Adil Najam
This is a painful post to write.
Ideally I would have preferred not to have had to write this post. But I have over 300 messages in my in-box of people fussing over the so-called “Draw Muhammad Day” page on the social networking site Facebook and now the Lahore High Court’s decision calling for a ban on Facebook has forced the issue. And that is what pains me.
I hope that Facebook administration will remove the page. Not because of any “banning” movement and not because of the Lahore High Court. Just because the page and the idea behind the page is inflammatory and offensive. Regardless of what your belief or religion might be, to throw out offensive and hateful vitriolic for the simple and primary purpose of hurting someone else’s feelings – when you know that (a) those feelings will be hurt and (b) when hurting those feelings is really the only purpose of doing what you are doing – is inhuman, cruel, and clearly offensive. If Facebook does not recognize that, then it knows nothing either about “social” or about “networking” and certainly not about “community.”
But at one level, that matters little now. Whether Facebook removes the offensive page or not. The page and its creators have already fulfilled their purpose, met their goals. And it is we ourselves who have helped them do so. And that is what pains me.
I have not visited the offensive page in question and do not intend to. I had also not intended to help publicizing that offensive page, but by having to write this post that is exactly what I am doing. And that pains me. I am offended by the idea that page purports and the goals it seeks to achieve. So, why should I dignify it by a visit? Why should I publicize it? Why should I give it the attention it was created to seek. Yet, all of us (now me included, which is why writing this is uncomfortable) are doing exactly that.And that is what pains me.
Many of the emails I have received give me the link to that page and invite me to visit it so that ‘I can see for myself how offensive it is.’ I do not need to do that. Yet, that is exactly what we have been doing. We have been acting exactly as the creators of that page intended us to. Acting as the promoters and publicists of that page. And now having turned it into an international legal matter giving the attention seekers behind the page the exact thing they wanted: Attention.
But we have done more than that. With the Lahore High Court decision we have allowed the PTA and authorities another precedent and excuse to aggressively “manage” the internet; something that can and will be misused in the future.
I have not been receiving emails from the proponents of that page. The only ones who seem to be noticing us is us Muslims (and for some reason Pakistani Muslims more than any other). If we too had ignored the offensive page – as it deserves to be ignored – it would have gone the exact same way to oblivion as thousands of other sophomoric attempts at cheap attention seeking on the Internet. Instead we have now turned it into an international incident and given it far more limelight than it ever deserved.
Let’s think about it, what did the creators of the offensive page want to do when they set it up? First, they sought attention, and hits, and notoriety in a world where attention is too easily confused with fame. Second, they wanted to ridicule Muslims by the reaction they excepted from this. If you think of it, irrespective of whether Facebook removes the site or keeps it, the organizers of the page have achieved their goal. Well beyond what they expected. Now every other Islamophobic nutcase will get new ideas about how to have his little 10 minutes of fame spewing bigotry and hatred against Muslims.
But more importantly, they simply could not have done this without us. The only people who have turned this from nothingness into a huge issue is us. I am sure that those who set up the page are jumping up and down and thanking us for making their page such a huge success! And that is what pains me.
I am also pained by the sacrilege of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that this entire drama signifies. As pained as anyone else, and as pained as I would have been at the sacrilege of any other Prophet or religion. But unlike for many others, that pain is neither reduced nor resolved by protesting against Facebook. For me, the antidote to that pain is in the teaching of the Prophet (PBUH) themselves. What would the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) have done in such a situation.
The one thing I am absolutely positive of, is that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would not have done what we are doing now: making an international public spectacle of ourselves. Most likely he would have just walked away and ignored (the ‘look the other way when someone throws garbage at you’ model), he might have negotiated with Facebook on the basis of their own stated rules (the Hudabia model), he might have reasoned with detractors (the discourse and discussion model). Nearly certainly Muhammad (PBUH) would have handled it with grace, with composure, and maybe even with a touch of good humor. Most importantly, the Prophet (PBUH) would have kept focusing on his own actions and proving his point with his own deeds rather than with slogans, banners and naara-baazi.
