Muslim defensiveness over taboo images is special pleading designed to shut down criticism, says Sara Yasin

Crazy Muslims. Like many Muslim-Americans, I have spent much of the past decade trying to distance myself from a crescendo of rubble, suicide bombings and shouts of “Allahu Akbar”.

After hearing about the petrol-bombing of the office of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, that featured a cartoon of prophet Muhammad in today’s issue, I had flashbacks to the Jyllands Posten furore. I could hear pitchforks being sharpened, and on the other hand, the “average” Muslims preparing the standard “this is not our religion” speech. Both reactions are problematic.

While condemning the violent reactions of other Muslims around the globe, many still frowned upon publishing the cartoons, and Danish Muslim rights groups were able to wrangle an apology from the Jyllands Posten, for having “undeniably offended” Muslims around the world. Carsten Juste, the editor-in-chief at the time, denied the view that the cartoons were a “part of a hate campaign against Muslims” as many critics argued.

Some of the trendy reactions in the Muslim community seemed to push for limiting free speech in the name of “responsibility”. Nadeem Kazmi, who was a representative for an Islamic organisation called Al-Khoei Foundation, said that while he embraces freedom of expression, he believes that “freedom comes with responsibility”, and calls for a more “legitimate” form of debate. Dr Yunes Teinaz, spokesman for the London Mosque expressed a similar sentiment, and said that “freedom of expression is not a license to attack a culture or religion.”

The incident sparked a global debate on whether or not images of Muhammad should be published. The fear of the offended Muslim, burning flags and brandishing petrol bombs became a reason for many publishers and writers to avoid controversy.

A great example of this is the 2008 publication of the Jewel of Medina, a fictionalised account of the life of Aisha, one of prophet Muhammad’s wives. Initially, the novel by Sherry Jones was set to be published by Random House, but the major publishing house decided to pull out, in fear of controversy. Jo Glanville, editor of Index on Censorship, wrote that the decision showed “how far we have lost our way in this debate over free expression and Islam,” and I would have to agree. Fear is hardly a reason to avoid publishing a book in a free society.

In self-fulfilling prophecy, the home of the London-based publisher who decided to publish the novel was firebombed, and as a result the crazy Muslim took centre stage once again, overshadowing some of the conversations surrounding the book, such as charges that the book was riddled with historical inaccuracies, or I don’t know — whether or not the book was actually good.

Begging the world to play nice is not really a solution as much as it is a defence mechanism. Let’s face it: what many Muslims are really asking for is the right to be offended, which is an entirely different conversation.

As an amalgamation of Palestinian, Muslim, and American identities, I know how blurred the lines between culture and religion really are. A religion that is over 1,000 years old hardly exists in a vacuum, and so it is not the exclusive right of Muslims to critique the religion. While I have spent much of my life entrenched in a fight against the rantings of Jihad-watch type cowboys, in efforts to change the “Clash of Civilisations” narrative, I still think that such individuals have a right to share their opinion. No one group should set the rules for criticism. Conflating taboo with hatred sets a dangerous precedent, and silence in the name of avoiding offence is not a step in the right direction.

Censorship only serves as an indicator of a bigger problem: a fear of the savage and angry Muslim, which does not serve to challenge stereotypes or animosity towards Muslims. While the right to debate and the right to be offended are both valid, this does not mean that we should shy away from criticism, no matter what form that may take.

Sara Yasin is an editorial assistant at Index on Censorship and a regular contributor to Muslimah Media Watch

The Charlie Hebdo bombing exposes a gulf in understanding between the secular French establishments and Muslim immigrants, says Myriam Francois-Cerrah

The firebombing of Charlie Hebdo offices following its decision to run an edition featuring the prophet Mohammed as “guest editor”, is a sad reflection of France’s uneasy relationship to Islam and religion more generally.Sadly, there are some who do not believe that Charlie Hebdo should have the right to publish a satirical issue, in which it presents Prophet Mohamed as the inspiration of the Arab revolutions and subsequent rise of islamist parties in the region (regardless of the accuracy of this link!). They are no doubt in a minority, just as those who committed this crime will no doubt be revealed to be a fringe group or renegade individuals.

But there is no denying the fact many Muslims are offended by the decision to run an issue entitled “Charia Hebdo”, with reference to “100 lashings if you don’t die of laughter” (chuckle) and a “halal aperitif” (ha!) and perhaps more pertinently, to run images of Prophet Mohammed.

Charlie Hebdo is renowned for being a highly satirical outlet which pushes the limits of public discourse on any given issue through its provocative illustrations and irreverent style. It has in its time, been accused of being anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic and now Islamophobic to boot and would no doubt parade these accusations as badges of honour.

