Danish Cartoons Incident - BHMF Press Release

We at the Brighton & Hove Muslim Forum wish to express our disgust at
the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, who was sent
as a mercy to all mankind; equally we condemn those who promote
violence in retaliation for the cartoons. Both aim to distort the
message of Islam as one of peace, mercy, love, justice and freedom.

Many people, it seems, are lining up to defend these attacks on our
Prophet and our religion in the name of "freedom of expression". Islam
teaches us that freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. An abuse of
that responsibility is an abuse of the freedom that goes with it.

We all know that freedom of expression is never absolute. It is
constrained by what is deemed to be acceptable in any particular
society. Compare a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, as
did Ken Livingstone, or wear a Gestapo uniform to a fancy dress party,
as Prince Harry did, or attend the Labour Party conference and express
your opinion that the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, is speaking
nonsense - in each of these cases you will find that the "freedom of
expression" argument doesn't go very far.

Those who promote violence would do well to look to the example of the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself. He was no stranger to
insults and persecution in his own life. Islamic writings tell of him
taking the Message of Islam to the town of Taif. The people of Taif
attacked him, spat at him, insulted him, and threw him out of the town.
God sent two angels to destroy the town if Mohammed, peace be upon him,
so wished. Characteristically, he prayed instead that if the
townspeople would not listen to the Message of Islam, then that their
children and descendants should become Muslims. And Taif did become a
Muslim town.

Perhaps we should all pray that the people of Denmark, and those
newspaper editors who deliberately and provocatively republished these
blasphemies should move off of their path towards fascism, and on to
the path of justice, fairness, and equity, which is described in the
Qur'an, which was revealed to us through the very same man that they
seek to defame.