Amir Taheri: Sherk

Amir Taheri has a tremendously illuminating piece on the controversy over ... well, you know. Insert applicable Technorati tags here. Just read it. Here's a snip:

There is no Quranic injunction against images, whether of Muhammad or anyone else. When it spread into the Levant, Islam came into contact with a version of Christianity that was militantly iconoclastic. As a result some Muslim theologians, at a time when Islam still had an organic theology, issued "fatwas" against any depiction of the Godhead. That position was further buttressed by the fact that Islam acknowledges the Jewish Ten Commandments -- which include a ban on depicting God -- as part of its heritage. The issue has never been decided one way or another, and the claim that a ban on images is "an absolute principle of Islam" is purely political. Islam has only one absolute principle: the Oneness of God. Trying to invent other absolutes is, from the point of view of Islamic theology, nothing but sherk, i.e., the bestowal on the Many of the attributes of the One.

The claim that the ban on depicting Muhammad and other prophets is an absolute principle of Islam is also refuted by history. Many portraits of Muhammad have been drawn by Muslim artists, often commissioned by Muslim rulers. There is no space here to provide an exhaustive list, but these are some of the most famous: ...

RTWT. Don't miss what he says about Islam and humor, and the prinicple of "limits and proportions". And remember what Omar said, "we here in the Middle East have tonnes of jokes about Allah, the prophets and the angels that are way more offensive, funny and obscene than those poorly-made cartoons, yet no one ever got shot for telling one of those jokes or at least we had never seen rallies and protests against those infidel joke-tellers."

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Cinnamon Stillwell on Danish Cartoons - and More

Cinnamon Stillwell (originally of ChronWatch fame, now writing from the belly of the beast) has an outstanding column on the Denmark cartoon affair. Go to the link to read it, but here's a splendid quote:

How did this double standard arise? The answer is multiculturalism. Not the multiculturalism of different cultures living side by side, but the ideology that renders all cultures equal and therefore none worthy of condemnation. Such moral equivalence allows for the most backward traditions to flourish, even when they are destructive to the society as a whole. When democratic societies find themselves dominated by intolerant cultures to which they have given sanctuary, everyone's freedom is put at risk.

Multiculturalism also has the effect of erasing any unifying culture or nationality in favor of a collection of balkanized groups with nothing in common. ...

Go read it all.
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Cinnamon Stillwell

BBC Admits Misinforming Public

Can you stand one more post on those damn cartoons? I know, I'm sick of this business already, too. But look, it's The Belmont Club we're talking here.

So to begin with, the BBC admitted (scroll to bottom) that it was "caught out" by a picture of a pig alleged to be one of the cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed, and "for a time showed film of this in Gaza ..."

In Gaza?!?

Now here's Wretchard:

This is going to rank right up there with the fake Koran-flushing story which got people killed in Afghanistan. No one has a right to expect perfection from the media. Like intelligence agencies, which they resemble in some respects, the media sometimes gets things wrong. But I'd argue that some publications have a dangerous tendency to believe stories like "right-wing Danish publication portrays Mohammed as pig" because they want to believe it. This phenomenon is called bias and bias is dangerous not because it predisposes one to a wrong set of opinions but to the wrong set of facts.

Ironically, if the BBC had published the cartoons it would inevitably have discovered that the pig picture was not part of the Jyllands-Posten cartoon set. But instead of presenting the dry facts it substituted hearsay and for days the world was inflamed over a set of images described only at second-hand; wrongly described at that and imagining the worst about what were actually a very mild set of drawings. This violent debate occurred precisely because organizations like the BBC, whose job it was to present the facts, failed signally in their duty.

Emphasis in original. Go read the rest at the link.

Let's blogroll!

From the ranks of the LiberalHawks, east and west, comes tonight's roundup.

Judith at Kesher Talk reports that nothing will get in the way of the Church of England doing its duty by voting for divestment from Israel:

As appears now to be par for the course in such decisions, no time was made for Anglicans for Israel, the new and influential pro-Israel lobby group, to debate the issue. [There is, by the way, a very interesting interview by Tovia Singer on Israel National Radio with the founder of Anglicans for Israel, Simon McIlwaine, on the website on the upper right hand side of the page.]

