Unnecessary Provocations & some important corrections What is with Europe? [Archives:2006/918/Opinion]

The European Community was thought to be really mature in not letting itself become driven to creating an aura of friction between the continent and the entire Moslem World. In fact, one would think that with sizable Moslem communities in Europe, any European would think twice about suggesting any form of intimidation that would provoke anger amongst not only Moslems outside the Moslem continent, but also within the European Community, many of whom are also citizens of European countries. Why all this fuss about some silly cartoons drawn by persons who were not just merely showing “their freedom of self expression”. One would wonder why any cartoonist far away in Denmark would find it necessary to waste his talent on intimidating illustrations of hate and prejudice, without reason or cause, especially as Moslems have never brought any harm to him or to Denmark, as far as anyone knows.

But, had it all ended there, it would not have been so dramatic. But why should there be a systematic effort to make sure that all of Europe is embroiled in such obvious efforts to foment hatred and bigotry and to break the sanctity of people who have found that imagery in religion is counterproductive and leads to unfortunate misunderstandings. This is not freedom of speech at all but really a well organized effort to test the European's people taste for meaningless hate mongering disguised as “freedom of speech” or freedom of the press. Someone or some people are certainly behind this evil streak that has been allowed to stain the modular attitude that modern Europeans have generally displayed in dealing with the peoples of other religions and cultures. Is it really in interest of the Europeans also to join the Zionist – Evangelical “Crusade” in order to protect some mischievous cartoonist, who must have been driven by lucrative offers to foment such an ugly project, certainly drawn by those who thrive on human conflict. One would almost be ready to say that such mischievous minds are neither serving the ideals of free speech or the hopes for world peace, which is what the observer believes is not what the mind set of most Europeans would find “enjoyable”. This observer was not at all impressed by a “Frenchman” who suggested that no one should prevent the Europeans from enjoying the “right to laugh”, as if religion has now become no more than a laughing matter to this and those many others, who view intimidating cartoons on other people's sacred personalities as laughing matters. For fifteen hundred years, Moslems have avoided projecting any images of their revered Islamic heroes or messengers (including Jesus, Zachariah and the many apostles revered both by Christianity and Islam, not to mention the many prophets and messengers of the Old Testament, including Jacob, Ishmael and Isaac and the patriarch of all prophets, Ibrahim), for no other reason except to make sure that Moslems do not succumb to idol worship of any form; i.e. to keep their monotheism sacrosanct and intact. For fifteen hundred years, real faithful Moslems never defied the sanctity of religious edifices of other religious persuasions in their midst and have insured that other people's religious beliefs are tolerated with all due respect. Surely, modern Europeans can not fail to realize that it is not in anyone's interest to succumb to the prodding of those with evil inclinations, who have found it worthwhile to serve their narrow and bigoted interest by fomenting religious strife in this world, without any rational explanation for unleashing such factional strife.

There is an obvious desire with some people to increase anti-Moslem hatred in Europe, in the wake of Europeans being cold to supporting the repression with which the Israelis have continued to “govern” the occupied territories of Palestine and it is not difficult to discern that an evil Zionist hand is behind all this hate mongering. As Abdul-Bari Atwan of London based Al-Quds Newspaper said, Moslems living in Europe have always applauded the tolerance that Moslems have enjoyed in Europe and have used Europe as a model of tolerance that would put most of the repressive regimes in the Arab World to shame in this modern age. No one would find any meaningful justifications for such senseless provocation, without succumbing to the notion that there must be an evil intent behind all this desire to ignite European – Moslem animosity and there is no laughing matter in this for anyone, not even for those who want to enjoy laughing at the expense of the deeply felt spiritual inclinations of other human beings.

Hassan Al-Haifi has been a Yemeni political economist and journalist for more than 20 years.
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