Amir Taheri: Islam Permits Pictures of Mohammed

Amir Taheri says protesters against Danish cartoons are lying about Islam's prohibition on representation, citing examples from the history of Islamic art:

The Muslim Brotherhood's position, put by one of its younger militants, Tariq Ramadan--who is, strangely enough, also an adviser to the British home secretary--can be summed up as follows: It is against Islamic principles to represent by imagery not only Muhammad but all the prophets of Islam; and the Muslim world is not used to laughing at religion. Both claims, however, are false.

There is no Quranic injunction against images, whether of Muhammad or anyone else. When it spread into the Levant, Islam came into contact with a version of Christianity that was militantly iconoclastic. As a result some Muslim theologians, at a time when Islam still had an organic theology, issued "fatwas" against any depiction of the Godhead. That position was further buttressed by the fact that Islam acknowledges the Jewish Ten Commandments--which include a ban on depicting God--as part of its heritage. The issue has never been decided one way or another, and the claim that a ban on images is "an absolute principle of Islam" is purely political. Islam has only one absolute principle: the Oneness of God. Trying to invent other absolutes is, from the point of view of Islamic theology, nothing but sherk, i.e., the bestowal on the Many of the attributes of the One.

The claim that the ban on depicting Muhammad and other prophets is an absolute principle of Islam is also refuted by history. Many portraits of Muhammad have been drawn by Muslim artists, often commissioned by Muslim rulers. There is no space here to provide an exhaustive list, but these are some of the most famous...

More on the Iran Nuclear-Danish Cartoon Crisis Connection

From Shrinkwrapped(ht Roger L. Simon):

At the same time, the Cartoon War is a diversionary tactic being used by the Iranians and the Syrians to keep European attention focused away from the Iranian Nuclear weapons program and the Syrian/Iraqi WMD.  It is also a warning shot over the bow, letting the Europeans know that any move by Israel and/or America to deal with Syria (doubtful) or Iran (more likely) militarily will be met with violence in the streets of Europe.  And, while there has been minimal mention of this in the MSM, Hezbollah on the northern Israeli frontier and Hamas, from Gaza and the West Bank, have been escalating their attacks against Israel in conjunction with their "spontaneous" riots against European embassies.

In some ways, this all looks like a high stakes game of chicken, with an explosive confrontation approaching quickly. 

Michelle Malkin on Fox News and the Danish Cartoon Crisis

Michelle Malkin's not happy with Fox News' coverage:

I appeared tonight on Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes for an all-too-brief segment on the Mohammed Cartoons. Before I drove to the Washington, D.C., studio, I stopped by a Kinko's store, printed out the cartoons, and pasted them onto a piece of poster board. I then used my short time on the airwaves to do what no one wants to do on American TV:

I tried to show viewers all 12 cartoons to give viewers the full context of the Jyllands-Posten's decision to publish the artwork.

Unfortunately, as I tried to walk through the content of the cartoons, the camera cut from my display to video of the Islamists' crazed, violent protests. As if we hadn't seen enough of that already.

What are the news networks and newspapers so afraid of? [Update: See the New York Press walkout for a rare show of guts and principle.]

Why do they persist in leaving viewers in a cloud of ignorance about this international controversy? Cherry-picking the most arguably inflammatory cartoon--the one of Muhammad and the bomb turban--and implying that it is representative of the rest of the artwork is not journalism.

That's journalistic malpractice.

And it's exactly what the radical Islamists are counting on the cowering MSM to do.

I had a nice chat with another FOX News personality before my segment. This person hadn't seen all the cartoons--but had already formed a firm opinion that the Jyllands-Posten was being unnecessarily provocative and insensitive.

Is it any wonder that millions of people are turning to the Internet to get to the truth?

***

There also wasn't enough time to address the other most important aspect of the Cartoon Jihad -- the fabrication of truly anti-Islam cartoons by Danish imams, who did precisely what the Jyllands-Posten is unfairly blamed for doing--that is, deliberately inciting Muslims to violence.

Anne Applebaum on the Danish Cartoon Crisis

In today's Washington Post, Anne Applebaum comments on the ramifications of the Danish Cartoon crisis. It's worth reading.

