While I was searching the Internet for articles related to romance in the Arab world, I stumbled upon a site called Arab World Woman that linked to an article written by Irshad Manji, the self-proclaimed Canadian Muslim lesbian feminist who wrote the controversial and highly acclaimed book, "The Trouble With Islam Today."  The article ("How Muslims are caricaturing ourselves")  - which is found in Manji's official website, Muslim-Refusenik.com and originally published in The Wall Street Journal - reveals Manji's reflections on the whole Mohammed cartoon controversy.

           How Muslims are caricaturing ourselves

By Irshad Manji

At the World Economic Forum in January, I observed something revealing. In a session about the U.S. religious right, a cartoonist satirized one of America’s most influential Christian ministers, Pat Robertson. In the audience, chuckling with the rest of us, was a prominent British Muslim. But his smile disappeared the moment we were shown a cartoon that ridiculed Muslim clerics.

Since then, a fierce fight has erupted between the European Union and the Muslim world over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Months ago, the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published cartoons that showed Islam’s messenger wearing, among other things, a turban-turned-time bomb. Although the paper has apologized, the controversy has metastasized: A Norwegian magazine and French paper recently re-printed the drawings, as have other broadcasters and publications while covering this story.

In response, Muslim rioters torched Scandinavian missions in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. Bomb threats have hit the offices of more than one European newspaper. Various Arab countries have recalled their ambassadors from Copenhagen. Chechnya has banned Danish humanitarian workers from its borders. Boycotts of Danish products have swept across supermarkets in the Arab world, and Muslims as far away as India and Indonesia are pouring into the streets to burn Danish flags – which feature the cross, among the holiest of Christian symbols. Early in the furor, thousands of Palestinians shouted “Death to Denmark!” Copenhagen evacuated Danish citizens from the Gaza Strip and sternly warned nationals in the West Bank to get out as well. Muslims themselves are getting pummeled in the riots: four died in Afghanistan alone on February 7. More will perish now that some Scandinavian NGOs are suspending tsunami relief efforts thanks to security problems.

To judge the root problem here, let us first determine how the cartoons became an international incident. Last September, these comics ran beside a story about the hurdles encountered by a Danish author in finding someone – anyone – to illustrate his children’s book about the Prophet. Every artist he approached declined the job out of fear of having to contend with Islamist extremists.

As if on cue, two of the people who produced these drawings received death threats in October 2005. We Muslims love to lecture about the need to assess touchy matters -- such as offensive Koranic verses -- “in context.” The context in which the Muhammad cartoons first appeared suggests that frustration, not malice, was the motive

Regardless, the cartoons met with howls of protest from Danish Muslims. Ten ambassadors of Muslim countries issued a letter demanding that Denmark’s prime minister punish Jyllands-Posten. Apparently, it didn’t occur to them that in a free society, media are generally independent of government. The paper continued to operate. Thus, the controversy continued to simmer.

Then a group of Danish imams took the cartoons to the Middle East. Complaining of press bias, they distributed the drawings – and fabricated a few of their own to ensure that unrest would be sown. One of the extra sketches, for example, portrays the Prophet with a pig’s snout.

All hell soon broke loose. From missionary manipulation, the imams achieved in the Arab world what they couldn’t accomplish from exercising their democratic freedoms in Denmark.

But it’s not just the Danish imams who choreographed this passion play. Arab elites also got in on the game. Why wouldn’t they? Such controversies provide convenient opportunities to channel anger away from daily crimes. No wonder President Lahoud of Lebanon insisted that his country “cannot accept any insult to any religion.” That’s rich. Since the late 1970s, the Lebanese government has licensed Hezbollah-run satellite television station al-Manar, among the most viciously anti-Semitic broadcasters on earth.

Similarly, the Justice Minister of the United Arab Emirates has said that the Danish cartoons represent “cultural terrorism, not freedom of expression.” This from a country that promotes its capital as the “Las Vegas of the Gulf,” yet blocks my website – muslim-refusenik.com -- for being “inconsistent with the moral values” of the UAE. Presumably, my site should be an online casino.