However the recent issue comes at a complex time in France’s political life. The far right has made large advances, gaining 15 per cent of the vote in recent regional elections and they have maintained the “immigration question” near the top of the political agenda, drawing parallels between Muslims praying in the street and the Nazi occupation. Meanwhile, recent stats suggest that amongst the descendants of immigrants, 70 per cent, compared with 35 per cent amongst recent immigrants, consider that the French government does not respect them, including amongst those possessing university degrees and thus in theory, more “integrated” into the social fabric.

French Arabs face unemployment at a rate of 14 per cent compared with 9.2 per cent amongst people of French origin — even after adjusting for educational qualifications and are poorly represented at every level. Charlie Hebdo’s decision to poke fun at Islam, although completely inline with its treatment of other issues, comes at a time of intense polemics over the place of Islam within France, as debates over “laicite” galvanise the political spectrum.

Many Muslims appear to feel under siege in a political climate which continues to view Islam as an impediment to full adhesion to French national identity and where religious practise is associated with a social malaise. Indeed, a recent report by the French academic Gilles Kepel has reignited debate over the role Islam plays in the perpetuation of disenfranchisement in the suburbs, where Muslims are over-represented.

Some in France have sought to blame Islam for the high levels of unemployment, underachievement, violence and marginalisation in France’s ghettoised suburbs, while others have protested the Islamification of the discourse on the suburbs, decrying the use of confused and loaded terminology to overlook substantial economic and social problems in these areas. In France, with or without the caricatures, Islam is a sore topic with many recent polemics related to Islamic practises, whether the face veil debate, street prayers or the building of new mosques.

French Muslims are regularly told — even by the President — that you either “love France or you leave her”, reinforcing their status as outsiders, and a right-wing discourse which promotes ridiculous predictions of a Muslim take over of Europe through high birth rates and proselytising, is gaining ground. Christopher Caldwell, a contributor to the Financial Times recently published an inflammatory book Reflections on the Revolution In Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West which has gained widespread media coverage, including on mainstream French TV, with its thesis that Europe is doomed in the face of a Islamic cultural invasion. In this context, marked by fear of Islam’s alleged resurgence, intractability and incompatibility with “French culture”, as well as the inability of many French Muslims to present an alternative perspective on an equal platform, are the seeds of profound social malaise.

Satire of religion has a long history in France and Christians are not exempt from what some groups have deemed insensitive and injurious portrayals of sacred persons or ideas. Since its launch on 20 October, Christian groups have regularly interrupted the Paris based theatrical production of “On the concept of the face of the son of God” (Sur le concept du visage du fils de Dieu) for its perceived blasphemy and “Christianophobia”.

The play features an elderly man defecating on stage and his son coming to clean his back side, using the portrait of Jesus. The excrement collected is then used at the end of the play by children as missiles to be thrown at the portrait of Christ, whilst at the end of the production, a black veil of excrement glides down the portrait of Jesus. In April this year, an art exhibit entitled Piss Christ, featuring a crucifix immersed in a glass containing blood and urine was vandalised by Christians outraged by the piece. Some religious groups have accused the arts and the media to resorting to crass provocations to raise the profile of otherwise mediocre artistic endeavours which might not have garnered public attention without the controversy.

Charlie Hebdo’s current confrontation with Islamic polemics is not its first. In 2008, it won a legal case against accusations of incitement to racial hatred when it chose to reprint the Danish cartoons, launched by the French Muslim Council (CFCM) and the Grand Mosque of Paris. Interviewed on recent events, Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the CFCM has both condemned the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the printing of the irreverent images.

Describing the decision to print images known to be offensive to Muslims as “hurtful” and questioning the association of the caricatures of Prophet Mohamed with events in Tunisia or Libya, he defended the right of those who opposed the decision to protest as well as the freedom of the press to print the said images and explained that in a plural society, people’s relationship to the sacred will necessarily vary.

The attack on the press outlet, Charlie Hebdo is symptomatic of the broader unease French society is facing in light of a growing visible Muslim minority. While successive generations of “French” origin are getting more secular in their outlook, with around 60 per cent of youths saying in 2008 that they had no religious belief, the pattern among the children of immigrants from north Africa, Sahel and Turkey is the opposite, as religion gains in importance, particularly among the young.

How France negotiates an inclusive public sphere in which the views of all its citizens, including those who abide by a religious tradition, are reflected remains a stark challenge. It is telling that Charlie Hebdo chose Mohammed as “guest editor”, rather than a contemporary figure who could express an accurate reflection of French Muslim opinion on current affairs — instead, it chose the route of ease, ascribing archaic and reactionary ideas to a sacred figure, his ideas rigidified and frozen in a literalist caricature, which although undoubtedly humorous in parts, is completely out of sync with how most Muslims understand Islam’s relationship to the modern context. This issue might be its best-selling; the real question though ought to be, is it its best?

Myram Francois-Cerrah is a writer, journalist and budding academic

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Tags: Charlie Hebdo, France, Islam, offence

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