Judith's links:
Anglicans for Israel
Shalom Lappin at Normblog, on the AUT boycott of Israeli universities

Jason Holliston at Columbia Gorge Dispatch has got his hands pretty full these days, but he's made time to put together a very good roundup of links on the cartoon business. Go visit the post, and don't forget to bookmark Columbia Gorge Dispatch.

ShrinkWrapped sees little reason to be complacent about the Iran situation, despite some optimistic assessments:

While some observers have suggested we may have as long as 5-10 years before Iran has a deliverable nuclear bomb, their threat to immediately begin enrichment suggests that they will have a dangerous amount of fissionables well before then; further, it is hard to have any confidence that they do not already have a nuke or two (perhaps from the AQ Khan and/or North Korean bazaar.) Certainly the Iranian behavior suggest that the leadership is either supremely confident, extraordinarily foolhardy, or some combination of the two leavened with an apocalyptic vision.

Shrink's conclusion:

My speculation is that the Administration knows that much of Saddam's WMD ended up in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, home of Hezbollah, and in the dessert in Syria. The race is on to attain regime change in Syria before the Israelis (or Americans) feel compelled to act. Finding proof of WMD in Iraq, moved to Syria prior to the invasion of Iraq, will force the West vs. Iran/Syria confrontation to ratchet upwards which is why the administration is not eager to translate all the documents found in Baghdad. The Democrats have no interest in the papers either since they have staked their party's position on "Bush lied" and the post-war intel could blow that meme to shreds along with the last vestiges of authority of the Democratic left.

Patrick Lasswell at Meaningful Distinction thinks the old slogan "Global War On Terror" is a bit clunky. He's got one that's short and to the point ... with an illustration to match.

Fausta has a roundup of "How Muslim Clerics Stirred the Arab World Against Denmark".

Meanwhile, far-flung Portlanders bring their reports. We've already mentioned Michael Totten's dispatch from Lebanon, but here's that link again. Michael's closing thoughts:

I strongly suggest the civilized people of Lebanon, Muslim and Christian alike, stage a counter-demonstration downtown where flags are not burned and where buildings are not set on fire.

And finally, Sean LaFreniere is in, of all places, Denmark. On the Mohammed cartoon mess he says this:

One cartoon shows a man with a bomb in his turban, but given the fact that an explosive device has been detonated in the name of Islam daily for three years in Iraq (and for decades in Israeli pizza shops, in French cafes, and German discos) I don't think the cartoon is surprising.

The Muslim community in Denmark promptly erupted and demanded that the Prime Minister explain why he did not have the paper shut down and its editors arrested.

Perhaps they do not realize that when they escaped oppression in their home countries they left that kind of fascism behind as well?

And this:

We should keep in mind that the publication of this Danish newspaper is for domestic consumption in a country that is not Muslim and does not follow Islamic laws (although some Muslim immigrants do live here). They did not send copies to the Middle East in order to make people angry (and they responded politely to the domestic Muslim population). Rather, it was a legitimate editorial discussion of a domestic issue that only tangentially touched on Islam - namely typical Protestant censorship of difficult issues.

Additionally we should remember that the controversy actually erupted two months after publication, when the Prime Minister refused to discipline the paper or to apologize for its actions (as he noted he does not authorize its publication). This was seen in the Middle East as a sign of official support for the cartoons and an intentional offense by the Danish government against Muslims, since in the Middle East there is no freedom of speech or independent press.

In the end the newspaper, and other European governments, did apologize or make conciliatory gestures, and the United States government called the cartoons irresponsible. Today there are many Danes who would like to discuss this controversy but will not out of fear. However, the Danish PM continues to defend their freedoms and rights, now Denmark really "has a dog in the fight".

Be sure to follow Sean's homepage for the latest from Denmark ... with lots of great photographs!
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Lebanon

Michael Totten: Good Press for Lebanon Goes Down the Tubes

Michael Totten has some first-hand observations about Lebanon:

I will say, however, that I am extremely dismayed by the despicable behavior of the Lebanese mob that rampaged in one of Beirut's finest neighborhoods over a freakin' cartoon published months ago in a Danish newspaper.

My mother took one look at that Achrafieh neighborhood and said "This could be San Franscisco" when she visited me in November.