Muslims have little integrity demanding respect for our faith if don’t show it for others. When have we demonstrated against Saudi Arabia’s policy to prevent Christians and Jews from stepping on the soil of Mecca? They may come for rare business trips, but nothing more. As long as Rome welcomes non-Christians and Jerusalem embraces non-Jews, we Muslims have more to protest than these cartoons.

None of this is to dismiss the need to take my religion seriously. Hell, Muslims even take seriously the need to be serious: Islam has a teaching against “excessive laughter.” I’m not joking. But does this mean that we should cry “blasphemy” over less-than-flattering depictions of the Prophet Muhammad? God, no.

For one thing, the Koran itself points out that there will always be non-believers, and that it's for Allah, not Muslims, to deal with them. More than that, the Koran says there is "no compulsion in religion." Which suggests that nobody should be forced to treat Islamic norms as sacred.

Fine, many Muslims will retort, but we’re talking about the Prophet Muhammad – Allah’s final and therefore perfect messenger. However, Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet was a human being who made mistakes. It’s precisely because he wasn’t perfect that we know about the so-called Satanic Verses; a collection of passages that the Prophet reportedly included in the Koran. Only later did he realize that those verses glorified heathen idols rather than God. According to Islamic legend, he retracted the idolatrous passages, blaming them on a trick played by Satan.

When Muslims put the Prophet on a pedestal, we’re engaging in idolatry of our own. The point of monotheism is to worship one God, not one of God's emissaries. Which is why humility requires people of faith to mock themselves -- and each other -- every once in a while.

Here’s my attempt: A priest, a rabbi, and a mullah meet at a conference about religion, and afterwards are sitting around discussing their different faiths. The conversation turns to the topic of taboos.

The priest says to the rabbi and the mullah, "You guys can't tell me that you've never eaten pork."

"Never!" intones the rabbi.

"Absolutely not!" insists the mullah.

But the priest is skeptical. "Come on, not even once? Maybe in a fit of rebellion when you were younger?"

"Okay," confesses the rabbi. "When I was young, I once nibbled on bacon."

"I admit it," the mullah laughs (not excessively). "In a fit of youthful arrogance, I sampled a pork chop."

Then the conversation turns to the priest's religious observances. "You can't tell me you've never had sex," says the mullah.

"Of course not!" the priest protests. "I took a vow of chastity."

The mullah and the rabbi roll their eyes. "Maybe after a few drinks?" the rabbi teases.

"Perhaps, in a moment of temptation, your faith waned?" the mullah wonders.

"Okay," the priest confesses. "Once, when I was drunk in seminary school, I had sexual relations with a woman."

"Beats pork, huh?" say the rabbi and the mullah.

Clearly, I’m as impure a feminist as I am a Muslim. The difference is, offended feminists won’t threaten to kill me. The same can’t be said for many of my fellow Muslims.

What part of "no compulsion" don't they understand?

     Funny stuff, heh? If all Muslims shared the same sense of humor as Manji, then perhaps I might consider visiting Saudi Arabia. But if you really want something funnier, read Manji's funny and witty replies to some of her hate e-mails - one of which I wholeheartedly publish below:

"one message for u manji... u are nothing but a devil a fuckin devil. please I beg u... Go jump off a cliff, u will do the world a huge favor. u are totally whacko in head and ur existence is a shame to everyone. u just like to bask in ur shortlived fame in the media, supporting the zionists because u can get lots of money from those rich bastards. u dont speak for the Muslims, i read ur book and it is the biggest piece of crap ever. please do not call urself a Muslim. i hope u burn in the deepest fires of hell for leading ppl to such great falsehood. i really feel bad for ur parents, having a devil for a daughter, well not their fault you turned into one. i saw that picture of u with the fucker rushdie and for a second I saw two devils staring out at me. if u wanna sink dont take ppl with u. u target weak Muslims and drag them into hellfire with u. i cannot comprehend what must be happening in ur brain. please kill urself and burninhell u dajjals left hand." - manjiisabitch

"P.S. ur hair looks terrible with the sharp ends, like ur heart which has thorns in it."

