By Humaira
Last week over dinner, my 13 year-old daugther Aria asked me if I had heard about the film on Prophet Muhammad and the resulting riots. Of course I had. I was reading every bit of news about it.
Usually I kick-off our dinner discussions about current events, but on this subject I’d been silent mostly because I wasn’t sure where I stood on it.
Don’t get me wrong; the film is extremely insulting to Muslims who believe Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of God and the last Prophet sent to humans by God. Muslims live their lives following the teachings of Prophet Muhammad. However, Muslim’s reverence of the Prophet by no means justifies violent protests nor the burning of buildings and killing innocent peoples such as Ambassador Stevens.
So, are Muslims barbarians?
Unfortunately we only hear about the small number of Muslims making the loudest noise and taking the most destructive paths. We don’t hear about Muslims demonstrating peacefully or the constructive conversations among Muslims that this video triggered.
Until
recently, I had not heard that Egyptian activists are taking legal action
against Ahmed Abdullah, who burnt the bible during the riots, and more
importantly about Libyan protesters who attacked the militant
Islamist group believed to be responsible for U.S Ambassador Stevens’ death and
ran them out of town.
I was brought up understanding Islam as a peaceful religion and Muslims as tolerant citizens of the world. That’s still true. Egypt’s grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, recently reminded Muslims that Prophet Muhammad on many occasions was insulted or run out of town for his ideas but the Prophet always endured all personal insults and attacks without retaliation. Today Muslims around the world should follow the Prophet’s example.
What is heartening to me is that many Muslims and Islamic leaders around the world are engaging in open discussions about:
- What is Islam’s role in a globalized world?
- What is the role of religion and politics?
- What is free speech?
- How should Muslims engage in a dialogue with non-Muslims and how should they react to blasphemy against Islam?
Thoughtful Muslims are taking lemons and making lemonade. Qatar has announced that they are investing $450 million in a three-part epic on the life of Prophet Muhammad so people around the world can learn about Islam. Similarly, Islamic leaders like Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, nephew of Saudi Arabia’s king, denounced extreme reactions and noted that Islam was too strong to warrant such uproar over such matter.
There are 49 Muslim countries summing up to 2.2 billion Muslims living among us today. As I started digging I was surprised to find out that in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, and many other countries there were only peaceful protests or no public protests at all.
So why do some Muslims start rioting or killing people over a small-minded video?
I found that the biggest and most violent rioting were in countries:
- With autocratic governments where freedom of speech is unfathomable and therefore people are convinced that the U.S. government endorsed the film.
- Where governments are weak or in transition.
- With low literacy rates where uneducated people are more easily swayed by militant Muslims.
- Where unemployment is high and local populations have a bone to pick with their government without much to lose.
- Where a rudimentary understanding of true Islam makes subverting its core values easier.
- Where political motive or anti-American sentiment fuels reactions against things labeled as “American”.
Pakistan fills this bill very well. The literacy rate in Pakistan is at 46% with a deep anti-American sentiment fueled by extremely conservative Muslims secretly supported by the Pakistani government and secret service ISI. Although the constitution of Pakistan guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of press, it is well known that journalists who have written about ISI or government corruption turn up dead in a ditch.
What is really sad is that violent demonstrations are only hurting the image of Muslims and the highest death tolls are mostly incurred by Muslims.
I consider myself a Muslim. My husband Jim grew up Catholic but nowadays he is agnostic and our two daughters attend a Quaker school.
You can say we are the modern family showcasing what our world looks like today. I feel the more we find a common ground and mutual understanding the better our lives will be as we move forward. After all, don’t all Abrahamic religions fundamentally teach the same thing?
Except where otherwise noted, all content on this blog is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license.
Dear Sara,
Thank you for your comment. I totally agree Muslims have to speak a unified voice but with the cultural differences between the various Muslim countries as well lack of centralization of leadership for the religion it leaves the populations of each Muslim country to express themselves individually. My point in the post was to indicate to my Western readers what are the general characteristics of populations that engage in violent riot but not necessarily meant to point at Pakistan as the only guilty party. Clearly there were many countries that participated in violent rioting and many in peaceful riots and many which did not riot at all. As it has become clear since I wrote this post that Ambassador Steven's death had nothing to do with rioters. I do believe an uneducated population is open to manipulation and uninformed reaction. Unfortunately many Muslim countries fits this bill. - Humaira
Posted by: Humaira | 10/29/2012 at 07:15 PM
Good points made Humaira. The Intolerance coming from both Muslims and non-Muslims is very unfortunate. We are all responsible for our own actions and only God can judge us. I agree Pakistan's militant Islamic groups (Taliban) are not at all peaceful and in my humble opinion should be considered non muslim at this point But I do have to include Aghanistan in the uneducated population of Muslims along with Pakistan. I feel it is unfair to put the entire negative eye on Pakistan without including Afghanistan. Afghan refugees are definitely adding to the uneducated population in Pakistan. Furthermore the literacy rate in Afghanistan is 26%. The Afghans immigrating to the US also focus more on the Afghan culture and are extremely proud individuals and many will stand up only for their nation of Afghanistan but will not stand up for the entire Islamic nation. As educated Muslims we have to stop putting the blame on which Islamic country did what and stand up together as one Ummah to protect our religion and continue to bring our beautiful religion back to the peaceful loving state it was. Education remains the key for all Muslims everywhere.