"Don't be fooled by that," I told her. At the time I worried my response might have been unfair to Lebanon, but apparently that wasn't the case. It should be noted, however, that the people who live in that neighborhood had nothing to do with this. Most of today's mobsters don't even live in the city at all. They appear to be poorly educated reactionaries bussed in from Tripoli and Hezbollahland.

Beirut, once again, looks like yet another Middle Eastern Fallujah. It isn't, but the photos...these are not pretty to look at. All the good press I have been giving this country for the past year was destroyed today by goons who would surely be happier living in Saudi or Syria.

Read it all at the post, and don't forget to bookmark Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal.


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Those cartoons, etc.

It should be blindingly obvious to all concerned, at this point, that all the craziness about the Mohammed cartoons has nothing to do with cartoons and everything to do with the regimes in Syria and Iran trying desperately to get out of the richly deserved ass-kicking they know is coming their way. Personally I think we will be at war with both Iran and Syria before the end of March. I guess we'll have to wait and find out if I'm right or wrong.

Buy Danish! (continued)

More Danish products for those supporting the movement:

Bang & Olufsen, Jysk, Louis Poulsen, Royal Greenland, VELUX and Vestas, not to mention Maersk. Although it's "just" Scandinavian, please fly SAS when you travel!

Thanks to commenter Erik:

Also if you live on the West Coast (or near a Trader Joe's): TJ's Potoato Medley and Fire Roasted Vegetables (in the frozen foods section) are "Product of Denmark". And they're economical, easy to fix, and mighty tasty too.

buy danish

Fight back!

If you're upset over the assault on freedom of expression being waged by certain fanatics, you can fight back by showing the world that you believe in freedom and American values. Judith has some ideas.

So do I. I've just ordered one of these.

t-shirts
democracy

An American Hero

Via Winds of Change:

This is a slide show that shows a Lakota Sioux wake and ceremony for a Marine that was killed in Iraq. It shows you the integration of 2 cultures and the specific Sioux culture. Native Americans have the highest per capita service than any other ethnic group. We are only less than 1% of the total US population.

Native Americans do not typically allow photography at traditional ceremonial events; this is why I am sending this to you. You may never be able to see this again.

There are a couple photos with Cpl. Brett Lundstrom’s body in the coffin, so please review before you show any one else.

Rocky Mountain Daily News: Cpl. Brett Lundstrom, USMC

Roundup: Denmark, Mohammed cartoons, and Muslim riots

Okay, with a little bit of luck I'll be able to get through this without my Rock-Solid Operating System (TM) giving me another spinning beachball or unexpected quit. Grrrr. (When is Vista coming out?)

City of Brass gets out the soapbox with this magnificent post: There is no insult to Islam.

"Islam is infinite. They can burn the Qur'an, or insult the Prophet SAW, or outlaw the hijab. But they can never erase the delicate calligraphy of Deen upon the muslim's soul. Our religion is infinitely greater than the sum of their scorn, and as such we have no opinion on their insults as they matter, in the end, not even the tinest whit."

INDC Journal: Those Mohammed Cartoons

The right is full of people that like to boil down the complexities of the war against Islamic radicalism into a much simpler fight than it is, paradoxically agitating for a war of civilizations by continually maligning an entire religion, while ostensibly claiming support for neoconservative policies that attempt to strategically diminish Islamic radicalism by democratizing the larger Muslim world, effectively turning them against the radicals in their midst. Which is why, whenever Islamic radicalism raises its ugly head, you get several hundred right-wing pundits mocking President Bush's description of Islam as a "religion of peace" in the headlines of their blog posts, like a pack of chortling magpies apparently unable to recognize that it is not in our nation's or President's interest to attack an entire religion of a billion people, but rather quite the opposite, in service of the strategic foreign policy aim of ushering the greater Islamic world into a pluralistic 21st Century. Talk the walk, and all.

Red State: On Cartoons and Conservatives

This could have been what some people call 'a teachable moment,' in fact, were it not for the perplexing responses by the American right, even from usually-reliable conservatives. People like Michelle Malkin, who can usally be counted on to expect a certain amount of dignity and respect in our culture, are waving around the cartoons like they're wonderful things to see, while not showing much recognition of how hateful they really are. She's not alone, either. I just single her out because I read her site every day.

