A ticket to fame Sunday, 23 May 2010 06:57

On Friday, the South African weekly newspaper Mail & Guardian published a controversial cartoon of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) lying on a therapist’s couch, complaining that his followers lack a sense of humour. The cartoon was drawn by the country’s premier cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro.

It’s not a surprise that every time someone wants a ticket to fame, he invokes the subject of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and Islam.

Some people might justify this on the grounds of freedom of expression. However, in recent weeks, some European countries have passed laws banning the wearing of the niqab. There was also a protest during the Cannes film festival against the screening of an Algerian film; and anti-Semitism is a taboo subject in European countries. What can you call this except double standards? Today, there are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, who make up around 25 percent of the global population. Islam is the fastest growing religion worldwide. The cartoon illustrated by Shapiro is not only an offence to Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) but to all Muslims worldwide as it is discriminatory and breaks the bridge that connects cultures and religions.

We would like to raise a point to Shapiro. What happened in Japan with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the wars in Vietnam, Bosnia, the Sabra and Shátila massacre, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan and even in his own country, South Africa, which were all done by the followers of a different prophet – were they examples of a sense of humour?

A primary principle in journalism, put forward by the Society of Professional Journalists and International Federation of Journalists, and a basic code of ethics, is the “limitation of harm” and avoidance of discriminatory references in the news based on race and religion.

The problem with some journalists and cartoonists is that they want to seek fame even at the cost of riding roughshod over the feelings of others. Since illustrating Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) is a sensitive matter to Muslims, they find this to be the shortest route to instant fame.

South Africa has only in the last decade freed itself from apartheid and discrimination. How can such a country allow this? Didn’t they learn anything from Nelson Mandela?

This will harm South Africa more than Muslims, as there are more than 700,000 Muslims in the country.
One’s writing or drawing is a reflection of his motives. The people who commit this sacrilege are exposing a psychological disorder.