I wasn’t really aware of it until this afternoon.  I had heard a little bit here and there but I didn’t know it was here until, well, the day of.  Like I said, I’ve been busy, so let’s all get up to speed.

Back in April, a couple of episodes of South Park were going to be aired on Comedy Central depicting the prophet Muhammad in a  bear suit.  Now, images of the Muhammad, or indeed any person or animal in Islam is generally forbidden, as outlined not in the Qur’an but in various Hadiths (sayings and tales from Muhammad recorded by his followers, and generally not thought to be the word of God).  In Islam Muhammad is the perfect Muslim, an exemplar to every follower, and so to even depict him is considered offensive, an affront, a way to belittle something that needs to be taken seriously and respected within the Islamic community.  Depicting Muhammad is already offensive, mocking him doubly so.

Some of the hadiths in question, from Religion Facts:

“Ibn ‘Umar reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) having said: Those who paint pictures would be punished on the Day of Resurrection and it would be said to them: Breathe soul into what you have created.” (Sahih Muslim vol.3, no.5268)

“This hadith has been reported on the authority of Abu Mu’awiya though another chain of transmitters (and the words are): Verily the most grievously tormented people amongst the denizens [inhabitants] of Hell on the Day of Resurrection would be the painters of pictures….” (Sahih Muslim vol.3, no.5271)

“Narrated [Muhammad's wife] ‘Aisha: Allah’s Apostle said, ‘The painter of these pictures will be punished on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said to them, Make alive what you have created.’” (Bukhari vol.9, book 93 no.646)

“Narrated ‘Aisha: The Prophet entered upon me while there was a curtain having pictures (of animals) in the house. His face got red with anger, and then he got hold of the curtain and tore it into pieces. The Prophet said, ‘Such people as paint these pictures will receive the severest punishment on the Day of Resurrection.’” (Bukhari vol.8, book 73, no.130)

“Umar said, ‘We do not enter your churches because of the statues and pictures.’ Ibn ‘Abbas used to pray in the church provided there were no statues in it.” (Bukhari vol.1, chapter 54)

“Muhammad went to Fatimah’s house, but turned back when he saw a figured curtain.” (Sunan Abu Dawud vol.3, book 21, no.3746)

The producers/creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, soon found themselves the subject of death threats from the New York Islamic group Revoluton Muslim, featuring a graphic picture of the corpse of Theo van Gogh, who was murdered in 2004 by a Muslim because of his involvement in a film criticizing the treatment of women in Islamic societies.  Comedy Central pulled the offending section.

In response to this decision by Comedy Central and the death threats against Stone and Parker, cartoonist Molly Norris drew up this poster as a joke satirizing the situation:

The poster found wide circulation across numerous blogs and news sources, and the idea of a Draw Muhammad Day was quickly championed on Facebook.  Norris tried to take back the poster, requesting that it be taken down and insisting that it was nothing more than a joke, and that an actual event like this would be truly offensive.  It was too late, the idea had gone viral, and so here we are.

This day is being championed, by and large, by proponents of free speech and the argument that it was wrong of Comedy Central to back down and give in to the lobby of Islamic backlash.  The day is a protest against those who would seek to limit freedom of speech through violence and coercion.

I’ve been going over this in my head for most of the day.  It didn’t sit well with me, and it has taken me a long time to figure out why.

This isn’t a joke about the beliefs of a bunch of bronze-agers, this isn’t poking fun at backwards beliefs.  You may see it that way, but there is a reason why Muslims can get so very, very angry and uncomfortable when this happens, and assuming that it’s because they’re backwards is the cowards way of dealing with this issue.  It ignores the obvious comparisons, the offensive things that people ought to be considering when they make these drawings.  This isn’t comparable to an edible chocolate Jesus statue, or Buddy Christ.  This is blackface, this is depicting child porn, this is snuff films.  Imagine how you would react to these things, that is what depictions of Muhammad are to Muslims.  It is hitting them in their hearts, in their souls.

When I was learning about political philosophy I was rather taken by the problem of toleration of intolerant groups.  Sooner or later a free and tolerant society will have to deal with intolerant groups, and there comes a questions- do you deny these groups their freedom of speech, and thus show your commitment to toleration?  Or do you instead let them have their say, allow intolerance, risk hypocrisy?  I never figured out where I stood on that.

But this get’s us to why I don’t like the idea of Everyone Draw Muhammad Day.  It is intolerance met with more intolerance.  You’re defending your freedom of speech, and refusing to bow to violence, which is vital and admirable, but you do so at a cost.  You end up offending all kinds of Muslims, not just the ones who send death threats, and some who take this very, very seriously.

So should we have the right to depict images of the prophet Muhammad?  Absolutely.  We need to be able to tell his story, and in a variety of mediums so that it can have the most impact, the most beauty, the most value.  I think that’s something that will happen gradually, perhaps over a very long period of time as Islam grows and changes.  And I think forcing it like this is hurtful and perhaps even shameful.  But I’d be hard pressed to say that it was wrong.

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