The creators of South Park–Matt Stone and Trey Parker–decided that they would depict the Prophet Muhammad on the 200th episode of their show. A radical group known as “Revolution Muslim”–based out of New York–issued thinly veiled threats against the South Park creators, hinting that their misdeed would result in their untimely deaths. CNN picked up the story, and soon the controversy that the South Park creators so desired came to fruition.
Muslim Americans are irate. But not so much at South Park. Rather, the anger is directed at two groups: CNN for their poor journalism and Revolution Muslim for their insanity. Let’s start with CNN: Anderson Cooper covered the topic for over ten minutes and even found time to interview the famous Islamophobe Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Surprisingly, Cooper did not interview a single Muslim American spokesman, thereby giving–whether he intended it or not–the false impression that Revolution Muslim represents a broad spectrum of the Muslim American population, and that the organization speaks for Islam itself. In reality, the radical fringe group is composed of no more than two to ten members, and one could easily find similar sized extremist groups belonging to other faiths.
The vast majority of Muslim Americans despise Revolution Muslim and their hate-filled ideology. The New York mosque the group frequented banned them from setting foot inside the premises, forcing them to preach on the street corner. Many Muslim Americans question whether Revolution Muslim are real Muslims, and instead hold them to be agent provocateurs who wish to smear Islam. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said Revolution Muslim is “an extreme fringe group that has absolutely no credibility within the Muslim community” and that the “wild and irresponsible things” they say has led to “a strong suspicion [in the Muslim American community] that they’re merely a setup to make Muslims and Islam look bad. ”
Joseph Cohen, a former Israeli settler and ardent Zionist, is the founder of Revolution Muslim
There’s reason to believe that. The founder of the group goes by the name of Yousef al-Khattab, but his real name is Joseph Cohen. He was born and raised in the United States as a Jew, and holds both American and Israeli citizenship. In the late eighties, Cohen embraced an ultra-orthodox interpretation of Judaism, and began attending a yeshiva (rabbinical school). In 1998, Cohen hearkened to the Zionist call, and packed up his bags to relocate to the Israeli Occupied Territories where he became an Israeli settler. As an ardent and extreme Zionist, Joseph Cohen fell in with the Jewish fundamentalist group Shas, an extreme right-wing political party that believes in flouting international law based on their religious beliefs. Less than three years later, Cohen “converted” to Islam, moved back to the United States, and founded the most radical Islamic group in the country. [1] His underling Younus Muhammad–the other half of the dynamic duo–is similarly a mysterious “convert” to Islam.
This pair of former extremist Zionists [2]–who together form Revolution Muslim–conveniently read off a script that could only be written by an Islamophobe. For example, one of the two claimed that the Quran commands terrorism, something that no sincere Muslim would ever say (and a claim that is patently false); those are words that an Islamophobe (or extreme Zionist) would agree with, not a Muslim. Considering the founder’s background in an extreme right-wing and fundamentalist Israeli political party, Muslim Americans have reason to be suspicious. Revolution Muslim is just too convenient. Regardless of whether they are Muslim or agent provocateurs, they are simply inorganic wackos that have no community support whatsoever. Yet, that hasn’t stopped the media frenzy from portraying two “Muslims” as being representative of millions of Muslim Americans.
Cohen (Khattab) is just selling the mainstream media the narrative they want to hear. According to these preconceived notions, Muslims lose their minds when the Prophet Muhammad is depicted. The reasoning is simple enough: Muslims reacted in a frenzy to the Danish cartoons, so doesn’t it just make sense that a similar reaction would take place when South Park depicts the Prophet Muhammad? However, the reality is that South Park has already portrayed an uncensored Muhammad in 2001, in an episode entitled “Super Best Friends”. In fact, the image of the Prophet Muhammad was not only used in that episode, but appeared in the opening segment of the show for four entire seasons. What was the Muslim reaction? Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened. No protests, no riots, and no death threats. The Muslim American community shrugged it off, as they did the recent episode (barring the Revolution “Muslim” group). Muslim columnist Zahed Amanullah wrote an article for the Guardian entitled “No [Muslim] freak-out over South Park”, saying:
But has there really been any Muslim outrage? The characterisation of Muhammad in a July 2001 episode entitled “Super Best Friends“, where he teams up with Jesus, Moses, and Buddha to defeat evil (even though Buddha “doesn’t really believe in evil”), has been available for viewing online (if not on a spooked Comedy Central) for nine years without censorship, more than enough time to spark another cartoon crisis if Muslims really cared. As should be obvious by now, they don’t.
Somehow “a couple of misfits” from Revolution Muslim are allowed to smear the entire Muslim American community. The reality is that the vast majority of Muslims in this country barely flinched when they heard of South Park’s intention to portray the Prophet Muhammad. Anderson Cooper covered Revolution Muslim months ago, and at that time he had concluded that “it’s just a bunch of, you know, four morons standing on the street corner, shouting at the top of their lungs–how many people are really listening?” That summation of Revolution Muslim, “four morons standing on [a] street corner”, is exactly how Muslim Americans view them as. Yet flash forward to the recent Cooper report and there is no mention of this fact, and they are instead portrayed as spokesmen of Islam.
To really seal this impression, Anderson Cooper had on his show the vitriolic Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an ardent Islamophobe. Unbelievably, she told Cooper that one religion (Islam) is “beyond criticism” nowadays. What world is Ms. Ali living in? Today, Islam is the most vilified religion ever, and you can say things against Islam and Muslims on television that you simply could not say against any other religion or religious group. On Fox News, that’s simply routine, and guests (and oftentimes hosts) can get away with virtually any swipe at Islam. And on the internet, the level of Islamophobia is astronomical, with Islamophobic websites being amongst the most popular sites on the net, and anti-Islamic comments being hurled at Muslims from sites ranging from YouTube to our very own LoonWatch. So it is actually the opposite of what Ms. Ali claims: there is no other religion which is criticized more than Islam. And it’s gone far past criticism but entered into wholesale bigotry, which explains the hypersensitive reaction of some Muslims to this abuse.