I understand the logic, and the reasons, for this 'blogburst,' but I think the enthusiasm is misplaced. We can celebrate freedom without holding up the worst of it as an example. We can even go farther than that, and condemn trash when we see it, while we mutter to ourselves that tolerating it is the price of freedom.

We can show solidarity with the Danes, in support for western values, without endorsing and integrating the 'art' at issue. These cheap scribbles, drawn up by a smirking 'artist' for the shock value, aren't worth the paper they were printed on. I think it'd do us more good if we remembered that in discussing this issue.

As appealing as it is, we can't fall into the trap of supporting the enemy of our enemy. The fact that the radical Islamists don't like these cartoons, doesn't imply that these cartoons are something that should be celebrated. If we want to celebrate somebody, how about paying tribute to Theo Van Gogh and Hirsi Ali, for making more honest portrayals of the worst of Islam, without slamming the whole, varied Islamic tradition in the process?

Hugh Hewitt: A Decent Respect for the Opinions of Humankind

The cartoons were in bad taste, an unnecessary affront to many of the 1.3 billion Muslims in the world, just as Joel Stein affronted the military, the families and friends of the military, and as Toles did the same to the wounded, and their families, friends and admirers. Of course each of them had the absolute right to publish their screed, and the Danish (and now Norwegian) governments must reply to demands that these papers be punished with a steely refusal to be dictated to as to their culture of free expression and the protection of the vulgar and the stupid.

But don't cheer the vulgar and the stupid.

There are hundreds of thousands of American troops deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the globe among Muslim peoples who they are trying to befriend. The jihadists like nothing more than evidence that these troops represent a West intent on a new crusade and a new domination of Muslims. Idiot cartoonists make our troops' jobs more difficult, and the jihadists' mission easier.

Aziz at Dean's World: Jesus H. Christ!

I have many observations on it, but the only two that really matters are 1. that people are free to do what they want, and 2. actions have consequences. What few commentators on the topic seem to appreciate is how these two facts form a feedback loop.

You can print, say, or draw whatever you want. Just don't be surprised when - and let's frankly admit this - the people you are deliberately trying to provoke conclude that you're a complete jafi. A jafi, whose soaring rhetoric about freedom and respect for Islam and the sacredness of the cause to bring liberty to the middle east as a grand antidote for tyranny and oppression, just came off looking a lot less sincere. A lot less.

Go to the links, all of them, for the complete posts.

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"Muslims of the world, be reasonable."

On the bright side, there's a lot of courage being shown both outside and inside the Muslim world, as Pink Flamingo demonstrates. Via the PFB&G, here's a BBC story on two Jordanian editors who published the Mohammed cartoons:

Two Jordanian newspaper editors who published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad have been arrested.
Jihad Momani and Hisham Khalidi are accused of insulting religion under Jordan's press and publications law.

Mr Momani was fired from the weekly Shihan after reproducing the cartoons - originally printed in Denmark - which have caused a global storm of protest.

One of the cartoons depicts Muhammad as a terrorist. Any images of the Prophet are banned under Islamic tradition. ...

Mr. Momani is the author of the words that serve as the title of this post. He adds: "What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?"

Hear, hear.

Meanwhile, the Queen of Denmark says, "We must show our opposition to Islam."* Now, I can't get behind the "opposition to Islam" thing, as my regular readers will already know. But Queen Margrethe II has the right idea when she says, "we have to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on us because there are some things for which we should display no tolerance. And when we are tolerant, we must know whether it is because of convenience or conviction."

Amen to that. And as the Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill adds,

We are living in times that are demanding of a persons soul. Bravery is one of the most important attributes in our fight and it has gone missing in so much of the elite in our society. Never having been tested in life because of the ease of their lives, for the first time they need it, bravery, and have no idea what is missing. But it takes a brave soul to publish items that have people calling for your head. But avoiding the threat by giving up your freedom only postpones your day of reckoning it doesn't eliminate it. Worse because you have allowed the enemy to gain so much strength, and you have given up so much of yours in an effort to appease, you suffer so much worse.

*UPDATE: Please see comments - possible mistranslation.

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Viking Observer

Dreams Into Lightning welcomes the too-long-overlooked Viking Observer to the blogroll. Go visit VO's main page for the latest on the Danish Mohammed cartoon controversy ... and please bear this post in mind as you scroll down past some of the right-wing cartoons.

Viking Observer
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