Common Ground:
Muslims and the West
By John L. Esposito
Georgetown University
Newspaper cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad have set off an international
row with dangerous consequences, both short and
long term. The controversial caricatures, first
published in Denmark and then in other European
newspapers, target Muhammad and Islam and equate
them with extremism and terrorism. In response
to outcries and demonstrations across the Muslim
world, the media has justified these cartoons
as freedom of expression; France's Soir and Germany's
Die Welt asserted a "right to caricature
God" and a "right to blasphemy,"
respectively.
One of the first questions I have been asked about
this conflict by media from Europe, the U.S. and
Latin America has been "Is Islam incompatible
with Western values?" Are we seeing a culture
war?
Before jumping to that conclusion, we should ask:
whose Western democratic and secular values are
we talking about? Is it a Western secularism that
privileges no religion in order to provide space
for all religions and to protect belief and unbelief
alike? Or is it a Western "secular fundamentalism"
that is anti-religious and increasingly, post
9/11, anti-Islam?
What we are witnessing today has little to do
with Western democratic values and everything
to do with a European media that reflects and
plays to an increasingly xenophobic and Islamophobic
society. The cartoons seek to test and provoke;
they are not ridiculing Osama bin Laden or Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi but mocking Muslims' most sacred
symbols and values as they hide behind the facade
of freedom of expression. The win-win for the
media is that explosive headline events, reporting
them or creating them, also boosts sales. The
rush to reprint the Danish cartoons has been as
much about profits as about the prophet of Islam.
Respected European newspapers have acted more
like tabloids.
What is driving Muslim responses? At first blush,
the latest Muslim outcries seem to reinforce the
post 9/11 question of some pundits: "Why
do they hate us?" with an answer that has
become 'conventional wisdom': "They hate
our success, democracy, freedoms..." - a
facile and convenient as well as wrong-headed
response. Such answers fail to recognize that
the core issues in this 'culture war' are about
faith, Muhammad's central role in Islam, and the
respect and love that he enjoys as the paradigm
to be emulated. They are also more broadly about
identity, respect (or lack of it) and public humiliation.
Would the mainstream media with impunity publish
caricatures of Jews or of the holocaust? As France's
Grand Rabbi Joseph Sitruk observed: "We gain
nothing by lowering religions, humiliating them
and making caricatures of them. It's a lack of
honesty and respect", he said. He said freedom
of expression "is not a right without limits".
A recently completed Gallup World Poll that surveyed
Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia enables us to
find data based answers about Islam by listening
to the voices of a billion Muslims. This groundbreaking
Gallup study provides a context and serves as
a reality check on the causes for widespread outrage.
When asked to describe what Western societies
could do to improve relations with the Arab/Muslim
world, by far the most frequent reply (47 percent
in Iran, 46 percent in Saudi Arabia, 43 percent
in Egypt, 41 percent in Turkey, etc.) was that
they should demonstrate more understanding and
respect for Islam, show less prejudice, and not
denigrate what Islam stands for. At the same time,
large numbers of Muslims cite the West's technological
success and its liberty and freedom of speech
as what they most admire. When asked if they would
include a provision for Freedom of Speech, defined
as allowing all citizens to express their opinion
on political, social and economic issues of the
day if they were drafting a constitution for a
new country, overwhelming majorities (94 percent
in Egypt, 97 percent in Bangladesh, 98 percent
in Lebanon etc.) in every country surveyed responded
yes, they would.
Cartoons defaming the Prophet and Islam by equating
them with terrorism are inflammatory. They reinforce
Muslim grievances, humiliation and social marginalization
and drive a wedge between the West and moderate
Muslims, unwittingly playing directly into the
hands of extremists. They also reinforce autocratic
rulers who charge that democracy is anti-religious
and incompatible with Islam.
Where do we go from here?
Core principles and values, like freedom of speech,
cannot be compromised. However, freedoms do not
exist in a vacuum; they do not function without
limits. In many countries, hate speech (such as
holocaust denial, incitement to racial hatred,
advocating genocide) is a criminal offence prohibited
under incitement-to-hatred legislation. Our Western
secular democracies represent not only freedom
of _expression but also freedom of religion. Belief
as well as unbelief needs to be protected. Freedom
of religion in a pluralistic society ought to
mean that some things are sacred and treated as
such. The Islamophobia which is becoming a social
cancer should be as unacceptable as anti-Semitism,
a threat to the very fabric of our democratic
pluralistic way of life. Thus, it is imperative
for political and religious leaders, commentators
and experts, and yes, the media, to lead in building
and safeguarding our cherished values…
(John L. Esposito, University Professor at Georgetown
University, is a Gallup Senior Scientist and co-author
of the forthcoming "Can you Hear Me Now:
What a Billion Muslims are Trying to Tell Us.")
(Courtesy United Press International)
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