In any case, the idea that only Muslims have ever threatened people for portraying their prophet in a certain way is false to begin with. The indefatigable Glenn Greenwald decimated this argument here, so I don’t need to belabor that point; for example, he mentions a play by the name of Corpus Christi which was canceled several times, due to death threats from extremist Christians. It is clearly not a Muslim only problem, and ought not to be used as a stick to beat Muslims over the head with. Ms. Ali takes this stick not only to all observant Muslims, but to all of Islam itself. On Cooper’s show, she claims that the Islamic scripture itself advocates killing those who criticize the religion. Last I checked, the Islamic scripture is the Quran, and not a single verse in it advocates such a thing. In fact, we find quite the opposite; the Quran commands believers to say “peace be unto you” to those who insult their religion. In the Islamic holy book, God describes the righteous:
They are patient, and repel evil with good…When they hear vile ridicule (against their faith), they ignore it and say: “We shall have our deeds and you shall have your deeds; peace be unto you!” (Quran, 28:54-55)
That’s what the Islamic scripture says. As for the hadiths (Prophetic traditions), these are an amorphous body of texts, which Muslims do not hold to be inerrant like the Quran. Rather, a large number of hadiths are rejected outright as apocryphal in nature, and controversy surrounds many others. [3] Muslim Americans focus on explicit hadiths in which the Prophet Muhammad forgave those who reviled him. [4] For example, a group of disbelievers cursed the Prophet Muhammad, and his wife angrily retaliated in kind. The Prophet, however, admonished his wife: “Calm down. There is not gentleness in anything except that it becomes more beautiful, and there is not harshness in anything except that it makes it ugly. So be calm.” He then expounded an integral Islamic belief, saying: “God is kind and lenient, and likes that one should be kind and lenient in all matters.” [5] Contemporary Muslims argue that if the Prophet Muhammad forbade even verbal aggression against non-Muslims who insulted him, then physical violence is even more loathsome.
Similarly, if the Prophet Muhammad did not seek vengeance against those who physically assaulted him and even tried to kill him, then how could it be justified against those who merely insulted him? For example, the Prophet Muhammad was poisoned by a woman who opposed his message, yet he forgave her and sought no retaliation against her. When the people brought her to him, and asked: “Shall we kill her?”, the Prophet replied emphatically “no.” [6] Contemporary Muslims argue that if the Companions were forbidden to kill the one who tried to physically harm and kill the Prophet Muhammad, then it seems safe to say that it is even more forbidden to punish the one who merely insults him or draws a demeaning cartoon of him. One last example I will give here (although there are many others) is that of Labeed ibn al-Asam, a sorcerer who cursed the Prophet Muhammad, and attempted to harm him through black magic. When his wife asked him why he did not seek retaliation against the sorcerer, the Prophet Muhammad replied “I hate to cause harm to anyone.” (Sahih al-Bukhari) Contemporary Muslims ask: if the Prophet hated to cause harm to anyone, then he would hate for Muslims to kill those who merely drew cartoons of him, a “crime” much less egregious than black magic.
Are there certain texts from the hadiths and classical scholars that say otherwise? Certainly, and I am not denying that. But the Islamophobes put a standard to Muslims that they themselves cannot meet. For example, the vitriolic Catholic crusader Robert Spencer would show such-and-such hadith, and then say “well, it says to kill people who insult the Prophet Muhammad, and so an observant Muslim must do that.” Yet, his own Bible says to kill those who insult his God (Jesus), commanding the faithful to stone the blasphemous infidels to death:
Anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death. (Leviticus, 24:16)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s swipe at Islam can be applied here, with the condescending disclaimer that “not all Christians follow the scripture.” And what of Anderson Cooper’s comment on his blog: “I have no respect for a prophet or god that needs its followers to defend it by threats and murder.” Would he now think lowly of the Jewish and Christian God who–according to their most authentic scriptural source–calls for its followers to kill those who insult Him? Or do we realize that it’s not wise to cherry-pick a passage of a religious text and then vilify an entire creed? Islamophobes like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Robert Spencer claim that Islam itself and the scriptural sources themselves explain why the riots against the Danish cartoons occurred. I recently covered the resurgence of Christian witch hunts in Africa; one could make the unsophisticated claim that the primary blame for the witch hunts can be attributed to the Bible and Christianity itself, since the Bible calls for witches to be killed. [7] Yet, experts understand that “poverty, exacerbated by the current world economic crisis, often lay behind the [witch hunt] phenomenon as people sought to find scapegoats for their misfortunes and the illnesses they suffered.” Christianity was simply the currency in which the people expressed their frustration. In other words, it is a very superficial understanding to reduce the issue to Biblical verses.
Likewise, there were sociological factors behind the anger that fueled the Danish cartoon riots. Yet, an unsophisticated understanding of the issue would lead one to believe that the riots were simply the result of an Islamic prohibition on the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. The reality, however, is that–in spite of an orthodox ban on imagery of the Prophet [8]–the Prophet Muhammad has been depicted in the Islamic world for centuries. British author Dr. Kenan Malik writes:
Over the past 400 years, a number of Islamic, especially Shiite, traditions have accepted the pictorial representation of Muhammed. The Edinburgh University Library in Scotland, the Bibliotheque National in Paris, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, all contain dozens of Persian, Ottoman and Afghan manuscripts depicting the Prophet. His face can be seen in many mosques too – even in Iran. A 17th-century mural on the Iman Zahdah Chah Zaid Mosque in the Iranian town of Isfahan, for instance, shows a Mohammed whose facial features are clearly visible…
So, if there is no universal prohibition to the depiction of Muhammad, why were Muslims universally appalled by the caricatures? They weren’t. And those that were, were driven by political zeal rather than theological fervour.
European Muslims have long suffered from high levels of unemployment, social alienation, and systemic discrimination–factors that contributed to the riots more than indignation over the pictorial representation of the Prophet Muhammad. In fact, most of the rioters had not even seen the cartoons, and the caricatures were–in the words of the Islamic scholar Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl–”the straw that broke the camel’s back” (an ethnically appropriate phrase). In the Muslim majority world, Muslims had long been suffering from what they view as Western “neo-colonialism”, and the Danish cartoons were viewed as salt on the wounds. The bewilderment of many in the West–”how could they react this way to some cartoons?”–only underscores a profound ignorance of the problems that plague those in the East, many of which the West either causes or exacerbates.