In my view entire internet should be banned. During Mohammad’s time we never had this evil concept hence its against sunnah!
@Samad
The real path of Islam is always the path of tolerance.
Yes, tolerance is quite emphasized on in Islam, that’s correct. But there are certain issues on which there is no question of ‘sitting and watching silently, then making a move to have a chat with the inciters over a cup of tea’.
One of these issues is insulting the Holy Prophet (saw).
You might have seen, heard thousands of articles, videos, discussions, books (you name it) which insults Muslims, or their religion. So don’t we all TAKE it? And be tolerant about it. At the most, we give an e-mail feedback to such content and forget about it the next day.
It is ONE particular issue here that’s caused this reaction. Not the many thousands of insults/derogatory remarks that crop up by the second literally.
@Asim
all the things prophets say happened to them occurred when there was no human witness.
And that’s why one should argue about something when they have at least basic knowledge regarding it. That line of yours is a glaring misrepresentation of knowledge and is factually incorrect. Please go and read about the stories of all the prophets known today. Many events were actually seen by the public, and in Prophet Moses’s case, there was an entire audience which viewed one particular event.
And don’t blindly trust just any scholar. Do your own research, and then go for questions.
@aliya
well it depends, if one is a high school kid yes u will stay and fight, if you are a mature individual who has grace and composure you will walk away.
This doesn’t make sense at all. Why? Because people care about their families and their reputations far more than anything they care to care about. Whenever there is a rape case being reported, why do they protect the said girl’s identity? Sensitive matters are always fiercely protected, and anybody would be extremely hurt and protest if their families’reputations were attacked.
@Aliya: Ignorance is bliss. Usually a sect of Islam claims what you are talking about or treat Ali Abi Talib holier than God. What I said about Abi Talib is not my words as it’s all mentioned everywhere that Muhammad tried his best to convince him to emrace Islam, he did not. Read Quran about it please.
Abi Talib had his own reasons at that time but technically He could not be called Muslim after the advent of Islam. When Islam arrived then Allah canceled all previous Shariah otherwise people of that time could continue drinking Alcohol in the name of “Deen-e-Isa” since Alcohol was not forbidden in his time. And what’s surprising in it? Stating about Abi Talib does not mean to ridicule Him. But let’s not get into this detail. I was telling Asim that Hidayat is in God’s hand and he should not give up just because he does not get it at first place
As far as Serat Book is concerned, the award winner Book(due to world contest) ,”Al Raheequl Makhroom” or “The Sealed nector” in English is one of the best books in easy language about Prophet Muhammad(saw)
To some extent,i agree with you point.. But according to me,we
should’ve spread the awareness and banned it,without visiting that
page though..
If Muhammad (PBUH) were here and he had to handle all of these
matters,that approach we can’t judge,how could’ve he done it..
But at very first place,this wouldn’t have happened because we’ve
shown them this much leniency to help them doing it..we’ve kept all of
our data at that website,our interest information etc..they’re doing
whatever they want and we’re just watching it silently as a
movie..they’re invading our territories and we’re silent..
Atleast in this scenario,we worked together,we are A Bit United
because of this page event.. Like earth quake in pakistan brought us
closer and had shown the world our real strength and unity..
Once Again,its my view
No Offence :)
pakistan has done the right thing, all these people need to remove their accounts from facebook and youtube and take their accounts and .5% revenue some where else. On facebook their are all kinds of pages eg a group that prays about Obama’s death, a group about “all those who hate jews”, a group that says “i wish all romanians die”, all kind of absurdities.
i dont understand this appeal to “ager koi tumhari maa ya behun ki galli dai to tum chup raho gai?”, well it depends, if one is a high school kid yes u will stay and fight, if you are a mature individual who has grace and composure you will walk away.
also people who are talking about islam here, it is so funny and absurd that they even dont know the fact that Muhammad’s uncle and grandfather and father, all were on “deenay ibraheem” and did not die Kafir. LOL please educate yourself and then go out and teach other people what to do. For a starter read Martin Ling’s book on prophet. It was awarded prize for best biography of Prophet by Pakistan govt.
SO long Jahalat in pakistan.