Irshad Manji in the Times Higher Educational Supplement:
Muslims have little integrity demanding respect for our faith if we don't show it for others. When have we demonstrated against Saudi Arabia's refusal to allow Christians and Jews to step on the soil of Mecca? They may come for rare business trips, but nothing more. As long as Rome welcomes non-Christians and Jerusalem embraces non-Jews, we Muslims have more to protest against than cartoons.
None of this is to dismiss the need to take my religion seriously. Hell, Muslims even take seriously the need to be serious: Islam has a teaching against "excessive laughter". I'm not joking. But does this mean that we should cry "blasphemy" over less-than-flattering depictions of the Prophet Muhammad? God, no.
For one thing, the Koran notes that there will always be non-believers and that it's for Allah, not Muslims, to deal with them. It also says there is "no compulsion in religion" - which suggests that no one should be forced to treat Islamic norms as sacred.
Fine, many Muslims will retort, but we are talking about the Prophet Muhammad - Allah's final and therefore perfect messenger. However, Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet was a human who made mistakes. This is how we know about the so-called Satanic Verses, idolatrous passages that he retracted from the Koran, blaming a trick played on him by Satan.
When Muslims put the Prophet on a pedestal, we engage in idolatry of our own. The point of monotheism is to worship one God, not one of God's emissaries. Which is why humility requires people of faith to mock themselves - and each other - every once in a while.
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