Posed
by Gayath Nur Kashif on "A Place for Truth" listserve
Q. [There has been] growing
anger and calls for economic boycotts by Muslims states
over the outrageous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him]
recently published
in the Danish Press. Will US Muslims follow in issuing a
condemnation, and/or urging US officials to condemn such attacks
against Islam? What would be the rationale for any action, or non
action contemplated or taken?
A. American Muslims, no less than Muslims
abroad, condemn the disrespectful tone, the libelous intent, and above
all the ignorance demonstrated by the cartoons published in the Danish
press. However, it is not the place of U.S. officials to comment on
what Danish newspapers choose to do. Muslims can and should boycott the
newspapers that print such garbage, but the U.S. government does not
support those newspapers and what they publish is not the American
government's business. Further, those Muslims who are engaged in a
secondary boycott against all Danish businesses are guilty of the same
sort of collectivist discrimination enaged in by those Americans who
blame all Muslims for Sept. 11. Muslims in France or Egypt might call
for the Danish government to threaten the newspaper in question because
government censorship is a way of life in those countries. Censorship
is not part of American culture and therefore only those Muslims who
oppose free speech in America should ask the Danish government to
engage in censorship. But if they succeed in eroding free speech in
America, let them understand that they shall be the first to be
suppressed.