Gwar vs. Charlie Hebdo
Years ago when attending an Alice Cooper Concert, the rock band Gwar was performing on a side stage. During their performance, they spent much of their stage show mocking God. During the show, the band brought out a life-size dummy of Jesus Christ on a Cross and began hammering spikes into it and stabbing it with a spear. As a Christian, I didn't care to watch this, so I chose to return to my seat and wait for the main act. Do you know what happened after the concert? Nothing. No media outlets were accusing Gwar of promoting hatred & intolerance. No radical Christians launched armed attacks or threatened the bands life. No church put out a call for them to be physically harmed. The show ended, and that was it.
This played out much differently when the French Satire Magazine Charlie Hebdo released satiric images of Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith. When this happened, al-Qaeda gunmen attacked the magazine, killing 12 people in a horrific massacre. Over pictures. While many in the world condemned the attack, there were many terrorist leaders who supported it, and some even organized rallies in celebration. Moreover, the media, while condemning the attack, also tried to shift some blame to Charlie Hebdo, basically stating that publishing "controversial images" incites violence like this, and people should refrain from doing such things in order to not provoke these killers.
The Charlie Hebdo massacre and the worldwide response illustrates how the Jihadists use threats, violence, and our politically correct double standards to try and silence their critics. The way we are compromising our Free Speech rights for the purpose of promoting "tolerance" is in truth a submission to tyranny. The desire of Westerners to promote tolerance is in truth an act of cowardice. In our desire to "secure tolerance," we are destroying our First Amendment Rights and are actually submitting to intolerance. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a clear case of this. This organization does not list any Muslim organization in America as an extremist hate group despite the fact that there are many such as the Council of Islamic American Relations (CAIR) that are known to have ties with radical terrorist groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. However, the organization lists outspoken critics of Sharia Law such as former Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali as a hate activist. Even Muslim activists who oppose Sharia such as Maajim Nawaz was listed as a hate activist for a time! Yet none of these organizations or media outlets attack rock bands like Gwar for disrespecting Christianity, nor do they call on critics of Christianity to refrain themselves out of fear of promoting violent attacks. So why the double standard? Maybe it's because Jesus and Muhammad had double standards.
In the New Testament we see how Jesus was continually mocked and cursed. He was accused of being a false teacher and a false messiah and was called every dirty name in the book. Eventually, Jesus was accused of blasphemy and brought by religious leaders before Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea. Deciding to appease the mob, Pilate allowed Jesus to be crucified. Yet Jesus always responded with love and compassion in response to these insults. In Matthew 5:38- Jesus instructed us that instead of "eye for an eye," that we should "turn the other cheek." Turning the other cheek means not returning insult of insult, but to respond to hatred and intolerance with love and compassion, and that by doing this, we could help change a person's ways for the better. It displays the Great Love of the Holy Spirit. Jesus never levied insults on his accusers nor endorsed any kind of violence toward them. When his enemies came to arrest Jesus and bring him before and his Disciple drew his sword to defend him, Jesus rebuked this and told his Disciple to stand down, stating in Matthew 26:52 "He who lives by the Sword Dies by the Sword." Even when nailed on the Cross, Jesus did not levy curses and insults on his tormentors, instead, he forgave them: Luke 23:34. So I think it's safe to say that the followers of Jesus (Christians) know how they're supposed to respond to insults levied by bands such as Gwar, but what did Muhammad teach his followers?
When International Christian Concern founder Jeff King spoke to infamous Jihadist supporter Anjem Choudary, he asked him a simple question:
Do you think people who criticize Islam or defame Muhammad should be killed if they’re not Muslim?
Not people who criticize Islam, but anybody who attacks the honor of the Prophet should be killed. The Prophet said that very clearly.
Obviously, many do not agree with Anjem Choudary's views, but was he speaking the truth about this issue? Did Muhammad command people to be killed if they insulted him? The only way to determine that is to go to the Islamic sources themselves. The Qur'an states in Surah 33:57 that "Those who abuse Allah & His Messenger-Allah has cursed them in this World and the Hereafter and prepared for them a humiliating punishment." Surah 9:61 further states that "Those who abuse the Messenger of Allah-for them is a painful punishment." Now to be fair, Jesus warned of spiritual consequences for those who reject him, or deny him, and some may say that these Surah's are simply the same warning to those who reject Muhammad. However, the Sira and Hadith literature (through which the context of the Qur'an is interpreted), illustrate that this is not theerehT. In "Sira Rasul Allah" (The Life of Muhammad) Muhammad ordered the execution of Uqba bin Abu Muayt in 624 A.D. for insulting him, he pleaded with Muhammad, asking him who would look after his children if he were killed. Muhammad replied "Hell." "Sira Rasul Allah" also detailed the assassination of Asma bint Marwan, a mother of five who wrote poetry insulting Muhammad. Muhammad also ordered her assassination in March, 624 A.D. The assassin killed her while she was sleeping with her five children, and though the killer had qualms about this, Muhammad did not. Sunan Abu Dawud: Book 39 Hadith 4349 stated "A Jewess used to abuse the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and disparage him. A man strangled her till she died. The Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) declared that no recompense was payable for her blood." There were numerous other examples of Muhammad ordering his critics killed, right up to the moment he died. Throughout the world, we have continually witnessed people being imprisoned, even killed for "blasphemy" or "insulting Muhammad."