Herb Meyer: Attack Iran Now

The former Regan-era CIA official says Iran's government is a clear and present danger to America:

Most worrisome, while everyone in Washington is focusing on nuclear weapons, no one has uttered so much as a peep about the possibility that Iran may be developing chemical or biological weapons.  These weapons are far less costly than nuclear weapons, and the technology required to develop them is more widely available.  And since a cupful of anthrax or botulism is enough to kill 100,000 people, our ability to detect these weapons is – zilch.  So why wouldn’t the mullahs in Teheran order the development of chemical and biological weapons?  If they really do plan to wipe Israel – or us – off the map, these will do the job just as well as nukes.  And if reports are true that Saddam Hussein had such weapons before the war and shipped them out to Syria and Iran before we attacked in 2003 – then the mullahs already have stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.

Simply put, Iran’s nuclear weapons program, combined with the murderous comments of that country’s president, is the political equivalent of a man running toward your children’s school holding a hand grenade and shouting “I hate kids.  I welcome death.”  The risk of taking time—to think, to talk, to analyze, to co-ordinate with other countries – is just too high.  We know where Amadinejad and the mullahs work, and we ought to know where they live.  (And if we don’t know, the Israelis do and would be more than happy to lend a hand.)  We have cruise missiles, Stealth fighters, and B-1 bombers that can fly from the US to Teheran, drop their lethal loads, then return to the US without ever landing en route.  We have skilled, courageous Special Forces teams that can get themselves on the ground in Teheran quietly and fast. 

The question is whether we still have within us the instinct for survival.  If we do, then our only course is to act – now, this minute, however we can – and to take out the mullahs.  Tonight.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the Danish Cartoon Crisis

Ayaan Hirsi Ali talked to Germany's Der Spiegel (ht lgf):

SPIEGEL: Why have the protests escalated to such an extent?

Hirsi Ali: There is no freedom of speech in those Arab countries where the demonstrations and public outrage are being staged. The reason many people flee to Europe from these places is precisely because they have criticized religion, the political establishment and society. Totalitarian Islamic regimes are in a deep crisis. Globalization means that they're exposed to considerable change, and they also fear the reformist forces developing among émigrés in the West. They'll use threatening gestures against the West, and the success they achieve with their threats, to intimidate these people.

SPIEGEL: Was apologizing for the cartoons the wrong thing to do?

Hirsi Ali: Once again, the West pursued the principle of turning first one cheek, then the other. In fact, it's already a tradition. In 1980, privately owned British broadcaster ITV aired a documentary about the stoning of a Saudi Arabian princess who had allegedly committed adultery. The government in Riyadh intervened and the British government issued an apology. We saw the same kowtowing response in 1987 when (Dutch comedian) Rudi Carrell derided (Iranian revolutionary leader) Ayatollah Khomeini in a comedy skit (that was aired on German television). In 2000, a play about the youngest wife of the Prophet Mohammed, titled "Aisha," was cancelled before it ever opened in Rotterdam. Then there was the van Gogh murder and now the cartoons. We are constantly apologizing, and we don't notice how much abuse we're taking. Meanwhile, the other side doesn't give an inch.

SPIEGEL: What should the appropriate European response look like?

Hirsi Ali: There should be solidarity. The cartoons should be displayed everywhere. After all, the Arabs can't boycott goods from every country. They're far too dependent on imports. And Scandinavian companies should be compensated for their losses. Freedom of speech should at least be worth that much to us.

Why American Newspapers are Anti-Danish

In a section of Opinion Journal titled
Fair Weather Free Speech Friends, James Taranto explains why the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe do not support the right to free speech of Danish journalists or cartoonists:

What accounts for the difference? A combination of fear and ideology. Muslim fundamentalists, or at least some of them, express offense by torching embassies and threatening terrorist attacks. By contrast, U.S. military leaders write firm but polite letters to the editor, and Christian fundamentalists ask their elected representatives to stop spending tax money on offensive stuff. (Never believe a liberal when he professes to find Christian fundamentalists "scary.") There is no need to appease an opponent who respects rules of civilized behavior.

