Freedom of Speech? *yawn*

Over the years, people have found it more and more necessary to express their rights to ‘freedom of speech’ by insulting other people/institutions/religions/ideas. As if that’s what freedom of speech is all about. Since there are enough people demanding an end to world hunger, war, social determinants of health, racism and deteriorating education, then everyone should turn to Muslims. It’s actually getting quite boring, listening to the Prophet (SAWS) being called a paedophile, terrorist and womanizer. I mean, seriously, for the hundreds of people who have made it the mission of their lives to insult and keep on insulting him, haven’t you been able to think of a different line? For people who know their rights, you’re not being very imaginative. And for people who have been studying Islam and know it so much that you have deducted that it’s the reason behind everything bad in the world, you’re not being very accurate either.

I will not comment on the Muslim world’s reactions to the repeated insults, because I have my own reservations about retaliating by killing embassy officials and burning down property. And the terrific Twitter marathon responding to that idiotic article by whats-her-face in Newsweek pulled the rug out from under the ‘mainstream of contemporary Islamists’ anyway. And anyway, the whole point of projects like that stupid movie, the French and the Danish cartoons and such is to piss people off and get as much of a violent reaction as possible, because that just puts the insulting material in the limelight and makes their authors famous. And it’s not just people who make it to the news that make a point of ‘speaking their minds’ and ‘saying it like it is’; there are loads of ‘open minded’ people, many of whom are Muslim (and far too many of whom are Sudanese), that find it necessary to point out as often as possible that Islam and our Prophet are so and so. It makes me sick, to be honest. Not enraged, not upset, but sick. Seriously, if this is the best use you can put your time to, then you’re not really worth a minute of mine.

What I want to say is this. The man you so easily throw mud at is not one we need to defend, because he is beyond what you ignoramuses will ever reach. It didn’t harm him during his life and it won’t harm him now that he’s dead. Try as you might to sink as low as possible with your prehistoric notions of fairness and freedom, you will not change the facts that define him as the greatest man to have lived. But just to try and simplify things for what sorry excuse of a brain you have, let me explain what I can. What you brand as child abuse and womanizing, was a practice that was acceptable at the time but is strange now. Just like marrying your cousin was acceptable in the US a century ago, and is now outlawed in 30 states. But of course, no one is accusing Fred Roosevelt or Charles Darwin of incest. Unlike what many people would like to believe, he was not a mindless killing machine with nothing on his mind more than primitive animalistic desires. He forgave those who harmed him, he never once raised his voice or hand to a child, woman or servant, his home was so modest that it bordered on poverty. He instructed us to take care of our neighbours, to smile in the face of passer bys and to remove stones and trash from the way of others. He taught kindness to animals and to always give alms to beggars even if it was obvious they don’t need it. Our religion teaches us to live in a clean, honest and civilised society. Rather than wallow in crime and chaos, let people act like animals randomly coupling and giving off illegitimate offspring with no rights to claim or ties to define them, and define people’s worth by the colour of their skin, Islam teaches us to treat our brothers and sisters like we would like to be treated, not to talk about others behind their backs even if what we’re saying is true, and that taking a single life without right is just as bad as taking the lives of everyone. And most importantly, that women in Islam are treated as delicate glass bottles, easily harmed so are to be well taken care of, who go through unimaginable hardships during pregnancy, childbirth and raising so that Paradise is under their feet, and that a man is blessed who affectionately puts food in his wife’s mouth.

Maybe he ordered the massacre or millions of innocent civilians under the guises of ‘fighting terrorism’ and bringing peace to the entire universe. Oh wait, no, that was the US government who did that. Ok then, so he raged ‘holy wars’ and burned down the enemy’s homes and temples and tortured them, their women and their children in the most horrific and unimaginable way that there are entire museums just to portray those devices. Nope! Those were the Christians! So he spied on, kidnapped and put in cages anyone who just happened to look like someone, locked them up for years without trial or justice, lied about killing and raping people who they had come to ‘save’, backed up people who have taken over other people’s land and stinked up the entire region, and various other atrocities. Nope, just the US government again. So when some moron makes a cheap movie about my Prophet, I don’t bother much, simply because I have more important things to do that, unlike vandalism, actually fall into my duties as a Muslim. It’s hard enough trying to be a good example in today’s world of media-led wars against Islam, and we really can’t fall into the same trap again. And these idiots running around blowing people up are just making things more difficult.

So please, spare me your unimaginative and ignorant views of what my religion and prophet actually is, and practice your ‘freedom of speech’ where it is needed. Like demanding equal representation in parliament for Coptic Egyptians, or keeping your trillions of war-fare dollars at home to support the failing American economy, or whatever.

p.s. Have a look at these articles: