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Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood, President, ZakatIndia
The unfortunate attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine of Paris in January
2015 has brought to the fore a man-made cataclysm that has been
threatening to shape up in the world for over two decades blatantly
defying the existential necessity of 'maintaining an inter-community
relationship balance' that's needed for the welfare of humanity and
everything else in the multiverse. Like a clap it needs two hands.
One set of the people responsible for this avoidable pestilence have
been the agents of parochialism, aggrandizement and one-up-man-ship. The
trampling of Palestine's territorial sovereignty; the initial grooming
of Taliban; the post 9/11attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan; the overdrive
to abruptly magnify, politicize and overplay the differences between
Sunnis & Shias; the maneuvering of continuous oil supply to self at
cheap rates; the cultivation of the docile Gulf monarchies; the
insistence to democratize Iraq and Libya as they had temerity to stand
up; the overthrow of democratically elected Egyptian government; the
messing up in Syria; the insistence to mock at the Prophet of Islam -
all these events have provided talking points in international debates
and have thus worked as ready made electoral planks to fight national
elections.
The Muslim community is equally to blame though on a different footing.
The couldn't-care-less attitude of the community to internally debate
and revamp its religious thought and bring it in sync with the times -
even though its scripture mandates so; focussing too much on the sense
of victim-hood at the hands of others; squarely blaming the 'other' for
its lack of progress; not rising to the occasion and not taking the
initiative to promote a culture of individual contribution to boost the
community image; not realizing the significance of the basic Quranic
articles of faith like (a) God's purpose of creating humanity is to test
as who amongst us is more serviceable to others (11.7), (b) Out of
whatever I've been blessed with I must utilize what's needed for mine
and my dependents' upkeep while the remaining balance needs to be
devoted to the needy (2.219), (c) wealth should be made to circulate in
the society and not be allowed to remain confined in a few hands (59.7),
(d) taking care of my extended family (4.1) and my neighborhood (4.36)
is one of my primary duties, (e) I should not differentiate among God's
messengers and His books (2.285), and so on.
Looking at the latest events in Europe one finds that the French PM has
placed an extra 10,000 troops on the streets of Paris and warned, 'we
are at War'. Security services on both sides of the Channel have
cautioned that further attacks are highly likely. Policemen are guarding
the schools. We know that Amedy Coulibaly was killed by police in Paris
after murdering a woman officer and four Jewish hostages. Before dying,
he shouted that he deliberately chose a Jewish shop claiming that his
victims were legitimate targets in revenge for the deaths of Muslims in
Palestine. Private Jewish security cars 'Shomrim' are also out in
north-west London following the kosher deli murders. In the
circumstances, we must sit back and ponder, "Is so much risk-taking and
the consequent massive unproductive diversion of precious resources
really justifiable in order to side with a section of the media's right
to malign a particular faith ?".
On the other hand, through a latest circular, the Oxford University
Press (obviously with no stake in any power politics) has prohibited its
authors from including in the books anything that could be perceived as
pork-related in their books, including pigs and sausages. This is aimed
at avoiding offense to Muslims and Jews. This came up during discussion
on free speech on Radio 4's 'Today' program. The OUP spokesman said, "we
supply these books in 150 countries and we need to consider cultural
differences and sensitivities". Surely, the world's silent majority
salutes the high Oxford tradition.
In the meanwhile, the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo has published yet
another cartoon of the Muslim prophet holding a 'Je Suis Charlie' sign
on the cover. In this context one must also carefully listen to the
voices like 'We are not all Charlie' by award winning columnist Matthew
Norman in Independent newspaper of Britain dated January 14 2015. He
quotes Boris Johnson of 'Today' having said that "you might have got
offended by what they (the diseased CH editorial team) have done but you
must defend their right to publish it". To this, Matthew has responded,
"The point at issue is not whether one shows solidarity with the dead of
Paris in word. It is whether you - or we, more aptly, in the media - are
prepared to do so in deed, by publishing depictions of the prophet with
a prominence likely to attract the attention of the kind of crazies who
went hunting with their AK47s in Paris last week. Would Boris, were he
still editing the 'Spectator', put an intendedly offensive cartoon on
Muhammed on the cover in defence of the human right to cause offense?
Would he risk his life?"
The journalists whose lives ended after years of ignoring a danger so
clear and present that they required police protection may not have been
saints .... Frankly, I’m not convinced they were fighting the war they
may have imagined. If satire ever is an effective weapon, it is only
against vulnerable individuals. Against a ... mass movement, it is
powerless ... When the post-traumatic exuberance fades, when the next
murderous attack takes place, we might morosely reflect that the deaths
of Stéphane Charbonnier and his colleagues were essentially pointless,
adds Matthew.
Besides, one of the founding members of Charlie Hebdo has accused its
slain editor of “dragging the team” to their deaths by releasing
increasingly provocative cartoons. Henri Roussel, 80, had written to the
murdered editor, saying: “I really hold it against you.” In the magazine
Nouvel Obs, Roussel, calling Charbonnier an “amazing lad”, wrote that he
was also a stubborn “block head”. “What made him feel the need to drag
the team into overdoing it,” he said. Incidentally, the earlier CH
editor Philippe Val had fired one of its historic figures, Maurice Sine,
for publishing a cartoon on the marriage of Nicolas Sarkozy’s son, Jean,
to a Jewish retailing heiress, which he considered as anti-Semitic.
In India, the treatment of the kinds of Charlie Hebdo editorial team is
loud and clear. The Constitution mandates (Article 51A) the citizens'
fundamental duty to promote harmony and spirit of common brotherhood
transcending religious diversities. The Indian Penal Code prescribes
imprisonment and fine for transgressing this statutory provision.
The world society is closely knit and essentially intertwined. There are
30% Christians, 25% Muslims, 15% Hindus, 7% Buddhists and many others
including 0.2% Jews. It is imprudent, indeed hazardous, to ignore the
believers of any faith, much worse to malign or insult. Everybody
everywhere will have to follow the common minimum fundamental
prohibitions. Yet, by repeatedly defying and provoking a particular
faith sentiment, Charlie Hebdo and world politicians have, for long,
been weakening the case of world peace.
Generations of politicians are born and die, all over the world, who
either take selfish political advantage of such situations or ignore
these. Politics is perverted. Masses are not, but they habitually choose
to silently watch the vitiating of atmosphere making life more difficult
for the upcoming citizens of the world. Mahatma Gandhi had said, “it's
easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone”; let
some of us stand apart.
