Of Free Speech and Muhammad

Obviously, May 20 was chosen as "Draw Muhammad Day" in order to promote free speech as reaction to Comedy Central censoring a recent episode that was supposed to portray the prophet Muhammad, after receiving death threats by a fundamentalist Islamic group. While I am completely supporting free speech, I am strongly against "Draw Muhammad Day". Knowing a thing or two about Islam, I am aware that depiction of any living thing is prohibited in mosques, because it could distract worshipers. In addition, any depiction of the prophet Muhammad is taboo, no matter where. It would be like putting a picture of God (God him/herself, not Jesus or a saint) in a church even though the ten commandments of the old testament state that "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;..." (2nd commandment, www.the-ten-commandments.org).


To me, "Draw Muhammad Day" is not about free speech, but blatantly disrespecting a whole community (i.e. all Muslims) just to further provoke (or pee off) a splitter group (i.e. the fundamentalists). Is that fair? I don't think so. As Mr. Amanullah states in his article on the issue, published in The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shahed-amanullah/the-collective-punishment_b_570398.html), Muslims have ignored for years South Park's depiction of Muhammad. Suddenly, it catches the attention of a fundamentalist group, a number of death threats are issued, Comedy Central pulls the episode, and the nation goes berserk. Why don't people understand, that all this group wanted is attention? Ignoring them would have been the way to go, instead of insulting (and provoking) every single Muslim on earth.

Even though I am a Non-Theist, I have friends from many religious backgrounds (Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.). I respect every single one of them, no matter if I share their beliefs or not. So while those so-called protesters insult a whole religious community (which is mostly peaceful!) for the missteps of a splitter group to promote free speech, they only legitimize this group's agenda. Was it not free speech on their behalf to send threats to the people involved in the episode in question? Don't get me wrong, by no means do I agree with sending death threats to someone who disagrees with my opinion, but unfortunately, it's free speech after all. I am definitely in favor of free speech, but sometimes it's simply a better idea to SHUT UP!!