In the name of free speech

Your liberty to swing your fist ends just where my nose begins. This oft-quoted adage may have several variants — and a couple of famous personalities to attribute it to — but the point it drives does not have various interpretations. The West, in particular, is mature enough to pick the lesson behind this quotable quote pretty well. But, unfortunately, when it comes to Islam, this refined and educated part of the world ignores this basic lesson of decency and civility in the name of the so-called freedom of expression. Even most of those who lead the western world go the extreme of offensive remarks and sacrilegious acts when exercising what they call their fundamental right.

Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, did no good when he — while justifying the display of the blasphemous images of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a French classroom by a middle-school teacher, Samuel Paty, who was beheaded in retaliation a week later by an 18-year-old Muslim Russian immigrant in Paris suburbs — insisted on the secular character of the French society, in sheer disregard to the feelings of about 1.8 billion Muslims the world over.

Mind you this is the same French President who himself gets offended at criticism and jokes. Macron had fiery words to return to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro after a joke about his wife was shared on Facebook. The irony is incredible. A man who cannot tolerate a mere joke on his wife goes all out in the defence of the absolutely derogatory images concerning the most sacred personality for Muslims. Whereas Macron should have exercised a statesmanlike maturity, he vowed not to “give up” the offensive images and insisted “Islamists want our future” — remarks that has stoked further tensions.

The Muslim world is enraged — and quite understandably so. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came up with severe criticism of his French counterpart and went to the extent of saying that he needs medical treatment. He also appealed to his people to shun French brands. Erdogan’s announcement was preceded days earlier by boycott calls in the Middle East and the wider Muslim world in protest against Macron’s provocation. Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad defended Muslims’ right to be angry and avenge themselves.

Angry reactions continue to pour in — from politicians, religious figures, academics and the common people — with some calling the French leader a “Satanist” and others reminding how “Macron is following in the centuries’ old tradition of Europeans telling Muslims how we need to interpret or live our religion … because of the actions of a handful of Muslims”.

While the French government has reignited the fire of Islamophobia, it should have rather worked to defuse tensions between religious communities — as also pointed out by our Prime Minister, Imran Khan. Describing Macron’s words as an “encouragement to Islamophobia”, the Prime Minister said this was the time for the French leader to have provided a “healing touch and denied space to extremists”.

In a highly matured reaction, Prime Minister Imran insists on unity among the Muslim world to counter Islamophobia. He has written to the leaders of Muslim-majority countries, asking them “to act collectively to counter growing Islamophobia in non-Muslim states”. He mentioned the “dangerous cycle of actions and reactions [that is] set in motion” just because non-Muslims did not understand the “love and devotion Muslims all over the world have for their Prophet [PBUH] and their divine book the Holy Quran”.

Towards the conclusion, one would want to question the West’s double standards when exercising their birth right to free speech: What forces the westerns to tighten their lips when it comes to questioning the events related to Holocaust? Under what moral principles has Holocaust denial been outlawed in the West?

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.