

Joining the chorus of peaceful protests, former U.S. president Bill Clinton strongly criticized the Danish cartoons, comparing historical anti-Semitism in Europe with anti-Islamic feeling today: So now what are we going to do?. . .Replace the anti-Semitic prejudice with anti-Islamic prejudice?

In a show of solidarity with Denmark, newspapers in Norway, France, and other European nations republished the cartoons, which prompted British Foreign Minister Jack Straw to say: “I believe the republication of these cartoons has been unnecessary, it has been insensitive, it has been disrespectful and it has been wrong.” The U.S. State Department concurred with this sentiment.

Free speech, like every other freedom, comes with the responsibility of good judgment. Newspapers ought to have the freedom to speak the truth, but a cartoon that defames does not further debate or the cause of freedom.

Islamophobia is on the rise in Europe. This should be of concern to all people of conscience, whatever their faith. Only recently, Islamophobia led to Bosnian Muslims becoming targets of a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Even in America, prominent personalities denigrated the Prophet Muhammad using language no different than the sentiments expressed in the Danish cartoons. Talk show hosts coast-to-coast regularly fill public airwaves with anti-Islamic comments. Unfortunately, such hatred has not been widely repudiated.

It is time for Europe and America to adopt the same zero-tolerance for Islamophobia as has quite rightly been adopted toward anti-Semitism.

According to the U.S. State Department, the United States is playing an important role in the effort to contain and ultimately wipe out anti-Semitism. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe sponsored conferences in Vienna and Berlin that recognized anti-Semitism as a fundamental violation of human rights. The Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, signed by President Bush on October 2004, asks governments to take note of and respond to instances of anti-Jewish propaganda.

These steps are indeed laudable. Why not broaden them to fight Islamophobia as well?

Not undertaking similar efforts to curb Islamophobia undermines U.S. and European credibility in the Muslim world, thereby fueling fear and mistrust.

We all need to do whatever we can to avoid plunging the world into the abyss of a clash between civilizations.