There were demonstrations and riots in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran, Nigeria, Palestine, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Danish embassies in Damascus, Beirut and Teheran were torched. But, as Jytte Klausen has observed, these protests ‘were not caused by the cartoons, but were part of conflicts in pre-existing hot spots’ such as northern Nigeria, where there exists an effective civil war between Muslim salafists and Christians. The violence surrounding the cartoon conflict, Klausen suggests, has been ‘misreported’ as expressions of spontaneous violence from Muslims ‘confronted with bad pictures’. That, she insists, ‘is absolutely not the case’. Rather ‘these images have been exploited by political groups in the pre-existing conflict over Islam.’
Similarly, the Salman Rushdie affair had political not theological roots:
We have come to accept almost as self-evident the idea that the worldwide controversy was sparked by the blasphemies in The Satanic Verses that all Muslims found deeply offensive. It is not true.
The Satanic Verses was published in September 1988. For the next five months, until the Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa on Valentine’s Day 1989, most Muslims ignored the book. The campaign against the novel was largely confined to the Indian subcontinent and to Britain. Aside from the involvement of Saudi Arabia, there was little enthusiasm for a campaign against novel in the Arab world or in Turkey, or among Muslim communities in France or Germany. When the Saudi authorities tried at the end of 1988 to get the novel banned in Muslim countries worldwide, few responded except those with large subcontinental populations, such as South Africa or Malaysia. Even in Iran the book was openly available and was reviewed in many newspapers.
As in the controversy over the Danish cartoons, it was politics, not religion, that transformed The Satanic Verses into a worldwide event of historic proportions.
Malik then explains the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, both countries desperately competing for regional dominance. Each seeks–with its ultraconservative implementations of the religion–to assert itself as the standard-bearer of “authentic” Islam. Saudi Arabia had attempted to ban the book, and Iran’s fatwa was an attempt to one up the Saudis. In the words of Kenan Malik: “The Satanic Verses became a weapon in that conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Riyadh had made the initial running (by calling for a ban on the book). The fatwa was an attempt by Iran to wrestle back the initiative…The controversy over The Satanic Verses was primarily a political, not religious, conflict.” Unfortunately, many Westerners think it sufficient to hold superficial understandings of such complex issues (whereas others find it expedient to do so).
The elements that led to the Danish cartoon affair simply do not exist in today’s South Park controversy, which explains why the Muslim American community–notwithstanding the “four morons on [a] street corner”–have had such a subdued response. Interestingly, there has not even been any significant drive to boycott the show, nor any peaceful protests (let alone violent recourse)–which shows how little they care about this “controversy.” Most Muslim Americans understand that South Park pokes fun at people of every faith, and even if they may find it personally distasteful, Muslim Americans don’t think too much of it. As CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper put it: “[Muslims] are pretty tired of this whole: ‘Let’s insult the Prophet Muhammad thing.’” They don’t want to dwell on it, and just want the incident to pass. Internally, Muslim Americans are telling each other to “ignore it”, and they are cognizant of the fact that outrage will only publicize the South Park episode more.
By presupposing that the reaction of Muslim Americans would be the same as their coreligionists in parts of Europe and the developing world (some) non-Muslim Westerners have placed all Muslims into one box. According to this “the other” understanding, all Muslims–of every nationality and region of the earth–ought to react similarly. Yet, one clearly understands this not to be the case when comparing Evangelicals in America with those leading witch hunts in Nigeria. The reality is that Muslims in this country have a distinctly American Islam, one which has incorporated freedom of speech into it. Therefore, it is incorrect to simply assume that the reaction of Muslim Americans would be the same as their religious brethren elsewhere. Unlike the Muslim communities in many (but not all) European countries, Muslim Americans are well integrated; unemployment and poverty do not affect them in the same way. Instead, they tend to be rather well off, and are “overrepresented” in professional fields like medicine and engineering. The absence of the sociological factors present in the Danish cartoon affair explains the lack of response to the South Park cartoons, and this is so even though the scriptural texts are still the same–again pointing to the fact that the protests had sociological and not theological roots.
Another reason why the South Park cartoons did not cause a Muslim outcry like the Danish cartoons did is that the South Park cartoons were not Islamophobic in nature. The creators of South Park are equal-opportunity haters and have lampooned every religion, which really softened the blow. The Danish cartoons, on the other hand, were Islamophobic in nature, and portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a stereotypical Muslim terrorist with a bomb on his head. (The same publisher had earlier refused to publish cartoons that were deemed offensive to Christians.) The Danish cartoons were racist and bigoted. Can one imagine the reaction of socioeconomically depressed African Americans had a mainstream newspaper (like the New York Times) published cartoons portraying blacks as apes (a stereotypical racist image)? In the seventies or eighties, such a thing would have led to widespread riots. Would people still be bewildered as to how a population could react so violently to a “mere cartoon“? How is an ape-like representation of a black person any different than a stereotypical hook-nosed Muslim with a bomb on his head?
Freedom of speech is one of the principles of this country, and without it a democracy cannot flourish. But let’s not forget that racial and religious tolerance is another bedrock of democracy. It is a true oddity that certain segments of society have chosen that today freedom of speech is the most important issue to them, only because it allows them to channel their racial and religious intolerance. The neo-conservatives who are today masquerading as the defenders of the first amendment are the same ones who just yesterday were justifying warrantless wiretapping, racial profiling, suspension of habeas corpus, secret prisons, torture, coerced confessions, state-sponsored assassinations (of even U.S. citizens), and on and on…all because these things were directed at Muslims. In the words of Glenn Greenwald, the South Park controversy has been exploited so that the “majoritarian group [can act] as the profoundly oppressed victim at the hands of the small, marginalized, persecuted group which actually has no power [i.e. Muslim Americans].” It is selective and unprincipled outrage expressed by unsavory folks who don’t really care about the principles of freedom and tolerance, but are instead using the incident to promote intolerance and demonization of a minority group…something which threatens our democracy far more than “four morons on [a] street corner.”
