The 'Draw the Prophet' day slipped by me. Despite having caught wind of it all well in advance, it just slipped my mind. The reason I was reminded of this momentous day was because the real activity on the social networks only peaked on May 20 morning in the West, by which time it was a little too late for us on the other side of the world.
Nevertheless, its not like I would have produced a sketch of the Prophet. Its easy to make cartoons that Muslims can take offense to when you're sitting in a country that has just banned the Burkha and where your religious institutions are separated from the Government. I don't have that luxury. Posting such an image in India can get you arrested on grounds of inflaming religious sentiments.
However, I wholeheartedly support the idea (what? that's illegal too?) I have been reading a lot of apologists and "moderates" who say that it is wrong to go out of the way to offend. However, as has been pointed out, if even something as trivial as drawing an image can be cited as grounds for religious hurt, if we *submit* to it (double-entendre intended), imagine on how many other grounds we can be cornered into giving up our freedoms. It will only be the first link, in a long chain, which we will help forge to bind ourselves with.
Keeping with the spirit of it all, and making a point at the same time, I'd like to post two images which theoretically should cause the same amount of offense to Muslim sensibilities but I have a hunch that they don't. If on the other hand, they do, then is it justified to go so far as to removing these paintings from their current location, in the name of erring on the side of caution when it comes to giving offense?
Scenes from the Life of Moses by Sandro Botticelli in the Sistine Chapel:
Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter in the Sistine Chapel:
EDIT: In case you didn't know, Moses and Jesus are venerated as prophets in Islam. Mohammed is considered the 'seal' among the prophets, i.e. that last one to be sent down to us. There is even a precedent where a movie was censored on this basis: http://bit.ly/chW5Mm
3 comments:
Why would this offend muslims exactly?
@netizen_5cf: Mohammed is not the only Prophet of Islam. Moses and Jesus are venerated as prophets in the Kor'an. Depicting any prophet is sacrilegious to Islamic faith.
This might help: http://bit.ly/ddISRs
Interesting.. I thought depicting only Muhammad was prohibited. Wonder if there was any protests against the Internet, as was against that Danish newspaper..
Post a Comment