Guest Author - Serkan Tufan

The world is shaken by European Media´s lack of sensitivity by illustrating Prophet Muhammad in a irrespectful way. As the world community and neighborhood, we should be cautious about how important and fragile these issues since these kind of attempts fuel provocation, anger and hate among religion followers and destroy all the efforts of scholars and community to build understanding and dialogue among religions. I do not foresee people who have published these have this broad vision and efficacy towards global issues.

One would ask what is wrong with illustration of Prophet Muhammad in the first place. In Islam, Prophet Muhammad is only considered as human, first the servant of God, and then his Messenger to all humanity. Thus, any illustration, or physical representation that is for God or Prophet Muhammad is strictly inappropriate and banned in Islam since it is parallel and will eventually lead to idolitary, which Allah specifically rejected in Quran.

See this page to read the verses from 69 to 104 especially for Prophet Abraham's struggle with idol worshipping. http://www.harunyahya.com/Quran_translation/Quran_translation26.php

Any representation of Prophet Muhammad would horribly offend believers no matter how it is done. Yet, in the newspaper cartoons, Prophet Muhammad is represented as a very bad , irrespectful way: Even one pictured him as a bomb which is a terrible attack and harm on a religion and any believer's identity, values and spiritual life.

As much terrible this incident as it is, the violent actions of some Muslims are totally unacceptable and in total contrast with what Islam teaches and what Prophet Muhammad would do. Actually, it might even be considered as a means of justification of what Danish newspaper did. An important scholar, Fethullah Gulen, reported to say:

"You are by no means allowed to behave in the same way as they did. Our religious tradition prohibits that. Their disrespect toward our Master (prophet Muhammad), peace and blessings be upon him, is discourteous behavior in their name alone. But, if you were to display one tenth of the same offense toward Mary, for instance, who is sacred in Christianity, you become an apostate. If you say a word against Jesus, you are an apostate. If you say a word against the authentic Gospels you are an apostate. Retaliation in kind is never a possibility for you. You can never use those weapons. If you respond to their insults to our Master, peace be upon him, and you respond with an unbecoming word to Solomon, David, or Moses, peace be upon them, you become an infidel.

This is the universality of our religion. Islam accepts Adam, Enoch, Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Shuaib, Zachariah, Jesus, Moses, and other prophets which is clearly expressed in the Qur’an: “We make no distinction between any of His Messengers (in believing in them)” (Baqara 2:285). These names stand for individuals who are—in one sense—transcendent and the most proximate to God. Being close to them and showing respect to them is being respectful to God. This is clearly expressed in the traditions of the Prophet. If you love the Prophet, you love God. And we say in our prayers “Oh, God! Make us love You. Make us close to You and close to those You love.” These prophets are God’s beloved. They were sent as messengers specially equipped with manifestations that come directly from God and that come constantly from the divine attributes. This is a matter of faith for you. The farther you are distanced from them, the farther you are distanced from faith. If you say a word against them you take a step away from faith. Your culture does not allow you to respond to their disrespect in the same way. Then you have to find out other ways to avoid it. This is insolence in every way. It is very despicable to curse great prophets and to humiliate unfairly and inappropriately this most distinguished person who is admired by one and a half billion people, as well as many others like Bismarck, Carlisle, Carrel, and Goethe who studied him and declared his greatness after analyzing his personal virtues, capabilities, chastity, innocence, and wisdom. They don’t have measures, criteria, respect, and decency. This is nothing but disrespect. Nevertheless, the most insignificant disrespect that you may utter might deprive you of your faith and put a distance between you and God."

See this page for a fuller version of Gulen's explanation:
http://en.fgulen.com/a.page/press/news/2006/a2179.html

In the next article, I will give examples of the life of the master teacher in Islam, Prophet Muhammad as to how he would react and what he would do about this kind of disrespect.