In conclusion, this is a contrived controversy, and there was no freak-out by Muslim Americans over the South Park cartoons. Yes, many Muslim Americans were offended, but no more so than pious Christians whose stomachs churn at the South Park episodes mocking their religious icons. But most Muslim Americans know that this is the cost of living in a free society, and most importantly, they know that it won’t affect what they perceive is the greatness of their prophet. As one Muslim American told me: “Barking dogs cannot harm the moon, so let them bark.” Despite the crudeness of this analogy, it adequately depicts the indifference of Muslim Americans to the South Park cartoon. Dr. Hesham Hassaballa, a prominent Muslim spokesman and former board member of CAIR, said:
I must admit: I was offended. I was really bothered by the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit on Comedy Central’s satirical show “South Park.” …[But] ever since the beginning of his ministry, the Prophet Muhammad has been attacked, maligned, and insulted, including from his own uncle. The Prophet never retaliated against [them]. When he was brutally expelled from the city of Ta’if, two angels offered to crush the city under the mountains that surrounded it. The Prophet refused, hoping that their children may one day believe in God. After conquering Mecca, the Prophet issued a general amnesty to the very same people that brutally and violently opposed him, including the person who mutilated his beloved uncle Hamza after he was killed in battle.
This is the example of the Prophet Muhammad that Muslims should seek to emulate whenever he is insulted. The Prophet once said, “I was sent to perfect the most noble of character.” He also said, “The best of you are the best in character.” Rather than pray for God to “kill Matt Stone and Trey Parker,” Mr. Chesser should have prayed for God to show Stone and Parker the beauty of the Prophet Muhammad, so they can understand more about the man whom 1.2 billion people around the world revere and honor. It is what the Prophet would have done.
No angry pitchfork, Dr. Hassaballa? The media thinks to itself: that won’t sell a story and certainly doesn’t fit our preconceived notions of what a stereotypical Muslim is, so let’s forget that you are a respected figure in the community and instead focus on “four morons on [a] street corner” who aren’t even allowed inside their mosque due to how much the Muslim American community dislikes their views. (Phew, that was a long sentence!) Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of CAIR-Chicago, writes:
The latest Muhammad cartoon controversy, courtesy of Comedy Central’s South Park, seems somewhat contrived…[Revolution Muslim is] literally 5-10 people who are widely reviled by the mainstream community for their radical and confrontational style including harassing Muslims outside mosques (where they tend to be banned) with outlandishly provocative anti-American rhetoric.
Most suspect the group is fraudulent. Its mysterious leader, born Joseph Cohen, is an American Jew who converted to Islam in 2000 after living in Israel and attending an orthodox rabbinical school there. Whether, true Muslims or agent provocateurs, the result is the same: they are five community outcasts…
South Park’s provocation was mostly met by silence and indifference [by the Muslim American community]. The widespread Muslim attitude went something like this: this is a free country, you go on mocking Jesus and Muhammad, and we will go on keeping them in our prayers. No harm done. Muhammad’s and Jesus’ value to humanity certainly will not dip as a result of your mockery.
The Muslim American community by and large supports freedom of speech, feeling that the right of the cartoonists to lampoon the Prophet exists and that the best thing to do is ignore such insults. Perhaps the lack of reaction by Muslim Americans has disappointed the sensationalist media looking for a story, forcing them to focus on a few misfits. Amazing how “four morons on [a] street corner” are allowed to become the spokesmen for Islam. The message to Muslim Americans is loud and clear: even if 99.9999% of you behave, that last 0.00001% will be enough to hit you over the head with. The entire community will be defined by its two (or four) village idiots. Muslim Americans can never hope to have their voices heard, unless of course they become Revolution Muslims.
Update:
In retrospect, I fear that I may have used too strong wording when I was discussing Joseph Cohen’s past. The way my article is written, it seems as if I am saying that he is really a Jew pretending to be a Muslim, and this could be used by some to promote a vast conspiracy, i.e. “it’s the Mossad!” This was not my intention, and I caution people to stay away from such conspiratorial talk.
The reality is that I do not know Cohen’s true intentions. I myself have a nagging suspicion that he is a disingenuous attention whore, as is his underling Younus Muhammad. They have found a way to become famous, and I believe they enjoy the feeling of self-importance and their fifteen minutes of fame. Accordingly, I believe that the outlandish things they say come from a desire to grab media attention, not from a genuine belief in Islam. As I said, it is difficult to imagine that a sincere Muslim would claim that the Quran advocates terrorism, etc. To fulfill this desire for fame, the so-called Revolution Muslims have adopted the role of agent provocateurs, trying to push as many buttons as they possible can. “Look at us! Look at us!”
This is the limit of my “conspiracy,” and I do not at all claim that they are still Jews, even though I realize that my wording in the article above was poorly constructed. I am not one to make excuses for my mistakes, and so I say quite simply: I made a mistake. Yes, it is a possibility that the group was formed to make Muslims look bad, as Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR said. But the evidence I presented with regard to Cohen’s past can at most make one question intentions, nothing more. There is no way to know for sure either way; one can only conjecture.
However, the rest of the article still holds: regardless of Revolution Muslim’s sincerity of faith or lack thereof, the point is that they are extreme outliers, completely at odds with the vast majority of Muslim Americans. The suspicion of the Islamic community is important insofar as it is highlights this very fact, and indicates how far off Cohen and co.’s viewpoints are from the rest of the Muslim Americans.
