THE
WORLD BOWS IN REVERENCE
to the intrepid French Martyrs – the Editor, cartoonists,
press staff and Ahmed (the Muslim policeman), the twelve apostles for liberty – who
laid down their lives in the dastardly terrorist attack on 7 January 2015 by
two religious fanatic gunmen in Paris, supposedly belonging to the dreaded
terrorist organization, al-Qaeda. More than three million people including 40
world leaders led by the French President, François
Hollande, and including the leaders of both the
warring states – Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Mohammed Abbas of Palestinian
Authority – paid glowing tributes in Paris to the memory of these martyrs,
particularly the fearless editor ‘Charb’ and other cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo - many of them atheist
leftists, who persevered in their struggle for liberty amidst all death
threats. The fanatics forgot to note that any
religion and any community culture has to keep pace with changing times and
cannot and should not stick to its old rigid customs, traditions, etc. which
have become a big fetter and burden for its progress as also to the rest of
humanity. Some people do think Mohammed might have been progressive in some
respects but was also regressive in other respects, like in hating polytheism, in
concentrating on jihads, and his treatment of Jews, kafirs, etc. So, some reformers/critics may begin with and persist
in criticism or even mockery of this prophet himself. Anyway, depiction of
Mohammed’s figure was not an offence, let alone a sacrilege, even in early
Islamic times as a number of paintings of that period, officially encouraged
and exhibited, show. So, if some journals make a mockery of Mohammed –
especially if they are by non-Muslims – there is no need for Muslim orthodox to
be so irate and jerky. They should learn to take it all as a part of the process
for securing and enjoying more and more freedom of speech and human rights in present
times that includes freedom to offend even. In extreme cases of hate-speech/arts,
they can take resort to statutory provisions in the laws of the land [in which they reside] for stringent/needed action against persons committing
such offences rather than resort to wild shouting and ruthless killings. We
join the millions in the world paying tributes to the Charlie Hebdo martyrs and
vow to fight for freedom of speech and expression. §§§
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