Drawings of the prophet Muhammed Controversy

For as long as I remember, I have been watching angry mobs burn Stars & Stripes on TV and I have always wondered what is must feel like to be american and see people in foreign countries express their hatred of your country in this way. I was given a rare opportunity to get just a little taste of what it feels like today when palestinians on the West Bank burnt the Danish flag, Dannebrog.

I can testify that it feels very weird indeed.

The weirdest part is that the burning of the Danish flag is the latest development in a series of events, which basically has to do with the domestic situation in Denmark. I will try to brieftly recap these events:

During the summer of 2005 a news story about the Danish writer, Kaare Bluitgen, and his childrens book, "The koran and the life of the prophet Muhammed", is aired. The story is about how difficult it was for Bluitgen to find someone who would make illustrations for the book and that the artist, who ended up doing them, requested to remain anonymous out of fear from muslim reactions.

In the fall of 2005 Jylland-Posten (JP), a nationwide Danish newspaper, took it upon itself to investigate if matters pertaining to islam really is considered tabu in a country such as Denmark where freedom of press and speech is indisputable. JP asked 40 illustrators to make a drawing of the prophet Muhammed and 12 illustrators did so. JP published the drawings on September 30., 2005.
I include the drawings below and I discourage you from reading any further, if you are offended by such.

The publication of the drawings stirred quite a debate in Denmark. A lot of people, especially muslims of course, but also many non-muslims disapproved of the drawings on the grounds that it is unnecessary to offend people of a specific religious belief. A great many other people - including myself - thought that the paper were right in posting the drawings. I considered the drawings as part of an on-going debate concerning the fundamental values of Danish society.

On October 12., 2005, the ambassadors from 11 muslim countries request a meeting with the Danish prime minister, at which the ambassadors would like to discuss the publication of the drawings. The Danish prime minister declines the request in a written response in which the prime minister states that because of the freedom of press and speech in Denmark, the Danish government's opinion of the matter is of no consequence.

Since then, delegations from mulim communities in Denmark have been touring muslim countries trying to raise support for criticism of the (lack of) actions of the Danish government. Apparently the events concerning publication of the drawings have been exaggerated and confused somewhere along the line. It is being reported that some people has been given the impression that the drawings were published by a Danish government newspaper (there are no government newspapers in Denmark) and that publishing them is part of a hetz against muslims in Denmark.

In late January, 2006, the legwork of the muslim delegations has resulted in boycotts of Danish products and services in several muslim countries. Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador from Denmark and Libya has closed its Danish embassy. And now flag burning too…

Now, as I mentioned earlier in this post, the events which led to the publication of the drawings are basically Danish domestic events. They are in no way intended as a hetz or provocation of muslims worldwide and the subsequent events and responses therefore appear very bizarre. There are very strong forces at work in Danish society, forces which work very hard at making matters concerning islam and muslims "untouchable". On the gounds that muslims take their religion very "seriously", these matters should not be spoken of, or discussed, in the ways all other matters are usually treated in Denmark. To me, the work of these forces appears to be effectively subverting many values, which I consider fundamental to our way of living. It appears that a great many people want to revert from the traditional liberal and democratic ways of our society and establish an order of society, which resembles those of countries ruled by religion or totalitarianism.

That the controversy concerning the Muhammed drawings is at heart a cultural conflict is evident from the lack of understanding between the muslim communities in Denmark (or abroad¹) and the "old" Danish society: On the one hand, the offensiveness of these drawings to muslims does not make sense to many Danes - it has been almost 40 years since ¹) and the "old" Danish society: On the one hand, the offensiveness of these drawings to muslims does not make sense to many Danes - it has been almost 40 years since similar conflicts concerning christianity last took place. On the other hand, by insisting that the Danish government must apologise for the drawings, the muslim communities reveal a fundamental lack of understanding of our way of life. The Danish government cannot apologise for something for which it is not responsible and such an apology would undermine the right of the newspaper to decide what to print. The way to go about things in Denmark would be to either:

1. Respond to JP's publication of the drawings in other media - that is, engage in a democratic discourse.
2. If JP's publication of the drawings is believed to be an act of discrimination, the newspaper should be turned in to the police.

The disconnectedness between muslim communities and other parts of society would probably be less of a problem in many other and less homogenous countries. But there are only 5 mio. people living in Denmark and we are very homogenous. So is our society and it is not something which will change overnight. This is actually what is most bizarre to me: why would any person choose to live in a society dominated by values so at odds with the person's own? There are plenty of places on this earth in which religious bigotry and autocracy is the order of the day - why do these people come here and spoil the fun for those of us, who have just done away with it and got things sorted?

This post turned out lengthy, but it is just my 10 cents worth…

Drawings coming up - please do not look, if you are likely to be offended.

Do you find some or all of the images below ridiculous, rude or just plain stupid?

I know I do (the one about the virgins made me laugh), but it really is besides the point:

"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." - Voltaire

1. Peer down into this cultural abyss by reading the comments on these two Aljazeera.com articles: "Media war on Islam" and "Has defaming Prophets become "Freedom of speech"?" [back]

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