Footnotes
refer back to article 1. Yousef al-Khattab, My Reversion to Islam, http://www.scribd.com/doc/2901290/Brother-Yousef-al-Khattabs-Reversion-to-Islam-A-Former-Jew
refer back to article 2. I found less information on the character known as Younus Muhammad, and would welcome reader input confirming his real name and Zionist inclinations prior to his supposed conversion.
refer back to article 3. Although several textual proofs indicate that the Prophet Muhammad forgave those who insulted and abused him, a handful of texts seem to say otherwise. However, many contemporary Muslims view these texts to be apocryphal, including the stories involving Abu Afak (a poet), Asma bint Marwan (a poetess), and a certain blind man’s slave girl. As for Kaab ibn al-Ashraf, it is argued that he “was assassinated only because he violated the peace treaty and assisted in the war” (Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari) against the fledgling city-state of Medina. With regard to Ibn Khattal and his two slave girls, it is said that they “all stood convicted of atrocious [war] crimes” (M. Haykal, Hayat Muhammad).
refer back to article 4. Perhaps it would behoove me to compile these some day.
refer back to article 5. Sahih Bukhari, Vol.9, Book 84, # 61
refer back to article 6. Found in Sahih al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, Abu Dawud, amongst others. She was eventually found guilty of the murder of Bishr ibn Al-Bara, and punished accordingly.
refer back to article 7. “Thou shalt not allow a sorceress to live” (Exodus, 22:18), and “sorcerers amongst you must be put to death” (Leviticus, 20:27)
refer back to article 8. The ban was placed to prevent idolization of the Prophet Muhammad, something which early Muslims feared due to the fate of Jesus in the Christian world. However, this ban on pictorial representations carries no worldly punishment if breached, neither in classical or contemporary understandings of Islamic law.
April 28th, 2010 at 4:22 am
It may be worth including some email, phone or fax numbers so that readers can write to CNN and ask them why they didn’t interview mainstream Muslims, and take the word of an ex Zionist settler claiming to be a Muslim as the word of the majority.
April 28th, 2010 at 6:58 am
Thanks a lot for this article Danios! It is brilliant, as always!!
April 28th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Nice one danios. The whole thing stinks from the start are CNN after Fox’s crown as Loon channel of the year?
April 28th, 2010 at 8:50 am
After 9/11,the Americans have started to look into the reality of Islam.It is not a religion like any other religion which do have some good in them but Islam has nothing good about it.It is in fact a vile and violent political Ideology.Mohammad had no attributes to be called a prophet and to call him HOLY is insult to God who only is Holy.Mohammad had nothing holy about him.He led a very sinful and carnal life.Quran is nothing but incoherent outburst of a mentally sick man although very devious.Islam is in fact the distorted face of Judaism and Christianity on the body of paganism with demonic blood running through its veins.It is simply indefensible Ideology based on self delusion of Muslim superiority.The sooner the Muslims realize the truth,the better for their sanity and peace with their neighbours.
April 28th, 2010 at 9:17 am
The U.S. media are idiots and the people who believe them are fools—hey—free speech right!
April 28th, 2010 at 11:18 am
BMD:It may be worth including some email, phone or fax numbers so that readers can write to CNN and ask them why they didn’t interview mainstream Muslims, and take the word of an ex Zionist settler claiming to be a Muslim as the word of the majority.
Where’s the fun in interviewing mainstream Muslims? Besides, CNN is busy covering idiotic events like “Boobquake.
April 28th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Very good article !
But it would be fair to notice that the Prophet (s) did put a number of people to death who had ridiculed or taunted him (e.g., an-Nadr b. al-Harith or Ka’b b. al-Ashraf). But it could easily be argued that these persons were killed because they posed a danger in a time of war when the survival of the Muslim community was at stake. As such, these executions should be no precedents for today’s Muslims. And besides, the verses in the Qur’an who urge believers to be patient when facing insults, and the times that the Prophet (s) showed leniency are much too numerous to be ignored.
April 28th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I now see that the point was made in footnote 3.
April 28th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Wow, Danios! Great article! Very interesting point about that guy posing as a Muslim radical. Could he be just a provocateur, a double agent?
April 28th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
As european American (married for 30 years to a lovely arab American)I found your post enlightening. If the “morons” are indeed provocateurs, the story gets a lot more interesting. Still, it gets pretty tiresome to constantly be told that a majority of muslims are tolerant, liberal, enlightened citizens. In states where muslim majorities dominate politics there is little tolerance or respect for any differing belief and that intolerance is codified into law, which is why, for instance, a woman cannot get a driver’s license in Saudi Arabia.
“White” Americans have spent decades in a frenzy of self flaggelation over the treatment of an ethnic minority, Africans, by other white people decades and in fact centuries ago. Muslim Americans offer no apology whatsoever for the contemporay acts of their violent, repressive breatheren, only more jew and christian bashing. I am neither nor do I subscribe to any other irrational “god” belief so I’m not personally offended. But American muslims need to face the fact that they must explicitly repudiate the radical elements within their religion and embrace the classical liberalism upon which this nation, however imperfectly, was founded. The growing intolerance for muslims in western Europe ought to give you pause.
April 28th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
I cannot thank you more Danios. You’re contribution to the Muslim community is outstanding and you should be rewarded for it. I do not for one single second believe RevolutionMuslim’s members are Muslim. The Ayah that you just quoted brought me to tears. I will repel evil with good. THAT’S the religion of peace for you.
April 28th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Thanks, everyone.
Sir David: I do not think we should lump CNN with Fox News, and I don’t classify CNN as a “loon channel” like Fox. However, in this particular broadcast, they committed an epic fail.
Abdulmajid: I do not think we should jump to say that it’s some grand conspiracy with him working as a double agent for the Mossad. It could just be some disingenuous guy trying to get attention and become famous…The Revolution Muslim duo has always been attention whores. Regardless of their true intentions (which we can never know for certain), the fact is that the group is made up of no more than 5-10 members (more likely around 2-4) who are all considered wackos by the Muslim American community. The fact that the Muslim American community thinks that they may be agent provocateurs (irrespective of whether its true or not) speaks volumes about how little these guys represent the community overall, and it’s important insofar as that.
Sincerely,
Danios.
April 28th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Fred:
Thank you for your comment. However, I do humbly disagree with you that the Muslim American community is silent when it comes to such things. There are many who have spoken out, both from America as well as from the same countries you talk about. Could more be done? Certainly. But are they silent? No, that’s just the feeling people get when only Revolution Muslims are given airtime. Furthermore, many in the Muslim majority countries think that too many Westerners are silent when it comes to America’s horrific foreign policy–which flouts the very same “classical liberalism” you say (rightfully so) is at the heart of the country–and which has resulted in the deaths of millions of Muslims. Read Stephen M. Walt’s piece here: http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/11/30/why_they_hate_us_ii_how_many_muslims_has_the_us_killed_in_the_past_30_years
So if you (or others) wish to espouse a tribalistic mentality–this us vs. them–then I do not think it is as one-sided as you are led to believe. However, I say like Glenn Greenwald–a true progressive (who actually upholds the tradition of classical liberalism)–does: it’s time to eschew this us vs. them tribalistic mentality, and instead stand up for justice consistently, no matter who it is for or against. So yes, I wholeheartedly oppose the restrictive law in Saudi Arabia which prohibits women from a driver’s license, but at the same time I oppose the apartheid in Israel which creates Jew-only roads. This is because I am a true progressive, and I oppose these things based on principle. On the other hand, there are people who only show selective outrage, angered only when the transgression is by “the other.”