There is also an ideological component, which goes back to the essay we noted last week on "folk Marxism," or liberal multiculturalism. This ideology sees the world as a series of class struggles--not between economic classes, as in proper Marxism, but between racial, ethnic, religious, sexual or other identity groups, which are defined as either "oppressors" or "victims."

Generally speaking, multiculturalists consider Christians to be an oppressor class, while Muslims are a victim class. A victim class's grievances must be taken seriously and can even trump free expression, while the same is never true of an oppressor class's. (The multicultural worldview sees Jews as an intermediate class--victims of Christians, oppressors of Muslims--which is why liberals can be outraged by anti-Semitic imagery in "The Passion of the Christ" but unperturbed by terrorism against Israelis.)

In this regard, Hiatt's staunch defense of the Toles cartoon, which offended members of the military, is particularly telling. As we've noted, those on the antiwar left often talk of soldiers as if they were a victim class. We haven't heard any of them, however, side with the soldiers who find the Toles cartoon offensive. This suggests that the soldiers-as-victims trope is purely cynical.

Abu Hamza Convicted

According to the BBC,the former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque has been found guilty of 11 counts of incitement to murder and racial hatred by a London jury. He will be open to extradition to the US for his alleged role in the 9/11 plot after completing his 7-year sentence. Abu Hamza's lawyers have said they will appeal.

Daniel Pipes on the Danish Cartoon Crisis: Like Father, Like Son

George W. is treating Islamist fanatics just like George H.W. did, Daniel Pipes says:

Strangely, as "Old Europe" finds its backbone, the Anglosphere quivers. So awful was the American government reaction, it won the endorsement of the country's leading Islamist organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. This should come as no great surprise, however, for Washington has a history of treating Islam preferentially. On two earlier occasions it also faltered in cases of insults concerning Muhammad.

In 1989, Salman Rushdie came under a death edict from Ayatollah Khomeini for satirizing Muhammad in his magical-realist novel, The Satanic Verses. Rather than stand up for the novelist's life, President George H.W. Bush equated The Satanic Verses and the death edict, calling both "offensive." The then secretary of state, James A. Baker III, termed the edict merely "regrettable."

Even worse, in 1997 when an Israeli woman distributed a poster of Muhammad as a pig, the American government shamefully abandoned its protection of free speech. On behalf of President Bill Clinton, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns called the woman in question "either sick or … evil" and stated that "She deserves to be put on trial for these outrageous attacks on Islam." The State Department endorses a criminal trial for protected speech? Stranger yet was the context of this outburst. As I noted at the time, having combed through weeks of State Department briefings, I "found nothing approaching this vituperative language in reference to the horrors that took place in Rwanda, where hundreds of thousands lost their lives. To the contrary, Mr. Burns was throughout cautious and diplomatic."

Western governments should take a crash course on Islamic law and the historically-abiding Muslim imperative to subjugate non-Muslim peoples. They might start by reading the forthcoming book by Efraim Karsh, Islamic Imperialism: A History (Yale).

Peoples who would stay free must stand unreservedly with Denmark.

Tom Gross on the Danish Cartoon Crisis

Writing in Jerusalem Post, Tom Gross notes :

"The relatively mild Danish cartoons have been republished in several European papers so readers can discover what all the fuss is about. (It is hard for readers to judge the story without seeing them.) But not in papers in Britain, or in any major publications in the US, countries that are now apparently too intimidated to run the risks that might go with reproducing them.
At the same time, whereas editors from both the Guardian and Independent in London, for example, have appeared on the BBC saying they wouldn't dream of publishing cartoons that Muslims find offensive, these papers have not hesitated to publish cartoons offensive to Jews (Arab blood being smeared on the Western Wall in The Guardian, the flesh of Palestinian babies being eaten by Ariel Sharon in The Independent, and so on).

The New York Times rushed to praise a frivolous Broadway play showing Jesus having gay sex with Judas, yet hasn't dared to reproduce a Danish cartoon making a serious point about the misuse of the teachings of the prophet Muhammad by Islamist terrorists.

With demonstrators on the streets of London last Friday chanting in unison: 'Europe, you will pay, your 9/11 is on its way' and holding signs reading 'Behead those who insult Islam' and 'Prepare for the REAL Holocaust,' it is perhaps not surprising that weak spirits in the West are cowed.

