...THEY REJOICED OF HURTING OUR FEELING!

By: Abdullah R. Sirad


If I have to make a Pig or a fucking monster caricature of Jesus or to some of his Apostles, would Christian worlds applaud me of this masterpiece? If I have to insist that I did it as an Art expression, would I be appreciated? If I keep insisting that it’s my right of “freedom of speech”, would I be excused? Ok, let’s take it this way. If I did it as revenge to some bad Christians, would the good ones ignore it? Definitely their answer would be “You are a Terrorist!”

I am not generalizing Christians because I believe that not all of them hate Muslims. In fact, I grew up in a Christian community in which most of my friends are Christians. I am only addressing the situation with regard to "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" movement over a page in Facebook and to other sites like www.mohammadture.com in which members of growing numbers are posting blasphemous depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

It is very heartrending of seeing various unpleasant depictions and of reading malevolent descriptions against Muslims in general. The first time I received an emailing protest against the show “South Park 201” who had first depicted the Prophet (PBUH) to one of their comedy segments and to the well known social network Facebook which allows page to mock the Prophet (PBUH), I thought it was all about green marketing. Out of curiosity, I tried to search on the net and was offensively surprised of what I had seen and read. Yes, Christians of mostly westerners mockingly depicted the Prophet in different forms. I wasn’t able to manage myself and shouted “Lanatullah!” (God Curse them!).

I cannot imagine why nonmuslim westerners afford to post those depictions when they do not have proof that the Prophet is of something to any of those caricatures. Though Molly Norris, the perpetrator of the first facebook page that calls for every Cartoon enthusiast to post their extreme repulsive depictions of the Prophet (PBUH) claimed that it was all about “rights” and not meant to disrespect Islam, the caricatures and text messages posted in several sites clearly expressed disrespect and discrimination among Muslims.

It is very enraging that when Muslims are put in a blasphemy, authority doesn’t spare some time to act on it. They keep their people to rejoice of hurting Muslims feeling. However, when revenge is acted by few Muslims, all Muslims are blamed and tagged as the bad of all people. Where is the universal justice as they are calling? Is it accorded to nonmuslims only?

A Muslim fellow named Saad Mustafa Warraich of Karachi – Pakistan created Adolf Hitler page over Facebook as counter action to Everybody Draw Muhammad page in the same social network but both his Facebook account and the page he had created were deactivated by the facebook management justifying that his page had actually violated the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Facebook reply to Mr. Saad is read as this:

We do not tolerate hate speech. Targeting people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or disease is a serious violation of our standards and has resulted in the permanent loss of your account. We will not be able to reactivate your account for any reason. This decision is final.

Now see how the facebook management replied to the request of Muslim community toward deactivation of "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" page in their network:

“We strongly believe that Facebook users have the freedom to express their opinions, and we don’t typically take down content, groups or pages that speak out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas.”

Contradiction of the statements given by the Facebook management is a clear proof that Muslims are subject to their so called standard while nonmuslims are not covered by it though how blasphemous they would write or draw about Muslims.
It’s a total unfair treatment and personally, I am condemning it to the highest degree. If they couldn’t walk the teaching of their idol god, then they have to be at least professional of dealing things. The way they had depicted and described the Prophet (PBUH) is actually an exact definition of (nonmuslim westerners) their own identity.

I wrote this article out of my religious obligations that as Muslim, I would be asked during the judgment day of what I have done when the Prophet (PBUH) was being mocked. At least, I did my little part through this article. To all Muslims out there, let’s unite in prayer that ALLAH (SWT) will enlighten nonbelievers’ mind and heart; that they would realize that they were wronged of their depictions toward the Prophet (PBUH).