Lastly, you have your facts wrong: black Americans–whom you call Africans–lived under heavy segregation up until the late 1960′s, not even one generation ago…hardly “centuries ago” as you claim. You have put reality completely on its head, turning the “white Americans” into the victims.
Sincerely,
Danios.
April 28th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Danios, this was amazing. JazakaAllah khairun!
April 28th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Lawrence, would you like to debate about Islam? Here’s my email- WomenForTruth101@gmail.com
April 28th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
We should do the same stuff these people do. I mean have some people turn xtians or jews and then make them say inflammatory speeches about goyims and non xtians.
Comment from Danios: It would make no difference, because people would automatically realize that they are fringe wackos. It’s only with Muslims that people don’t realize this, since Muslims are “the other.” Furthermore, their goal is to demonize Islam; ours should not be to demonize Judaism or Christianity…we’d be just as bad as them then.
April 29th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Fred, it’s not just islam.; colonialism has played a massive role in hatred of the west. look at how the british and french used the turks and betrayed them. Plus there is islamic law that condemns murder and violence
April 29th, 2010 at 10:33 am
watch out loon Chelene Nightingale for governor 2010!!
April 29th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Excellent piece. A top fiver.
Revolution Muslim, I heard of them a while back. I am fairly certain that Cohen is a Muslim but just a wacked out extremist with NO Influence with American Muslims.
Anderson Cooper is an idiot, that is why he has such poor ratings. When are they going to pull his show off the air?
April 29th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
This has got to be the best article I’ve read in a long long time.
Thank you for a balanced view that raises a lot of questions.
April 29th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Danious,
I completely agree that American foreign policy is appalling and the western world is largely silent on the issue largely because American taxpayers, through ongoing debt, have subsidised their defense for decades. I’m 53 years old and war has been a part of my culture virtually my entire life. War and debt will ultimately be the end of the American empire and justifiably so.
I do not deny discrimination against African Americans in any way and I don’t wish to make “white” people the victims. My point is only that the vast majority of us were not complicit in slavery, Jim Crow, de jure segregation or any of the other vestiges of past discrimination. My ancestors arrived on the continent in the 20′s in an effort to escape the genocides of Stalin. The point is, if the sins of the father are to be visited upon the son at least the father ought to be guilty of something. Neither I, my parents, my grandparents and certainly not my children are guilty of these crimes any more than the average American muslim is resonsible for the acts of a few zealots who fly airliners into an office building. And yet our mea culpas are not only required, they have been codified into law.
In any case I appreciate your point of view and wish you well in diseminating it.
April 29th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Joseph Cohen is reported to have left the group, as is David Scott Jones.
The one that posted the videothreat is Zack Chesser (aka ‘Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee’), a college drop-out from George Mason University. Blogger Scott Creighton sees a connexion with Langley CIA-headquarters (a bit of a stretch, if you ask me) but he has a lot of info and cool pictures that show what a bunch of crackpots these guys at Revolution Muslim are.
http://tinyurl.com/2uoupxh
Best thing to do for muslims is to expose these blokes for the phoneys and crackpots they are; and start a campaign called ‘Muslims for Southpark’.
p.s. Danios: whatever happened to those comments you decided not to publish in order to make an article out of them?
April 29th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
About Joseph Cohen, Yousuf Al-Khatab. Now I have seen some videos of him such as him explaining his conversion on Youtube which was a beautiful story and also have seen videos on Youtube of him being interviewed for documentaries and news pieces that make him sound like a Muslim lunatic. I have seen blogs of Muslims calling him a fake and I also seen him demonized on Cable TV. He has himself posted videos responding to the pieces aired on news channels and such and said they edited in a way to make him seem like he believes Americans should be killed and other radical beliefs.
I really didn’t know what to believe about the guy. Now hearing that he is the owner of Revolution Muslim further muddied my perception of the guy but then on his official blog he repeatedly states that he had nothing to do with the lunacy and controversy that Revolution Muslim has created and is distancing himself from the site which seems to have been shut down.
April 29th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Islam has been ruined by retards like the one’s in revolution muslim
April 30th, 2010 at 3:58 am
Jack, I shot you an email about the tip you gave us. Did you post your comment with a valid email address? If not, please post your email address. (I won’t publish your comment.)
Sincerely,
Danios.
May 1st, 2010 at 1:45 am
This is very serious, and CNN is just as guilty in this fraud.
Imagine if a Muslim claims to have converted to a Jew, and is shown on CNN many times saying that Hitler was justified to get ride of manipulative evil people like this ( Joseph Cohen)…would CNN have run that report without a question??? CNN was helping to spread this Israeli (acting as a Muslim) to incite hate against Muslims.
This is how people with loyalty to Israel like
We have seen how people like Wolfowitz, Perle, Krauthammer,…helped the Israeli evil machine to fool Americans to send their kids to die in a war for Israel, based on lies, against Iraq which never attacked the USA, and which killed a million innocent Iraqis, and 4 thousand American. This Cohen the fake Muslim is a new chapter, and we were lucky this time to find out the dirty tricks of these sophisticated evil manipulators.
May 1st, 2010 at 2:23 am
I just want it known that I do NOT consider Anderson Cooper or CNN to be Islamophobic. In fact, I had liked Cooper before this, and I am simply saying that in this case he failed to do a good job. Nor do I believe this is some great conspiracy (i.e. the Mossad, CIA, etc.), and I strongly urge Muslims not to say such things. However, I do not think it beyond the realm of reasonable possibility that Joseph Cohen is disingenuous, most likely not a sincere Muslim, and just trying to become famous. Regardless of his true intentions, he is an extreme outlier and totally unrepresentative of the Islamic community. Let’s keep it at that.
