Event offers a Muslim perspective on cartoons

Anthony Pesce (Contact)
Published: Monday, March 13, 2006

Reacting to worldwide protests and acts of violence over controversial Danish cartoons, the UCLA Muslim Students Association held an event Friday evening explaining a Muslim perspective on the situation.

After a Danish newspaper printed 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, a violation of Islamic law, Muslims throughout Europe and the Middle East reacted with protesting and violence.

MSA chose to hold its program before the campus group L.O.G.I.C., which stands for Liberty, Objectivity, Greed, Individualism and Capitalism, revealed the cartoons at a panel discussion later Friday night.

After the UC Irvine MSA protested at a similar event held by the UCI College Republicans Feb. 28, UCLA MSA thought a speaker at an event of its own would be more effective than a demonstration outside the L.O.G.I.C. panel.

“The point of the protest at Irvine was to get across (the MSA) message. This (event) was our way of getting that across (without protesting),” said Sabiha Ameen, an MSA member and third-year psychobiology student.

With about 100 people in the audience, the MSA event had a smaller attendance than the more controversial L.O.G.I.C. panel. MSA also had no security, while L.O.G.I.C. had university police search people before entering the lecture hall.

The MSA program featured Naem Abdulwali, a Muslim religious leader and co-founder of Al-Kawther, an institute of traditional Islamic studies. Abdulwali spoke about the need to curb freedom of speech when it offensively targets religious icons.

Abdulwali began the program by explaining why the Prophet Muhammad is so important to Islam, saying Muhammad is like a mirror in which humanity is reflected.

Muslims look to the prophet for guidance, and they need to see a clear, undistorted image, he said.

The prophet, he explained, represents humanity’s capacity for good. Muhammad represents beauty and excellence, and helps Muslims to understand humanity on a deeper level.

Students said they attended the event to get a better idea of the Muslim point of view.

“I’ve heard a lot about the cartoons and I wanted to attend because I thought a forum was a good idea,” said Bernice Ines, a fourth-year sociology student. “I wanted to get their perspective, and I thought it was insightful.”

Abdulwali said there is a history of freedom of speech within Islamic law, but it has limitations. It would be wrong, for example, to insult another person’s family, because one has a moral responsibility toward others when speaking, he said.

Abdulwali added that he agrees with unrestricted freedom of speech in theory, but in the real world there needs to be restrictions on that freedom to protect other people from offensive material and to prevent the useless exchange of insults.

The Danish depictions of the Prophet Muhammad targeted a religious icon, and that crossed a line, he said.

Abdulwali also responded to questions regarding the global Muslim reaction to the cartoons.

“This is not what sensible, normal people do, but there is more than one world view. ... Muslims don’t really respond very well. I don’t know why people rile them up,” he added.

Abdulwali also said he thought it was wrong for Middle Eastern newspapers to print cartoons depicting Jesus.

“Do not slander the dead, because you will hurt the living,” Abdulwali said, citing a teaching of Muhammad.