Editor, The News:
Three idiots with access to assault rifles decided that it would be a good idea to murder the vanguard of freedom of expression. Satirists carve their existence on the front line of the war for freedom, our freedom.
The idiots claimed to avenge the prophet through completely senseless violence. One truly wonders which prophet they thought they were avenging.
Being raised as a Sunni Muslim in a very religious home, I cannot imagine that lives were taken in the name of the religion I’ve known all my life and studied as an adult. A purely pragmatic historical account shows the prophet was not only ridiculed, he was verbally and physically assaulted by the people of Mecca, his home town.
The night he left Mecca to go into exile, there was an arrangement by the leaders of the city to murder him. When he returned at the head of a sizeable army to which Mecca’s army and those of it allies would not stand a chance against, the people of Mecca asked him: what is to become of us?
To which he replied: go, you are free.
It is ludicrous to think that the same person would want to be avenged in such a gruesome manner. He never sought revenge for himself. The three idiots offended the prophet and his image much more so than any cartoonist ever has.
In Islam, the two main sources of theology are the Quran (word of God) and the Sunnah (the teachings and sayings of the prophet). In the texts of Sunnah, there is an account of a Muslim entreating the Prophet to pray for the destruction of his enemies. He raised his hands, saying: “O Allah! Forgive my-people, for they do not know.”
The three idiots must have missed Islamic studies class that day. It truly makes me wonder who was being avenged.
Ahmed A. Yousef
Maple Ridge