A series of cartoons published by a Danish newspaper last September has sparked a frenzy of violent protests by Muslims. One of the cartoons depicted the prophet Muhammed at the gates of heaven telling a long queue of suicide-bombers “Stop! We have run out of virgins.” Another cartoon featured Muhammed wearing a bomb for a turban.
 
To me, the publishing of the cartoons and the events that followed have been a test for Islam as a religion – and also for its followers.
 
First let me get one thing straight: I deplore any intention to ridicule or offend people because of their religion. But I do think that any religion must be able to stand up to scrutiny, criticism, and have answers to give for its beliefs, as Paul said: “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” (Colossians 4.6)
 
Christians have long been ridiculed and attacked because of their faith. But how do Christians normally react to it? Often (too often in my opinion) they will just let it be and move on; sometimes they will engage in dialogue with the offending party and try to work out any misunderstandings; and other times they will feel the need to protest and voice their feelings – and even go to court if needs be. But never will a true Christian resort to violence to make himself heard.
 
This cartoon row has proven a test for Muslims and, unfortunately, many of them have failed it. If anything, the violent protests that are still ongoing have only reinforced the point made in the cartoons that Islam is a violent religion which condones terrorism.
 
And in the middle of all this, what has struck me is the fact that so far almost no Muslim leader has spoken out in condemnation of the protests. We have had gunmen invading the EU’s offices in Gaza, Denmark’s and Norway’s embassies attacked in Syria, Denmark’s embassy set on fire amid violent protests in Lebanon, another Danish embassy attacked in Iran, and at least 9 people killed during protests in Afghanistan including one teenage boy in Somalia.
 
You watch the news and you see prominent Muslims brought in to the news set of every news channel in the world to speak about the controversy and you hope to hear them condemning the way Muslims are reacting or at least trying to educate them on how to protest in a civilised way. But, bar a few exceptions, they all seem to be saying that ‘the West has to understand how this has deeply hurt Muslims’ – but they don’t say how the violent protests have also deeply hurt many, some even to the point of death. Why is it always ‘the West has to understand…’ but never ‘Muslims have to understand…’?
 
Another point is about missing the opportunity. The outcry seems to be about one of the basic tenets of Islam, which says that no pictures or images of Muhammed must be made in order to prevent idolatry. That’s a wonderful point, which I think is being missed in the melee. Muslims leaders are missing a golden opportunity to educate the world about a very valid point of their faith, which could even help raise their profile in the eyes of non-Muslims (maybe I shouldn’t be giving this tip, but there we go). But as it stands, Muslims have to ask themselves, ‘What have we gained from all this?’ – and then honestly see how this row has impacted the world’s view of Islam.
 
To me, what it is saying is this: ‘Don’t mess with Islam or you will pay dearly, maybe with your life.’
 
And I’m not sure that that is the message any religion would want to give the world.