Ziauddin Sardar, writer and broadcaster
THEY SHOULD HAVE PUBLISHED ... THEY SHOULDN'T ... HOW THE WORLD DIVIDES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Haji Mustafa, spokesman for Hizb-ut-Tahrir
Publishing pictures of the Prophet was simply designed to provoke Muslims. This is all part of the war on terror. After the invasion of Muslim lands and the desecration of the Koran in Guantanamo Bay, you have this, an attack on the Prophet. Surely the mark of a civilised country is that there is civility and respect. This is a mark of intolerance.
Christopher Hitchens, writer and commentator
There isn’t an inch to give, nothing to negotiate and no concessions to offer. Those of us who believe in enlightenment and free speech also have unalterable principles which we will not give up. We have to listen all the time to piratical-looking mullahs calling our Jewish friends pigs and demanding the censorship of The Satanic Verses and we find this fantastically insulting, but we don’t behave like babies. They are making a puerile spectacle of themselves. We should say, how dare you behave in this way? They can put themselves under laws and taboos if they wish, but it is nothing to do with me or anybody else. They are completely out of order.
Basil Mustafa, lecturer in Islamic studies, Oxford
These cartoons are a form of western arrogance — anyone you don’t like, you can ridicule them, abuse them. I am not sure if Christ has been ridiculed in the same way in films in the West. There have been films about him, but not ridiculing him. The reason why Muhammad was ridiculed was because he was a Muslim prophet.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty
We say to Britain’s Muslims in friendship and solidarity — let’s close Guantanamo and end torture flights before we worry about distasteful cartoons. Shutting down free expression is particularly dangerous for minorities. How can my speech be free if yours is so expensive?
Ibrahim Mogra, leading British imam
I don’t think freedom of speech should be used to hurt Muslims and vilify Muhammad. To depict him as a terrorist, it does not do any good. What message does it give out — that all Muslims are terrorists?
Munira Mirza, British writer of Muslim origin
British newspapers should have published the cartoons. By failing to publish, they are saying that it’s acceptable to self-censor, we don’t want to rock the boat. I know lots of people who will be offended by the pictures but Muslims should be treated equally, like everybody else. Muslims are not the only communities hurt by images. Many minority groups have this culture of victimhood and often perception is not based on reality. I think everything should be allowed to be ridiculed. Through humour, lots of European countries have managed to overcome the strict regimes imposed on them by the church. Everybody says Islam should be reformed, but you can’t have this if there is no discussion, no debate.
Roger Scruton, philosopher
You must respect other people’s pieties and that means respecting the icons of their faith and the rituals, but that doesn’t mean you can’t criticise the content of the faith. What we need is more discussion and less mockery. We Christians have had to put up with the most appalling satire of our symbols — it’s the way the world works. I don’t think the Danish cartoons are anything to get as worked up about as all that but I think it’s wrong to publish them.
Ziauddin Sardar, writer and broadcaster
This is not an issue of freedom of expression, it is very much an issue of power. In Britain, Muslims are in a good position and are capable of representing themselves, but in Europe they are marginalised and do not have the means to reply. If you use your freedom of expression to denigrate and abuse, knowing they have no way of responding, then it is an act of oppression. It is an act of banality and we are moving towards a “banality of evil”. The demonisation of Muslims is like the demonisation of Jews that led to the Holocaust and there is a similar swing to the right occurring now in Europe. I have travelled in Holland, Belgium, France and Germany and have been horrified by the open hatred of Muslims in those countries. What this kind of exercise does is to confirm people’s belief about Muslims, that they are right to hate them and the next stage, which is one of violence, is implicit.