So it seems that in this instance, Anjem Choudary is telling the truth. Those who carried out the Charlie Hebdo massacre were not distorting the teachings of Islam, they were obeying the same orders that Muhammad gave his followers in the 7th century, and that is to kill those who insulted him.
Sources:
Arlandson, James M. "Muhammad's Peaceful Assassination of Mockers." Answering Islam. Accessed March 13, 2019 from https://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/mockers.htm.
Qureshi, Nabeel. No God but One: Allah or Jesus? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016.
Qureshi, Nabeel. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014.
This played out much differently when the French Satire Magazine Charlie Hebdo released satiric images of Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith. When this happened, al-Qaeda gunmen attacked the magazine, killing 12 people in a horrific massacre. Over pictures. While many in the world condemned the attack, there were many terrorist leaders who supported it, and some even organized rallies in celebration. Moreover, the media, while condemning the attack, also tried to shift some blame to Charlie Hebdo, basically stating that publishing "controversial images" incites violence like this, and people should refrain from doing such things in order to not provoke these killers.
In the New Testament we see how Jesus was continually mocked and cursed. He was accused of being a false teacher and a false messiah and was called every dirty name in the book. Eventually, Jesus was accused of blasphemy and brought by religious leaders before Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea. Deciding to appease the mob, Pilate allowed Jesus to be crucified. Yet Jesus always responded with love and compassion in response to these insults. In Matthew 5:38- Jesus instructed us that instead of "eye for an eye," that we should "turn the other cheek." Turning the other cheek means not returning insult of insult, but to respond to hatred and intolerance with love and compassion, and that by doing this, we could help change a person's ways for the better. It displays the Great Love of the Holy Spirit. Jesus never levied insults on his accusers nor endorsed any kind of violence toward them. When his enemies came to arrest Jesus and bring him before and his Disciple drew his sword to defend him, Jesus rebuked this and told his Disciple to stand down, stating in Matthew 26:52 "He who lives by the Sword Dies by the Sword." Even when nailed on the Cross, Jesus did not levy curses and insults on his tormentors, instead, he forgave them: Luke 23:34. So I think it's safe to say that the followers of Jesus (Christians) know how they're supposed to respond to insults levied by bands such as Gwar, but what did Muhammad teach his followers?
When International Christian Concern founder Jeff King spoke to infamous Jihadist supporter Anjem Choudary, he asked him a simple question: Do you think people who criticize Islam or defame Muhammad should be killed if they’re not Muslim?
Not people who criticize Islam, but anybody who attacks the honor of the Prophet should be killed. The Prophet said that very clearly.
Obviously, many do not agree with Anjem Choudary's views, but was he speaking the truth about this issue? Did Muhammad command people to be killed if they insulted him? The only way to determine that is to go to the Islamic sources themselves. The Qur'an states in Surah 33:57 that "Those who abuse Allah & His Messenger-Allah has cursed them in this World and the Hereafter and prepared for them a humiliating punishment." Surah 9:61 further states that "Those who abuse the Messenger of Allah-for them is a painful punishment." Now to be fair, Jesus warned of spiritual consequences for those who reject him, or deny him, and some may say that these Surah's are simply the same warning to those who reject Muhammad. However, the Sira and Hadith literature (through which the context of the Qur'an is interpreted), illustrate that this is not theerehT. In "Sira Rasul Allah" (The Life of Muhammad) Muhammad ordered the execution of Uqba bin Abu Muayt in 624 A.D. for insulting him, he pleaded with Muhammad, asking him who would look after his children if he were killed. Muhammad replied "Hell." "Sira Rasul Allah" also detailed the assassination of Asma bint Marwan, a mother of five who wrote poetry insulting Muhammad. Muhammad also ordered her assassination in March, 624 A.D. The assassin killed her while she was sleeping with her five children, and though the killer had qualms about this, Muhammad did not. Sunan Abu Dawud: Book 39 Hadith 4349 stated "A Jewess used to abuse the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and disparage him. A man strangled her till she died. The Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) declared that no recompense was payable for her blood." There were numerous other examples of Muhammad ordering his critics killed, right up to the moment he died. Throughout the world, we have continually witnessed people being imprisoned, even killed for "blasphemy" or "insulting Muhammad."
So it seems that in this instance, Anjem Choudary is telling the truth. Those who carried out the Charlie Hebdo massacre were not distorting the teachings of Islam, they were obeying the same orders that Muhammad gave his followers in the 7th century, and that is to kill those who insulted him.
Sources:
Arlandson, James M. "Muhammad's Peaceful Assassination of Mockers." Answering Islam. Accessed March 13, 2019 from https://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/mockers.htm.
Qureshi, Nabeel. No God but One: Allah or Jesus? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016.
Qureshi, Nabeel. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014.
Comments
Post a Comment