Yet this is an issue that goes far beyond cartoons, and if they want Western freedoms to survive, moderate Muslims and non-Muslims alike have to stop caving into threats. On Sunday, Mark Steyn reminded us of the best-known words of a famous fictional Dane: 'To be or not to be, that is the question.'
Exactly. " (ht The Augean Stables)

Sakharov Museum to Display Danish Cartoons

UPI reports that Russia's leading museum of dissidence will host the 12 Danish cartoons of Mohammed (ht Matt Drudge):

Yury Samodurov, director of the Sakharov Museum and Public Center, said on Russian television that the center was ready to organize a public exhibition of the cartoons satirizing the founder of Islam that originally were published in a Danish newspaper, Pravda.ru reported Monday.

"We must show the whole world that Russia goes along with Europe, that the freedom of expression is much more important for us than the dogmas of religious fanatics," Samodurov said.

The exhibition reportedly will open in March. Lawyer Yury Shmidt has said he will invite French philosopher Andre Glucksmann and French novelist Michel Houellebecq to the opening ceremony to read lectures about the threat of Islamic fundamentalism.

Ali Abunimah v Fouad Ajami on the Danish Cartoon Crisis

From The Newshour with Jim Lehrer:

MARGARET WARNER: All right. Let me get Professor Ajami to respond. And if you would, there were a lot of things put on the table there, but let's look at two issues he raised having to do with the Europeans here: One is he was essentially saying it's hypocritical. I mean, Europeans talk about free expression yet they ban expressions of Muslim faith in the public square essentially in many European countries; and secondly that there was something deliberately provocative about these cartoons and that perhaps is at the very least unwise.

I mean, do you think Europeans deserve any responsibility for this, especially the ones who republished them?

FOUAD AJAMI: Well none whatsoever because part of the challenge, if you will, of living and the advantage of living in a liberal society is the willingness to be offended.

And I think what these Muslim populations in Europe, what these Muslim populations are telling us today is that they're in the West geographically but not of West.They don't accept the challenge; they don't accept the difficulty of living in a pluralist liberal society; that they have brought with them the fire from Morocco, from Tunisia, from Algeria, from Egypt and Syria.

And I think these European societies have a problem because they tended to think that there is a battle between America and the Islamic world, and that they are innocent bystanders. They're not innocent bystanders and now they know this. They know this in Denmark. They know this in Holland. They know this in Sweden. And that's what we're really seeing.

We're really seeing millions of Muslims who have come to Europe; they've been granted the chance for a new life. And I think they need to make their peace with this modern society in which they find themselves. And they haven't done it yet.

MARGARET WARNER: So, Professor Ajami, staying with you for a minute, are you saying that you think the burden is really on the Muslims living in Europe and not at all on the European societies into which these Muslims have moved?

FOUAD AJAMI: Well, I think -- I think that's probably about it. I mean, I think you have to look at the dilemma of these Muslim populations in Europe.

You have 15 million, maybe you even have millions more undeclared who have come to Europe, and they need to respect the rules of European liberalism, and that they haven't really shown.

Like I took you to the beginning of this story, the time line -- this began in Denmark. And I think the Muslims in Denmark have to respect the rules of Denmark. And they have to acknowledge -- when in Rome, you live as the Romans do. And you are willing to be offended; you are willing to look the other way; and you are willing to accept that even though these cartoons are hideous and they're tasteless, that you don't go on a rampage. And you don't challenge the basic rules of European liberalism.

MARGARET WARNER: Mr. Abunimah, I'm sorry but very briefly if you could respond on whether Muslims living in European really need to accept those cultural norms of free expression?

ALI ABUNIMAH: Well, I reject Mr. Ajami's broad generalizations. Fifteen million Muslims haven't gone on rampages in Europe. The protests, though high profile, have not involved more than a tiny, tiny percentage of the Muslim population in Europe. I grew up in Europe.

I remember 20 years ago long before Sept. 11 in the streets of Brussels being picked on by the police just because I'm an Arab -- not because I don't accept European liberalism or democracy.

