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.
Mr Najam, you seem to be quite sure that the creators of the page attained their goal through the protests of the Muslims,, Are you one of those creators?
dear, when something goes wrong, you should at least raise a voice against it and do not remain deaf and dumb like Saudi Arabia and other so called Muslim countries. It was only due to Pakistan’s ban on facebook which compelled the organizers of facebook to remove this page.
Great job done by Pakistanis. Keep it up
It is beyond any doubt a very very sensitive issue as it revolves around our Prophet (pbuh).
“Yes” we are offended by this devilish act. Not even a single muslim on the face of earth can deny this. But the question is, how to deal with this in firt hand.
We surely have mishandled it in every aspect. The question is what have we done to avert this in future. ‘NOTHING”. Rather our childish reaction to this episode has made it a headline.
The need of the time is to educate non Muslims on Islam. I have read a lot on this issue published internationally, in various blogs and sites. Surprisingly found very few Muslims who are trying to confront non Muslims on Intellectual grounds.Hilariously, 99% comments from Pakistanis are nothing but abuses and it saddens me. We are making a fun of ourselves by posting such comments. If you me or us wants to do something to save Sanctity of our Prophet, we have to act in a much mature manner. THINK
Rehan bin Iftikhar
http://www.chitchatwithrehan.blogspot.com
ThankGod they lifted ban from youtube, now will have 50% less narazy bazi and debates regarding censorship
Facebook should be banned forever in all muslim countries
RE: ‘Everybody Deny the Holocaust Day’: A Meta-spectacle of Human misery
This has become a spectacle now. Well, it was already a spectacle with EBDMD, but now it’s been escalated to a Meta-spectacle!
I thought we got past that after the twentieth-century—one of the most violent centuries, at least in recent history. It’s ALL wrong; so, you know that most of the world knows this, right?
While I do see the backlash connection with ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,’ etc. One offense against humanity (seems to) deserves another.
An eye-for-an-eye: I get it. This is where the reactionaries step in and (rightly or wrongly) fight back. It’s a fringe thing on the internet, which will bring-on more rioting and violence.
Maybe, after all is said and done, it will all awaken humanity at last; and, we’ll all have learned a valuable lesson and furthered ‘truth’ in the face of fundamentalist extremists. I doubt it.
On the one hand, hand, I saw nothing about EBDMD that furthered truth or humanity –just extremism. Most of us, around the world, were horrified and humiliated for every Muslim and non-Muslim alike who were forced to witness that ignorant event.
Well, except for the national bloggers, like Dan Savage, a leftist, fundamentalist extremist who managed to hijack a cartoon drawn by an apologetic cartoonist and fuel an international firestorm that created maelstrom and censorship, world-wide.
Now, with the proposed “Everybody Deny the Holocaust Day,’ I see nothing that will further the truth or humanity either—just a knee-jerk reaction to ignorance by right-wing fundamentalist extremists who want to prove what we already know: humans can be crazy and ignorant.
I have visited Dauchau, in Germany. As you enter the death camp there is a sign that reads: ‘Arbeitet Machen Sie Frei!’ (‘Work Makes you free!’)
And from there, you witness tourists at Dauchau taking photos of their families posed around the ‘gas showers’ and the ‘ovens,’ seemingly oblivious to the atrocities that occurred there.
How exactly does an event like ‘Everybody Deny the Holocaust Day’ equalize the ignorance of ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day?”
If I thought that this event would finally awaken humanity from denial; and, so oblivious to the past, I would fervently support it. If I thought that this event would promise respect for what is sacred, I would support it.
But I doubt it will even the score. It will only inflame fundamentalist extremists, both from the right and left, while the rest of us watch in horror.
Meanwhile, humanity will remain ignorant, because violence begets violence. Hasn’t the world shed enough tears already?
This is a Mega-spectacle of human misery!
Would God or Allah or Jesus Christ, or the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) see this as an act of wisdom, or as an act of the ego?
Although I am not a dogmatically religious person, I do recall what Jesus Christ said while being nailed to the cross: “Forgive them, father. They know not what they do!”
I say: ‘Live and let live.’ Literally, please!
This would be the greatest act of truth and humanity that any of us could perform.
Page Faulkner Mordecai, professor
and writer for “The Front Porch Talker”