Durban -
Muslims should forgive Charlie Hebdo magazine cartoonists, an Islamic academic from Durban told thousands gathered for Friday prayers at a mosque on Friday.
The cartoonists at the Paris-based magazine, four of whom were shot dead in their offices on January 7, had depicted Prophet Muhammad in ways considered offensive by Muslims.
Their killers proclaimed that they committed murder to defend the prophet.
Hafiz Abu-Baker Mohammed, a Durban-based former judge and Islamic scholar, yesterday told 3 000 congregants at Masjidul-Quds in Gatesville, Cape Town, that violence was not the response their prophet would have encouraged.
“Prophet Muhammad’s response was one of compassion, inclusiveness and forgiveness. He has his own Charlie Hebdos who insulted him in his lifetime. There’s no need to defend Prophet Muhammad. Muslims must ignore this. The caricatures will not affect his character,” Mohammed said.
He also accused the mainstream media of creating “a lot of confusion”, and said they should become more responsible in their depiction of Islam.
“Mainstream media is not giving the full picture. The demonising of Islam is calculated,” Mohammed charged.
On the matter of the media’s right to publish the cartoons, the academic said “these cartoons are not about freedom of expression”.
“This is about having the right to offend. Criminal law tells you that you don’t have the right to injure someone.
“Since when does the law allow one to injure someone?” he asked.
“To say I have the right to offend is to say, ‘I have a right to be a bigot’. Which culture says that? This is a reflection of their own moral bankruptcy.”
Sataar Parker, chairman of the Masjidul Quds board of trustees, said they invited Mohammed to “empower the community with information about the prophet’s character”.
“We needed a scholarly and not emotional approach to the cartoons. We need to address this in a cool, calm and collected manner,” he said.
Parker said they encouraged interfaith efforts at their mosque, and invited a Christian and Hindu leader to attend yesterday’s talk.
Bishop Dennis Abrahams, from the Shiloh Pentecostal Church in Primrose Park, said he had seen Charlie Hebdo’s self-proclaimed atheist cartoonists’ depictions of Jesus Christ, and also found those offensive.
“It was done in the spirit of intolerance. We should respect one another’s religions,” said Abrahams.
Pandit Ashvin Narshi, a Hindu priest at various temples in Cape Town, said they didn’t support the cartoons either, because they were “destructive”.
- Independent on Saturday