I'd like to see, just once, someone in the Islamic World who has a real soapbox and access to the media stand up and say,

"Islam is infinite. They can burn the Qur'an, or insult the Prophet SAW, or outlaw the hijab. But they can never erase the delicate calligraphy of Deen upon the muslim's soul. Our religion is infinitely greater than the sum of their scorn, and as such we have no opinion on their insults as they matter, in the end, not even the tinest whit."

Well, I have a soapbox here, but it's probably too small to make much of a difference. Tawakatullah.

Related: Great discussion at Mahmoud's Den on the topic, if you're looking for where the rational muslim majority is sheltering from the idiocy storm.

Also, sepoy at Chapati Mystery points out that the Prophet SAW has been depicted before, by muslims. There's even an example of the Prophet SAW looking all "Jesus-y". If the so-called defenders of free speech and Arab democracy had used that one as their protest, or maybe the respectful depiction of Muhmmad SAW on the Supreme Court freize as one of the great lawgivers of history, rather than the vile and crude cartoons that equate my faith to terrorism, they'd be on far stronger ground.

I have reproduced those examples of depiction, not because I personally believethat such depictions are compatible with Islam, but because I believe them to be non-offensive expressions that are done without malice (as the depictions that spurred the present controversy certainly were). I am not offended by these depictions I have reprinted here even though I would not sanction them. (astaghfirullah).




And finally, I of course completely agree with Dean. If you don't understand how freedom of speech is the guarantee of religion's pursuit, then you're an ignorant fool and you'll never have my support or brotherhood, even if you do claim to follow the true Deen.

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