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.
Good post. Still I thought some one will be bold enough to tell that Quran did not ban drawings of Prophet.The Quran forbids idolatry, but does not specifically ban drawing of the Prophet.
Hadith says ‘All the painters who make pictures would be in the fire of Hell’ not the viewers. So why there should be an out cry?
Another example of how emotional and dumb today’s Pakistanis are. This boycott will only give publicity to Facebook and make them into “heroes of freedom”.
what would have we done if the same have been said/done about our parents (please no offence).
What irks me to no end is when people join groups like “Ban so-and-so page” or “delete [insert sacrilegious/blasphemous comment] group” without actually ever taking the time to see if that page actually exists or not. More often than not, that page has already been deleted, but people keep inviting you to these groups, which in turn publicize the banned group even more.
Well written Dr. Adil Najam. I share your pain too.
We are not well oriented still, spending our precious time on these kind of fuss that will grow more in days to come.
I think, if its the chosen path, Muslim governments should also ban common sense too!
I was perturbed by all such events and remembered well when we burnt banks and vehicles in Lahore after a Danish Cartoon Controversy. I think the loss incurred at that time was to not anyone else but to our own people.
We,once banned a telecom giant too, which is now a major player in the telecom market. We, in fact gave the brand recognition/establishment, by banning them out.
We killed people like Hakim Saeed, too, about which I think eevn Pakistaniat.com has never written a thing. maybe Edhi will also find same fate from this honoring nation someday.
What I think is, best way to cope with an enemy is to Learn from enemy and then earn from it. I read about Prophet Muhammad PBUH from the writings of the Ralph waldo Emerson too, and such were the people who laid down the foundations of now world’s( most hated, as usually quoted) country, the USA. They learnt the lessons and strategies more well than us. We still lag behind because we wanted to!
May Allah blesses us all, and help us following the guidance of the Last Prophet Muhammad PBUH.
Its not about moderation ( a highly misused term), Its about common sense, logic and strategic playing.
PS: If anyone wants and can, do read Mukhtar Masood and Dr. Muhammad Hameedullah!