Insults and injuries

Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 12:39 AM
Just got home, and while checking my e-mail, I decided to grab some headlines to see what's happened in the world.
Apparently, the non-Muslim world did something insulting towards Muslims (yet again!); this time, they have images vaguely depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad on Wikipedia.
Apparently, this is insulting, therefor someone decided to start a petition to get Wikipedia to remove the images.

I don't get it.

Yes, I'm aware that in Muslim religion, it's forbidden to have pictures, drawings, statues... basically anything depicting Muhammad.
As you can read in the petition text, the images do not picture him accurately, but nevertheless, the Muslim world feels insulted.

Now, isn't it a tad useless to feel insulted, just because something seems to look like Muhammad? Let's not forget; the image depicted is 500 years old.

News flash; the world does not revolve around the Muslim religion. Really, despite what some might believe, it does not.
Neither does it revolve around Christianity, Buddhism, Shintoism, Scientology, the FSM or whatever religion is out there by the way.

A word to everybody who feels insulted over even a small thing; Get A Life.
Do something useful with it, don't let it go to waste over hatred towards another human being, simply because that other human being believes in different things.
It also makes me wonder sometimes; why are so many people able to adapt themselves to the country they live in (including Muslims, I must stress), but just about every time I hear something like this, it's about Muslims who feel that everyone needs to accomodate them, while it's those Muslims who are visiting.

I realize it's only a small portion of the Muslim population who act in that way, but we're getting to a point where the non-Muslim world is going to feel really insulted and starts to kick people out, just because a group of people don't know how to give, but keep on taking instead.

Wikipedia responded by saying they would not censor the encyclopedia, and intend to keep the images online. Good for them.
Personally, I'm not part of any religion, I believe in myself and would just love to see a little more forgiveness among the religions. But I just know that's too much to ask.

Cheers, K.

Feedback

# re: Insults and injuries

2/7/2008 2:19 AM by abuhamza
the article is about Mohammed, whom Muslims consider their prophet.

Wikipedia is an open contribution site, predominantly written by non muslim westerners

yet 1/5 of the world population is offended by these pictures.

Given that there is more written about Mohammed than any person who has ever existed, and there are only 3 or 4 pictures ever. It is quite clear that they offer no real value to the article

Why are they there? to upset and provoke muslims

# re: Insults and injuries

2/7/2008 6:59 AM by Kaijuu
No, they are there to give the other 4/5 of the world population insight about your prophet.
Why are (some) Muslims so preoccupied with stuff like this, to the point where everything that's not in line with Muslim customs is to be considered an insult? You could also, you know, not visit this Wikipedia page? (or, depending on where you live, your government could make it unavailable by blocking it; some countries are very adept at making sure no-one will see whatever it is they don't want their people to see)

As you said; there is ample information available about Muhammad, so why bother over an encyclopedia written by non-Muslim westeners?
More important: is the information stated in the Wiki-article incorrect?
If it isn't; excuse me, but in that case, I don't see what all the fuss is about.

I refuse to believe that an encyclopedia does something with the sole purpose of pissing people off. They are there to inform.

The fact that Muslims aren't allowed to have images of the prophet doesn't automatically mean no-one is.

# re: Insults and injuries

2/7/2008 7:40 AM by Cailin Coilleach
Actually, if the community wants to complain, shouldn't they be going after the person who -made- the images of Muhammed? And not the ones who distribute them? Because honestly, once they're on the Internet -everyone- has them, regardless of who distributed them first.

Oh wait, but they can't! Because the images of Muhammed were created over five hundred years ago! And now they're considered to be works of art. These images have been put up by museums for decades. So why not go after these museums instead? It's obvious that the Wiki editors got the images from them.

Seriously: these images are not new and definitely not created to scorn the Muslim community. These images are part of our world's history and we shouldn't be ashamed of them. They have been part of both western and eastern looks on the Islam and are invaluable to all of us.

# re: Insults and injuries

2/7/2008 7:52 AM by Cailin Coilleach
By the way, Abuhamza, that's an interesting site you have there. There's a whole bunch of stuff on there that I'll definitely read through!

I'm studying to become a high school teacher, so it's generally a good thing to study up on the various cultures I'll come into contact with.

# re: Insults and injuries

2/20/2008 7:29 AM by krunch
religious fanatics:

According to philosopher George Santayana, "Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim"[1]; according to Winston Churchill, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject".

The difference between a fan and a fanatic is that while both have an overwhelming liking or interest in a given subject, behaviour of a fanatic will be viewed as violating prevailing social norms, while that of a fan will not violate those norms (although is usually considered unusual).[2]

A fanatic differs from a crank in that the latter term is typically associated with a position or opinion which is so far from the norm as to appear ludicrous and/or provably wrong, while the subject of the fanatic's obsession may well be "normal", with only the scale of involvement being abnormally disproportionate.

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