Democracy and Faith

Would you mind terribly if an artist in your country drew humorous cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh)? Or if a writer made fun of him in a novel? or if an artist painted verses from the Qur'an on to a naked female body?

All these things have been done, and Muslims have reacted with swift outrage, sometimes murder (Theo van Gogh, who filmed a naked women with verses from the Qur'an was murdered and beheaded by a Muslim jihadi).

For these are freedoms of expression - a central tenet of democracy. According to democrats, freedom of expression includes the freedom to shock and offend.

Yet Muslim men and women espouse democracy as if it won't hurt the religion - or the sentiment of 1 billion Muslims. In our country (Bangladesh), we have traitors who would love to make fun of the Prophet and Islam. That is one reason they love democracy.

Yet I know a devout Muslim woman who loves democracy - she doesn't realise, the idiot that she is, that democracy means freedom of expression - freedom to make fun of Islam and everything we consider sacred and holy. She is a misguided fool, who wants to appear an 'intellectual'.

Fundamentalists can take an idea to its logical conclusion - unlike the foolish woman mentioned above. They realise that in a democracy, everything will be permitted - from blasphemy to burning holy books (heaven forbid!).

The second khutbah of the Friday prayers forbid us to criticise our rulers - democracy means criticism of rulers. Surely, democracy was forbidden by our ancestors!

Curse democracy as you would curse the plague or snakes - for it pits brother against brothers, and leaves nothing sacred. Let democracy be preached only by the enemies of Islam and Muslim civilisation. They are friends of the Great Satan.

democracy and blasphemy

"Dutch film FITNA has been released. In the film they made fun of our beloved PROPHET HAZRAT MUHAMMAD (S.) n' refused to apologize. Now please join hands to boycott the dutch (Holland/Netherlands) products. 1.6 billion Muslims can surely 'SLAP' dutch economy. Plz forward this sms to all muslims. It's our holy duty as a muslim.
Remember ALLAH might ask you one day, WHAT DID YOU DO WHEN THEY MADE FUN OF MY FRIEND MUHAMMAD (S.). Be ready to answer the questn."

I received this on my mobile the other day. I let as many people know as possible, but I asked myself one question: "Does the sender believe in democracy?"

I know the sender, and I didn't want to start a riot in our relationship by pointing out her incoherence. For in all likelihood, she probably believes in democracy – and freedom of expression.

Like most Muslims who are democrats, she is unaware that you cannot go around sending messages like that and arguing for freedom of expression. Freedom of expression and democracy mean that you can makes movies like fitna without making any apologies.


Many of my friends are Muslims and they believe in freedom of expression, and all the western baggage that comes with it. But they won't take the belief to its logical conclusion – the right to offend by speaking your mind on any subject under (or above) the sun.


If you want to appear 'modern', you run the risk of contradicting yourself, and revealing your hypocrisy.


In fact, you don't even know what you believe in.