Posed by Gayath Nur Kashif on “A Place for Truth” listserve
Q. [There has been] growing anger and calls for economic boycotts by Muslims states over the outrageous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him] recently published in the Danish Press. Will US Muslims follow in issuing a condemnation, and/or urging US officials to condemn such attacks against Islam? What would be the rationale for any action, or non action contemplated or taken?
A. American Muslims, no less than Muslims abroad, condemn the disrespectful tone, the libelous intent, and above all the ignorance demonstrated by the cartoons published in the Danish press. However, it is not the place of U.S. officials to comment on what Danish newspapers choose to do. Muslims can and should boycott the newspapers that print such garbage, but the U.S. government does not support those newspapers and what they publish is not the American government’s business. Further, those Muslims who are engaged in a secondary boycott against all Danish businesses are guilty of the same sort of collectivist discrimination enaged in by those Americans who blame all Muslims for Sept. 11. Muslims in France or Egypt might call for the Danish government to threaten the newspaper in question because government censorship is a way of life in those countries. Censorship is not part of American culture and therefore only those Muslims who oppose free speech in America should ask the Danish government to engage in censorship. But if they succeed in eroding free speech in America, let them understand that they shall be the first to be suppressed.
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D.
Minaret of Freedom Institute
www.minaret.org
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