May 1st, 2010 at 9:51 am
Amazing article, once again! You did not write a rant, but rather a analytical piece finding the faults in this recent “South Park” case.
May 2nd, 2010 at 1:31 pm
[snipped]
Comment by Danios: I snipped your post, and reiterate my request to stay away from conspiratorial talk. Perhaps I myself used too strong wording in my article. The reality is that I don’t know the true intentions of Joseph Cohen. However, the suspicion of the Islamic community is important insofar as it is a very strong indication of how far off Cohen’s viewpoints are from the mainstream.
May 4th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Danios,
While you, of course, have every right to decide what comments you allow on this site, I must ask why it is that you still haven’t allowed mine?
I find it rather strange, as I have not, as far as I’m aware, used any offensive, racist, bigoted or hateful language in my comment. At the same time, you also allowed the clearly anti-Islamic comment left by the user ‘lawrence.’
I was just wondering if there was any particular reason.
Thanks.
May 5th, 2010 at 11:01 am
I just stumbled on this site, but I don’t think I’ll be back. So tired of the name calling…this site even has it in the title…
For you people who think there is a difference between left and right…you should really understand that there is only freedom or tyranny…
Dems work on your economic freedom, while neo-cons work on your personal freedom. They are both on the side of bankers who print money out of thin air, and then lend it to at interest for collateral of real value. Banks fund both sides of wars and have an interest in getting them started…
Stop calling other Americans names, and have a civil discourse about how we’re all getting screwed by the prostitutes of DC.
May 5th, 2010 at 11:20 am
To further point out the ridiculousness of all of this, especially if this was the FIRST time that South Park had used Muhammad in a cartoon, all you can see is a freaking bear suit! How can anybody tell if it’s Muhammad or Stalin in there? What kind of moron could possibly be offended by this?
May 5th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
dont feed the obvious trolls lawrence is a megaphony brainwashed zionist shill, dont waste your time. Danios this is a great article but i respectfully disagree with your thoughts that CNN aren’t islamaphobic, our entire lame stream media takes any opportunity to paint muslims and islam as evil hook line and sinker, anything they can do to disguise where the real terrorism comes from (israel) and point the finger of blame elsewhere.
May 5th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Tariq Ramadan’s perspective on this is interesting:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/05/05/VI2010050501811.html
He basically says that this controversy was “created” and that it was wrong for Comedy Central to pre-empt what they thought Muslims would feel or say about depicting Muhammad, and that they should have aired the show but instead they acted in a way that was a self fulfilling prophecy.
May 6th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Immediately after the bomb was found in time square MSNBC was quoted as saying the bomb was a few miles away from the mtv studios (which was part of the family of Paramount/viacom studios. And who also owns comedy channel) and was quoted as saying “Coincidence?”
May 6th, 2010 at 8:03 am
I found it Ironic that the moral of that episode (which was also censored) was that it is wrong to use threats of violence to silence criticism. the act of censoring not only the image of Mohamed, and even his name, but the 3 minute morality speech that didn’t mention Mohamed or Islam at all, is in itself an act of terrorism.
They bleeped the entire speech at the end explaining this. They bleeped out probably 50% of that episode, 80% of that being unrelated to Islam entirely.
I would love to see this taken to CNN or another main stream source, a good honest grouping of people to represent American Muslims, or all Muslims really.
We simply can’t let the radical fringe represent the whole, be it in relation to Islam, Christianity or whatever fairytale you choose to believe. Are we really that sensitive that none of us can take a joke? Are we that close to the brink that a simple cartoon, that was quite funny, would destroy society and bring anarchy?
Comedy Central are the terrorists, for censoring that episode. Cnn and the MsM are terrorists for allowing the fringe to sound like the whole, keeping a blatant stereotype alive.
lawrence is an obvious troll. I’m not religious at all, no one has provided me with answers, I believe what I believe and need no book to tell me otherwise. That said, from my limited understanding, Islam teaches peace, peace be unto those who do not follow the faith.
Ok, so, Islam = inclusive, love all regardless of if they believe you
Judaism = we are the chosen people, .
Christianity = do as we say, believe as we say, or you will go to hell,
Well, if i was a betting man, and wanted to place my chips on which religion god would probably like out of the big three, double down on Islam my friends.
May 7th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
What a crock of bullshit. Anti-islamic sites are the most popular on the web? That is so inaccurate that it would be fair to describe it as complete bullshit. If you believe that, no wonder you’re dumb enough to be religious. But it does support the possibility that this entire article contains ‘facts’ that are complete garbage and is written by a man who would like to be manipulative but is just too stupid.
F*ck allah, f*ck jesus and f*ck all the stupid human cattle who are braindead enough to waste their life reading about these ficticious characters. Believe whatever lies you want. Christianity is the most popular religion in the world – and yet the MAJORITY of people living on this planet don’t believe in Jesus, Mary or any of their cronies. Think about it. If the vast majority of human beings realise the most popular religion on earth is a lie, then what chance is there that anyone wants to hear the thoughts of the losers who come in second place? Face the fact that WE ALL see you as some idiot from the desert who makes his wife dress like a ninja as he removes his daughters clit with a sharp rock. You are basically monkeys and, like Christians, you should do us all (and yourself) a favor – KILL YOURSELF. You are just too stupid for your existance to be justified. Seriously, kill yourself. And take your congregation of imbeciles with you. You will not be missed.
PS – yeah I said it – Allah / mohammaed or whatever that made up character is called – is a lie. A lie celebrated by monkeys.
May 8th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Neale: seriously? I’m Muslim, but I understand why a lot of people are atheists, and I respect them for that. But u? If u can’t express ur thots in a smart and respectable way, how do u think ppl think of u? Nothing but an idiot.
PS: ya I said it, nothing but an idiot.
May 8th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Also, jihadwatch is rated 12,000 on Alexa.com out of millions of websites
May 8th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
@Neale
Your comment is a masterpiece. Keep up the good work!
