As a Muslim I have expressed my dissatisfaction, anger, and disapointment about the caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), and xenophobia against Islam and wrote a diary about it
here.
Today I want to take few minutes to denounce Iran for their plans to hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust--"to test whether the West extends the principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad."
Article:
TEHRAN, Iran -- A prominent Iranian newspaper said Tuesday it would hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust to test whether the West extends the principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
If Iran wanted to follow in the practice of Prophet Mohammad, then its course of action would be different.
Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said:
"You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with them with forgiveness and kindness." (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
I'm still angry about the media's intolerance and insensitivity about publishing the cartoons. And I'm really purturbed by the West's orientalist mentality in dealing with Muslims and Islam, but we (Muslims) only do ourselves a disservice and play into the hands of Orientalists and wingnuts by giving them these tools of hatred.
Iran's plans to use the Holocaust to test the West's belief in "freedom of speech" is nothing more than a stunt. And it's nothing more than a tool to incite more violence and more hatred. If Iran goes through with this "hate competition", then we need to stand up and denounce their actions.
Islam doesn't preach violence, nor does it teach it. Islam is about peace and tolerance.
I certainly can't comprehend what victims of the Holocaust felt. I can't even comprehend what Muslims during the crusades felt. But if Israel were to have a contest asking people to draw cartoons of the Crusades, I know I would feel a lot of pain and great deal of anger.
As such, I know Iran's inexcusable actions will unjustifiably cause pain to many people around the world. I can't bear to stand for their actions and deplore them for bringing injury to another group.
I know those who believe in the absolute freedom of expression will argue that Iran has the right to publish those cartoons, and the right to be criticized. But as I argued about the cartoons of Prophet Mohammad, there is a place for free speech, but not hate speech. To me they both represent hate speech--one which serves the extremists and their ideology.
Instead of bringing pain to another group and escalating the violence, Iran should rather invest that time, energy, and money to educate the West about Prophet Mohammad and the life he lived. Many organizations in the U.S. and Europe started interfaith groups and outreach programs to teach people about Islam. This would be a great opportunity to educate the ignorant about the teaching of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh).
I recommend all of you to read this article: What would the Prophet do?
If you're interested in learning more about the life of Prophet Mohammad, you can here: Prophet Mohammad
Biography, mission and the message of Mohammad , the Prophet of Islam
Iran's actions will only give the ignorant, extremists and Islamaphobe's another tool to slander the great message of Prophet Mohammad and Islam. In addition, it will unjustifiable cause pain to victims of the Holocaust.
Because of that and many other reasons, I must condemn Iran if it chooses to move forward this idea.
Update [2006-2-7 12:2:24 by Raiyan]: changed the title.