Today, in a letter to the editor in The Lansing State Journal (5th letter), Sarah Mousa asks us to understand the Muslim world’s violence and death threats over some cartoons as the outrage of piety and as an instinctive respect for religion. Aside from Hinduism and Buddhism, of course, since they share none of the required prophets.
She wrote:
Cartoons insult
Why are Muslims so offended by the cartoons about Prophet Muhammad, (peace be upon him)? What can be the reason that sparked so much violence around the world? The answer is in the life of the man the cartoons insulted.Prophet Muhammad was the most compassionate, peaceful and merciful man. It is shown in how the men and women around him loved him so much, more than themselves. Muslims strive to follow him as a model sent by God. Every Muslim prays five times a day. Twice during each prayer, they declare that there is only one God and that Muhammad is his last messenger.
The riots around the world are wrong, but the frustration felt by Muslims is justifiable. By insulting the prophet, Islam has been ridiculed. Furthermore, Muslims would be offended if any prophet of God were mocked, whether it be Jesus, Moses or Muhammad.
Sarah Mousa
East Lansing
“Muslims would be offended if any prophet of God were mocked, whether it be Jesus, Moses or Muhammad.”
Ms. Mousa is apparently ignorant of the following images – which did not inspire Muslims to arson, murder and assassination threats. None of these artists are in hiding.
“Piss Christ”
Yes, that’s the “glow” of urine surrounding a plastic representation of the Crucifixion.
Kanye West as Christ on the cover of The Rolling Stone:
Or this obscure gem:
from the the Sheaf, a University of Saskatchewan publication which, by the way, refused to publish the Danish cartoons out of respect for Islam.
Since there were no riots over the preceeding images, I think Ms. Mousa is deluded about the mental state of her co-religionists. She is embedded in a culture that allows women the freedom to write letters to the editor, but she defends a culture that would soon make an end to that. She does not see that she cannot have it both ways.
If she thinks arson, murder and calls for assassination are answered by invoking “the life of the man the cartoons insulted.”, perhaps reviewing the images above would give her pause. No one has called for burning down the offices of the Rolling Stone, murdering its editors or boycotting the publication itself. If Ms. Mousa is correct, should these things not have happened?
It would be an entirely different set of questions, but one must also wonder how Ms. Mousa explains the tit-for-tat destruction of Shiite and Sunni mosques in Iraq. Surely all of them contain Q’urans which it is forbidden to disrespect? …
In other University news, an Iranian-born graduate of the University of North Carolina, who grew up in the United States, is charged with nine counts of attempted murder after he tried to run down UNC students with his car.
He has degrees in philosophy and psychology. He told police he was seeking retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world.
Did I mention that he is a Muslim graduate of a major American University. His own treatment, apparently, is not relevant when it comes to murdering infidels.
Update, 5-Mar, 9:30AM. H/T to Small Dead Animals for the Sheaf image. I did see it elsewhere, but used SDA as the source..