Reacting to worldwide protests and acts of violence over
controversial Danish cartoons, the UCLA Muslim Students Association
held an event Friday evening explaining a Muslim perspective on the
situation.
After a Danish newspaper printed 12 cartoons depicting the
Prophet Muhammad, a violation of Islamic law, Muslims throughout
Europe and the Middle East reacted with protesting and
violence.
MSA chose to hold its program before the campus group
L.O.G.I.C., which stands for Liberty, Objectivity, Greed,
Individualism and Capitalism, revealed the cartoons at a panel
discussion later Friday night.
After the UC Irvine MSA protested at a similar event held by the
UCI College Republicans Feb. 28, UCLA MSA thought a speaker at an
event of its own would be more effective than a demonstration
outside the L.O.G.I.C. panel.
“The point of the protest at Irvine was to get across (the
MSA) message. This (event) was our way of getting that across
(without protesting),” said Sabiha Ameen, an MSA member and
third-year psychobiology student.
With about 100 people in the audience, the MSA event had a
smaller attendance than the more controversial L.O.G.I.C. panel.
MSA also had no security, while L.O.G.I.C. had university police
search people before entering the lecture hall.
The MSA program featured Naem Abdulwali, a Muslim religious
leader and co-founder of Al-Kawther, an institute of traditional
Islamic studies. Abdulwali spoke about the need to curb freedom of
speech when it offensively targets religious icons.
Abdulwali began the program by explaining why the Prophet
Muhammad is so important to Islam, saying Muhammad is like a mirror
in which humanity is reflected.
Muslims look to the prophet for guidance, and they need to see a
clear, undistorted image, he said.
The prophet, he explained, represents humanity’s capacity
for good. Muhammad represents beauty and excellence, and helps
Muslims to understand humanity on a deeper level.
Students said they attended the event to get a better idea of
the Muslim point of view.
“I’ve heard a lot about the cartoons and I wanted to
attend because I thought a forum was a good idea,” said
Bernice Ines, a fourth-year sociology student. “I wanted to
get their perspective, and I thought it was insightful.”
Abdulwali said there is a history of freedom of speech within
Islamic law, but it has limitations. It would be wrong, for
example, to insult another person’s family, because one has a
moral responsibility toward others when speaking, he said.
Abdulwali added that he agrees with unrestricted freedom of
speech in theory, but in the real world there needs to be
restrictions on that freedom to protect other people from offensive
material and to prevent the useless exchange of insults.
The Danish depictions of the Prophet Muhammad targeted a
religious icon, and that crossed a line, he said.
Abdulwali also responded to questions regarding the global
Muslim reaction to the cartoons.
“This is not what sensible, normal people do, but there is
more than one world view. … Muslims don’t really respond
very well. I don’t know why people rile them up,” he
added.
Abdulwali also said he thought it was wrong for Middle Eastern
newspapers to print cartoons depicting Jesus.
“Do not slander the dead, because you will hurt the
living,” Abdulwali said, citing a teaching of Muhammad.