By Shepherd Mutsvara
The
Charlie Hebdo massacre should be condemned to the last vowel. It was an act of fanatic barbarity, sadistic and an
affront to freedom of expression. As the bells of Notre-Dame toll a psalm for
the souls of the journalists and police officers executed in cold blood, Islam and Christianity are again juxtaposed.
Which of the two religions is tolerant to criticism and is the right to offend
absolute?
Charlie
Hebdo thrived on satire. Crude religious satire! Politicians also had nowhere
to hide. Jean Cabut pencil had been non-denominational in its satire. There
were no sacred cows! The weekly magazine had notorious reputation of publishing
cartoons of nuns masturbating and Popes wearing condoms. Recently the Virgin Mary
was drawn grimacing in labour, giving birth to the Son of Man! It is the cartoons on the Prophet Mohammed
either naked or in “pornographic pose” that provoked the ire of the Muslim
world. To “some” Muslims this was seen as blasphemy and punishable by death!
The Jihad shout “Allahu Akbar” followed by the words “Mohammed has been avenged”
during the Charlie Hebdo senseless massacre should unsettle the Islam world .But
was this justified?
Primary among human rights are the rights to life, equality
and freedom of expression. It is trite that rights are not absolute. In any
democratic jurisdiction fundamental human rights are only limited in terms of
law of general application. Under Islamic law, freedom of speech finds
wide support in several sources of the Qur’an. Qur’an 55:1-4 states: “God […]
created Man (and) taught him eloquent speech”). With regard to freedom of
thought and belief, the Quran emphasise that:
“There
shall be no coercion in matters of faith”
(2:256)”And had your Lord so willed, all those who live on earth would have
attained to faith - all of them, do you
then think that you could compel people to believe?” (10:99) (my
emphasis)
Most importantly The Qur’an reminds believers: “… not let
your hatred of a people incite you to aggression” (Quran 5:3). This then
entails that Islam as a religion is tolerant to criticism and does not allow
its believers to take criticism as a valid ground to kill in retaliation.
The Kouachi brothers,
alleged perpetrators, certainly have no leg to stand on. The murder of nine journalists, two police officers and a maintenance
man by the Kouachi brothers cannot be justified in the name of the Prophet Mohammed.
Even the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Bill Donohue,
despite his criticism of Charlie Hebdo “disgusting record”, is of the opinion
that the massacre of the journalist must be unequivocally condemned. The Kouachi
brothers cannot hide behind the veil of the Prophet Mohammed. Their act of
violence and anti-Semitism is not the teaching of Islam. They give Islam a bad
name!
It is everyone’s
prayer that as 80 000 French police chase the two brothers, Said and
Cherrif Kouachi, there shall be no more bloodshed.
Yes God is
Great, and only HE shall sit in judgement over us! For the bible in Matthew 12:31-32 says that “….
whosoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven but the one who
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. The latter is God’s
job description and not masked gunmen!
Rest in Peace Jean Cabut.
We are all #Charlie.