Posted by: sara | 10/29/2012 at 06:42 PM
Dear Jay,
Thank you for reading my post. In the post I don't claim that I am writing as a devout Muslim nor as a representative of pious Muslims. I am writing as a clear thinking, intelligent person with a very important message which not enough practicing or non-praciticing Muslims are sharing with the world.
How I lead my personal lead has nothing to do with my argument which clearly states the issues facing Muslims in the world. - Humaira
Posted by: Humaira | 10/07/2012 at 03:41 PM
It's ironic how you your self don't follow in the footsteps of the prophet as a muslim yet you expect others to do so?
Clearly you are great at researching, you must know prophet forbid Muslim women to marry non-Muslims no matter what their religion were as it is only permitted for a man to do so.
Great article if only it was from a person who meant it.
Posted by: Jay | 10/07/2012 at 03:23 PM
Todd, Thank you so much for your kind comment and for reading my blog - Humaira
Posted by: Humaira | 10/03/2012 at 12:01 PM
Hi Sham, Thank you for your comment. I hear your frustration. Living in San Francisco I am surrounding by some amazingly open minded people which gives me the encouragement to think out of the box and communicate what I think.
I really don't believe all of the West is conspiring against Muslims. A few weeks ago I heard Doug Saunders, an author and journalist speak on NPR. His upcoming book the Myth of Muslim Tide breaks a lot of the misconceptions about Muslims and Islam. We should all buy a copy and gift it as a gift - Humaira
Posted by: Humaira | 10/03/2012 at 12:00 PM
Nice post Humaira. Thoughtful and informative - thanks for taking the time to make your voice heard.
Posted by: Tod | 10/03/2012 at 11:22 AM
It is sad for us who have been raised around Muslims/identify with Islam to constantly hear the negative portrayl on the religion. It's hard living as a Muslim today. Of course, many islamic countries are developing fast, modernizing yet still keeping their muslim heritage. It's beautiful. But what really brings us down is the muslims who do act like barbarians- because there are quite a bit of them. These are the people destroying the name of Islam, and they really wont stop until the western world stops irritating them. It has almost become a game, where the west purposely pokes at muslims, and the muslims stand up in arms. Pakistan, and the strict Arabic countries are all to blame, as well as Western ignorance and media. This blog entry was well written and correct. Sometimes I just wish we could be more upfront, and less tip-toey about how the West is negatively influencing and constantly antagonzing the muslims. Things can be blamed on the the savageness of some muslims, but not everything. And lets not forget that extremists in ANY religion are barbarians- extreme right winged Christians can be more dangerous, disgusting and backwards than any muslim extremist on earth. And don't even get me started on extremist Jews... Either we are going to World War 3, or people need to start being more tolerant.
Posted by: Sham | 10/02/2012 at 03:47 AM
That is a great question Katie. Things always seem bigger and more violent in the news and in the media. Last year when I was in Afghanistan there were protests in a few cities over the burning of the Koran. My friends and family were very keeping candle light vigil for me where as I didn't experience any unrest during my 12 days stay.
Posted by: Humaira | 09/30/2012 at 12:49 PM
I also wonder about the role of media in all of this. It's my understanding that most of the protests were quite small ... but they were portrayed far bigger than they were.
Posted by: Katie | 09/30/2012 at 12:43 PM
Thank you Yunah. I hope the boys get a little insight into our complex world. I appreciate your comment - Humaira
Posted by: Humaira | 09/30/2012 at 09:28 AM
thanks for this humaira - absolutely necessary & well written piece. i'll have my boys read it.
Posted by: yunah | 09/29/2012 at 10:50 PM
Thank you very much to everyone who is taking the time to read this post. Please share with your friends and family if you are inclined - Humaira
Posted by: Humaira | 09/29/2012 at 08:58 AM
Excellent piece and I really appreciated the last commentator (Wahid).
Posted by: TasteofBeirut | 09/28/2012 at 11:44 PM
Wahid Jan,
Thank you for sharing this inspiring story about the Prophet and your comment about the post. - Humaira
Posted by: Humaira | 09/28/2012 at 05:58 PM
Hi Raymond, I don't think I know any Muslim activists that are 13 and 10 years old living in San Francisco but perhaps living with a people activist (i.e. their mom) may be a good start . Thanks for our comment - Humaira
Posted by: Humaira | 09/28/2012 at 05:57 PM
Thank you Feroza for your insights.
Posted by: Humaira | 09/28/2012 at 05:24 PM
Very simply and well written Humaira. Yes, you are right where there is illiteracy and extreme poverty is where the infestation of radicalism and terrorism sets in. Religion is used to manipulate these ignorant minds to create havoc in this world.
The events of these past weeks have affected all of us and leaves one to wonder why are they doing this to each other. Ultimately one is left with a sour taste in ones mouth as it is the men who have power fan the flames of hate and fear. Why? Because they can and it is in this mayhem they can continue to consolidate their positions be it political or religious.
Posted by: feroza | 09/28/2012 at 02:34 PM
Why not also introduce your kids to local muslim activities so they can get a personal better understanding as well within their age group?
Posted by: Raymond | 09/28/2012 at 02:13 PM
Very thoughtful and well researched piece. When Muhammad would walk to the mosque to pray he would pass by the home of a man who despised the prophet. The man on daily basis would wait till he passed by his balcony, then thee his garbage all over the prophet. A couple days in a row the man did not show up on his balcony, so the prophet paid a visit and saw them man ill in his bed. Muhammad quickly summoned his physician brought the man back to health. Soon after the man became a followe of Muhammad's. teachings. WWMD? What would Muhammad do today?
Posted by: Wahid | 09/28/2012 at 01:30 PM