May 9th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Danios,
Your post is probably one of the most level-headed discussions by any side in this controversy. The vast majority of individuals on either side are unable to see things from the other side’s point of view, and most Americans are totally ignorant of the history of colonialism that led to this conflict. Discussions generally tend to degenerate into “my-god-is-better-than-your-god” fairly quickly, and this should be avoided. I agree with you that the root cause of extremism is socioeconomic rather than religious, and this is a point that is not adequately understood by people on either side of the debate.
You mention that it is far more acceptable to criticize Islam in American media than it is to criticize Judaism or Christianity. In some ways this is true; however, this mocking is usually done verbally. The fact of the matter is that mocking Mohammed in pictures is still taboo in the Western media, and this is largely due to the Muslim world’s reaction to the Danish cartoon controversy. The 2001 Super Best Friends episode took place before 9/11 and before the cartoon controversy, in a period when tensions were not as high.
Regardless of whether or not this violent reaction is contradictory to the Koran’s actual words (and I admit I don’t know enough about the Koran to make a judgment on this), the fact remains that in this day and age, violent fundamentalism is far more common in the Muslim world than it is in the Western world. In the past the situation was very different, but most people in the West are ignorant of history and can only judge a religion they do not follow by the actions of its practitioners in the here and now.
While the majority of Muslims may indeed condemn the threats of Revolution Muslim and other extremists, the fact remains that most of the dialogue coming from moderate Muslims still frames the issue from a post-colonialist perspective– those who satirize Mohammed are depicted as agents of a dominant ideology perpetuating oppressive stereotypes against the “other.” And while this is sometimes the case, it was NOT the case for South Park, who poke fun at Western sacred cows far more often than they poke fun at Islam. You yourself recognize this, as do several other American Muslims I know personally, but the fact is that your dialogue still focuses primarily around the marginalization of Muslims in contemporary Western society.
This marginalization is a very real grievance, but the damage to free expression done by the threat of extremism is also a very real grievance. The fact of the matter is that a corporation which likes to depict itself as at the vanguard of free expression censored its own programming when delivered a veiled death threat. Depictions of Mohammed are so far the ONLY instance where Comedy Central has demanded South Park censor itself. And, while the Danish Mohammed cartoons may have been unnecessarily offensive, surely you must recognize that something is wrong with a situation in which the author of one of these cartoons now has to live with 24-hour protection and a panic room in his house.
If “four morons” like Revolution Muslim can lead a mega-corporation like Viacom to fear for its employees’ lives, how much more dangerous to free expression if the threats were to come from segments of society that actually have political power? Personally, I do not believe that democracy in American is threatened by radical Islam– we simply do not have enough radical Muslims in this country for that to happen. The problem is that Viacom’s reaction to RM’s death threats sets a precedent that those who would wish to subvert freedom in this country will be watching. Powerful corporate interest groups and right-wing nutjobs may be the ones who today are screaming the most shrilly about Revolution Muslim’s death threats, but these same groups now know that people are willing to silence themselves out of fear. These groups do have a lot of political power in this country, and now they know what tactics to use if they ever decide to stop playing within the system.
All the best,
-Rob
May 9th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Rob:
Thanks for your insightful comment, and I agree with much of what you said.
I would, however, like to add that there is profound censorship in the mainstream media when it comes to the issue of Israel/Palestine. For example, the same show I criticized here–Anderson 360–filmed a segment on Dr. Norman Finkelstein, an outspoken critic of Israel. Finkelstein told them: “Don’t bother, it will never air.” But they insisted and said that it would definitely air as they already invested money into it. But guess what? It was censored.
So there is much more room for freedom of speech to be nurtured, and the South Park issue is not the Battle of Alamo as portrayed by some right wingers. I think you would agree with me on that.
Having said all that, I agree with the general sentiment in your comment, and do not mean to obfuscate the issue. At the end of the day, I support freedom of speech, even that which I dislike.
Sincerely,
Danios.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I fixed one of the broken links, the one that says: “The Muslim American community by and large supports freedom of speech, feeling that the right of the cartoonists to lampoon the Prophet exists and that the best thing to do is ignore such insults.”
May 11th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
In what way will Muslims support free speech?
Will they rage like they do over cartoons and Gaza?
Are there any examples of Muslims doing more than paying lip service to the defense of free speech?
May 30th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
This article is truly something. Your wisdom, use of evidence, allowing for contradictions, acknowledging other popular opinions, and really everything else in this article are something amazing.
What you have written here is really a part of what I believe as in a muslim.
جزاكم الله خيرا
June 26th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Great article, pertinent points- yet I find the gist of it unintentionally insincere. You speak of the “general indifference” of mainstream Muslims towards the South Park depiction of Prophet Muhammad, yet I have read a multitude of responses and comments by mainstream Muslims- educated, University students- that exemplify not indifference but abhorrence at the depictions of the prophet. I am not arguing that they have manifested the violent anger of Revolution Muslim, but I would qualify their reaction as somewhere in between “indifference” and “violent anger.” Your article too, does not display indifference- for had it shown indifference, it wouldn’t even be published. This inherent contradiction in your discourse does more harm than good to these “mainstream Muslims” you wish to exonerate- and just subtly brings you closer to radical fringe groups (yet you try to distance yourself using I admit, considerable eloquence and poignant arguments)- yet the result is similar. Had there genuinely been indifference towards the South Park controversy, you wouldn’t have taken the time to write about it.
I also feel like you show a volte-face to reverse the dangerous oversimplification of the bad stereotypical Muslims versus the freedom of the West. True, reality is much greyer- but you too pick out a minority of extremist Christians to somehow try to argue that Christians are intolerant towards blasphemy yet Muslims are tempered people (i am not arguing the reverse- I just think you demonstrate what you try to condemn throughout, and I find this disingenuous). Not that I want to cast Christians in a superior light to Muslims as this is not the aim, Islam certainly is the religion with the least form of auto-criticism. Jokes about child sexual abuse in the Vatican are rampant and ubiquitous- yet Christians do not react like the majority of Muslims when something similar happens. You seek to objectify the picture, yet whilst doing that your insincerity makes it more subjective thus less helpful. Despite this inherent contradiction, a very solid article that could serve wonders for Muslims and apologists for the Islamic cause.