I'm an American. I love democracy. I love freedom. But I also think there needs to be mutual respect. And there needs to be a more sophisticated dialogue between Arabs, Muslims and people in the West, not just the kind of really simplistic name calling that Mr. Ajami is engaged in--

MARGARET WARNER: OK.

ALI ABUNIMAH: --and unfortunately has been his stock and trade.

MARGARET WARNER: OK. Mr. Ajami, brief response from you and then we're really out of time.

FOUAD AJAMI: Well, I think I don't want to engage him on this personal level. It's just idle.

I think fundamentally what this is really about, it's about the ability to accept the challenge of liberal society and to accept the challenge of dissent.

And I should add that many religious jurists in the Arab world, many prominent columnists, have condemned these hooligan attacks in Syria and Lebanon and have condemned the use of this episode for cynical political reasons. That's really what this story is all about.

More on Saudi Aims in Cartoon Crisis

In the form of a parody of a memo to the Saudi King, The Religious Policeman explains Saudi Arabia's possible strategy in the Danish Cartoon crisis:

I was perhaps too pessimistic at the end of my previous memo. Things have in fact turned out better than we might have expected.

As I reported, a number of other European newspapers did publish the cartoons. In two of those cases, the owners of those papers sacked the offending editors, thus demonstrating that jobs are at risk when we Muslims are offended! This, I am sure, is a lesson that will not have been lost on other editors. It is noticeable now that with a few striking exceptions, such as those very aggressive Germans, newspapers and broadcasters are very reluctant to show them further, and they appear not to have been shown at all in the USA.

What is also very gratifying is that officials in the West are not only accepting our right to be offended at whatever we choose, but they are also saying that the Western media should work to our standards, not theirs. It is striking how soon they forget about their self-professed "freedoms" when they witness a little righteous Muslim anger. Thus UK Foreign Secretary Straw's comment....

Mr Straw said the decision by some European newspapers to print the cartoons was "disrespectful" and he added that freedom of speech did not mean an "open season" on religious taboos.

....or to paraphrase him, "having a freedom does not mean that you have the right to use it". We could not have put it better ourselves; perhaps we should ask Mr Straw to write editorials for the "Arab News"! The US State Department, on the other hand, persists in proclaiming kuffar values....

Our response is to say that while we certainly don’t agree with, support, or in some cases, we condemn the views that are aired in public that are published in media organizations around the world, we, at the same time, defend the right of those individuals to express their views.

....however the US is overall becoming a bit of a problem to which I shall refer later.

Generally, active Muslims around the world have reacted well to our lead. As well as the unemployed "usual suspects" in Palestine and Indonesia, some British Muslims gave a particularly impressive display yesterday.

The official reaction of British officialdom - precisely nothing! - illustrates how successful we have been over the years in getting them to accept the "Principle of Asymmetry". In other words, we use their sense of "fair play", "multiculturalism", "democratic values", and of course their guilt feelings, against them, so that they restrict their own freedom of action, but are very lax when dealing with the Muslim, for fear of offense or violent reaction. This of course confuses and demoralizes the ordinary person-in-the-street, and weakens their resistance to the onward march of the Ummah.

May I just say, Your Majesty, how these events have demonstrated the wisdom of your decision to remind people about those old cartoons. The story has now developed a momentum of its own, it will run and run, and who remembers those pilgrims in Makkah? What pilgrims? Exactly! Not only that, but the Egyptians' poor maritime standards mean that a much larger death toll will now remain in the public eye.

Al Qaeda Mastermind Escapes...

Ooops!

The Washington Post reports that the Al Qaeda mastermind responsible for the US Cole bombing has tunnelled out of his jail in Sana, Yemen.

$87 billion for the War on Terror, and President Bush couldn't keep an eye on a key Al Qaeda leader--who is now free to strike again.

Where is Rudy Giuliani when we need him?

Danish Cartoon Crisis Grows

According to this AP story, it's beginning to get ugly:

The European Union issued stern reminders to 18 Muslim countries that they are obliged under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to protect foreign embassies, and Austria — which now holds the EU Council presidency, reported calling in a top representative of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to express concerns for the safety of diplomatic missions.

The prime ministers of Spain and Turkey issued a Christian-Muslim appeal for calm, saying "we shall all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this situation."

But Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said media freedoms cannot be limitless and that hostility against Muslims was replacing anti-Semitism in the West.

Bull Moose: American Left Fails Danish Cartoon Test

Liberals are failing to defend the basic principles of liberalism in the Danish Cartoon case, says Bull Moose:

It would be nice if some of the ardent liberals on the Judiciary Committee spoke to the threat of radical Jihadism against our progressive values and underscored that it is the major threat to our civilization. After all, one dirty bomb or suicide attack will render the entire ACLU agenda obsolete. And the freedoms that we hold dear are under an international assault by radical Islam.

Conservatives should not be the prime defenders of international liberal values. Progressives can bring an important moral witness to the fight against Jihadism - just as hawkish liberals such as Humphrey and Meany did during the Cold War. But, despite the vile brutality and the raging mobs of radical Islam, too many lefties view that the main threat to their values is the person who sits in the Oval Office or clear sighted progressives such as Joe Lieberman.

Sorry Mr. and Ms. Moveon and your lefty allies. You are blissfully ignoring the greatest threat to our nation's freedom and security which is the deeply reactionary force of radical Islam. Nixonism is long dead but Jihadism is alive. Since Moveon has perfected the morph ad, how about one transforming Ahmadinejad into Hitler? That would defy the CW about you folks!

Buy Danish.

Andrew Sullivan on Danish Cartoon Crisis

Andrew Sullivan's on a roll today, with a good link to this British Muslim blogger speaking out against the protest movement, a history of Denmark during the Holocaust, and this email from a Dane disappointed at official American and British responses to the plight of an ally under attack:

As a Dane, I am very much apalled by the state of mind in much of the Muslim world. But I am frankly disgusted by such a comment as "frankly, it was a nice "fuck you" to Europe. I LOVED it". Denmark has been a steadfast NATO ally for half a century. My father sailed in the Danish navy, my uncles served in the Danish army, most of my friends were conscripted to serve in armed forces arrayed alongside America against Soviet despotism. I myself served as an artilleryman and was on watch on the eve when the Soviet Union finally fell.

Denmark was one of only four nations who answered the call, when the United States of America asked for the world to overthrow Saddam Hussein's violent regime. This very day our troops serve alongside yours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Quite frankly I expected that a Danish prime minister, who has invested considerable political goodwill in standing by an old ally, should have received more support from the American government and the American people. Learn some geography, history and diplomacy before you insult a nation committed to the fight for liberty and justice alongside the United States of America. Europe is not a single entity and some of us should have earned more respect than this. Despite our small size we try to hold our head high in the face of this anti-democratic onslaught. Will you not stand by us, as we have stood by you?"

Michelle Malkin on the Cartoon Jihad

Michelle Malkin has some more thoughts about the meaning of worldwide protests against the Danish Cartoons. Meanwhile, the BBC is reporting four are now dead in cartoon protests:

Demonstrators shouted "death to Denmark" and "death to France", and called for diplomats and soldiers from both countries to be kicked out of Afghanistan.

Both France and Denmark sent troops to Afghanistan as part of international efforts in the US-led "war on terror".

"They want to test our feelings," protester Mawli Abdul Qahar Abu Israra told the BBC.

"They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and to their newspapers," he said.

Whew!

I was a little nervous picking a Super Bowl winner earlier. It made watching the Big Game with my family and friend (a former HS quarterback, and Seahawks fan) even more exciting. Even allowing for bad calls, and officials who must hail from Pittsburgh, the Steelers really won--by more than 6 points, too.

"Beginner's luck..." my friend said afterwards.

Daily Kos Blames Saudi Arabia for Danish Cartoon Crisis

While I've been speculating about Iran, the Daily Kos has posted charges that Saudi Arabia may be behind the Danish Cartoon crisis. I don't usually believe much I read on the Daily Kos, but this time I'd say the theory bears some looking into. It's not impossible--and if true, the Saudis and their agents would have committed acts of war in fomenting assaults on the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus and Beirut. In the old days, Gunboat Diplomacy doctrine would have called for Danes and Norwegians (and perhaps even the EU and/or NATO) to drop MOABs on Riyadh in a punitive response...