Irshad Manji and Salman Rushdie hawk their updated edition of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion at the Jerusalem Book Fair.

 Irshad replies: May you enjoy the photo of me and Salman Rushdie even more now.

BBC reports:

Roberto Calderoli, the Italian minister who has quit in the latest row over cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad, is known for his outspoken and often inflammatory comments.

     A senior member of the anti-immigration Northern League party, he recently called Muslim immigrants in Italy "Ali Babas" who were stealing houses and jobs from native Italians. He claimed responsibility for excluding immigrant families from a state handout for babies.

     "All these Ali Babas should turn to Allah, or to their own governments - if they find time to devote to the needs of their people rather than the atomic bomb or buying arms," he said. He has also said anyone trying to enter the country illegally should be "returned to sender" and those living illegally in Italy should be expelled.

     "All the forces of law and order ought to be used and all, the good and the bad, should be removed - all, I stress all the illegals in town," he said.  "The period of the carrot has come to an end and now it's time for zero tolerance."

     Last year, he and his party called for the "chemical castration" of those who commit sexual offences after a series of rapes in Italy by suspected illegal immigrants. "This will put these beasts in a state of being unable to re-offend," he said.

'Battle for freedom'

      The 49-year-old former dentist from the northern city of Bergamo was minister without portfolio for institutional reform and devolution. Both he and his party, which holds the balance of power in Silvio Berlusconi's coalition, are euro-sceptic and have called for Italy to ditch the euro and return to using lira."The euro has made us all poorer," he said last summer.

     He has also shown little sympathy for calls for same-sex unions in Italy, describing as "nauseating" the large number of gay rights activists who demonstrated in Rome last month.

     Mr Calderoli was widely criticised by his cabinet colleagues for announcing earlier this week that he would distribute T-shirts emblazoned with the controversial cartoons. He even undid his shirt live on television to reveal he was wearing one of the offending t-shirts. Despite growing calls for his resignation - and facing blame for the riot in Libya on Friday that led to at least 10 deaths - Mr Calderoli was defiant, calling it a "battle for freedom".

     "I can be sorry for the victims, but what happened in Libya has nothing to do with my T-shirt. The question is different. What's at stake is Western civilisation," he was quoted by the daily La Repubblica as saying. Stepping down, he said was "out of a sense of responsibility" and "not because it was demanded by the government and the opposition".

     It's funny how Calderoli calls for the expulsion of illegal Muslim immigrants and then derides same-sex unions. If there's one thing that Calderoli and Islamists share, it's their lack of sympathy towards anything gay.

     Haha... the title of the post does not refer to "provocative novel" in French but instead to the Italian Minister Roberto Calderoli who "had T-shirts made emblazoned with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad..."

REUTERS writes:

Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, told Ansa news agency on Tuesday that the West had to stand up against Islamist extremists and offered to hand out T-shirts to anyone who wanted them.

"I have had T-shirts made with the cartoons that have upset Islam and I will start wearing them today," Ansa quoted Calderoli as saying.

He said the T-shirts were not meant to be a provocation but added that he saw no point trying to appease extremists.

"We have to put an end to this story that we can talk to these people. They only want to humiliate people. Full stop. And what are we becoming? The civilization of melted butter?" Calderoli said.

     Whether or not the T-shirts were meant to provoke, trying to stop an Italian from voicing his opinion is like trying to stop a straight woman or a gay man from shopping. You just don't!  

     Read the entire article here. 

Fresh from Associated Press:

LAHORE, Pakistan - Thousands of protesters rampaged through two cities Tuesday, storming into a diplomatic district and torching Western businesses and a provincial assembly in Pakistan's worst violence against the Prophet Muhammad drawings, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured. Read more.

     The protesters are vandalizing and torching Western businesses and shouting "Death to America!' It is also reported that the riots were instigated "by a little-known religious group supported by local trade associations and one of the main Islamic schools in the city. Intelligence officials, however, suspected that members of outlawed Islamic radical groups may have incited the violence."

     What is this "little-known religious group?" Whatever it is, it has proven itself to be influential and powerful that it has even managed to attract the support of local businesses and a madrassa.