After weeks of violence sparked by the publication of the Muslim prophet Mohammed’s likeness, including more than 10 deaths in the Middle East, Boston University students met Wednesday night to discuss the controversy.
About 40 students gathered in the College of Arts and Sciences building to attend “Beyond the Headlines: Why Muslims are So Furious Over Some Cartoons,” a panel discussion lead by lecturers Hossam El Gabri and Taha Abdul-Basser.
The event, hosted by the Islamic Society of BU and sponsored by the Muslim American Society, was provided for students to further understanding of the response to newspaper cartoons many Muslims call offensive and insulting to their beliefs.
Abdul-Basser, a Ph.D. candidate in Arabic and Islamic studies at Harvard University and an Arabic instructor at BU, began the panel by discussing the political side of the Muslim response, while El Gabri, Boston Chapter of the Muslim America Association President, addressed the religious side of the issue.
The primary offense of the cartoon was that it was “inflammatory and insulting” to the prophet Mohammed, Abdul-Basser said.
“Attacking the prophet Mohammed is linked to an attack of the religion,” he said. “Many Muslims perceive their beliefs, their worldview, to be under a sort of attack.”
Abdul-Basser said he hoped his speech would make the audience more aware of the Muslim belief system.
“I hoped to generate questions in the mind of listeners so they could inform others with new ideas that they would not find in the media,” he said after the event.
CAS sophomore Michelle Johnson said, as a non-Muslim, the lecture helped her to better understand the Muslim response to the cartoons.
“I’d never really thought about how freedom of religion is, perhaps, just as important as freedom of speech,” she said.
El Gabri said he hoped to give more of a religious background to the response.
He said he hoped to give the audience “a tour inside a Muslim’s mind to help them understand why this cartoon would cause a lot of pain to Muslims.”
He said he hoped the lecture would clear up some misconceptions about Muslims.
“There is a lot of ignorance about Islam due to the negative impact of the media that sometimes highlights only certain aspects of who Muslims are,” he said.
CAS junior Hamed Alenezi said he hoped listening to the panelists would help him explain how Muslims feel about the cartoons.
College of Engineering sophomore Ifran Govani said he attended the lecture to hear what knowledgeable sources had to say about the cartoons.
“Witnessing how the Muslim community responded to the cartoons, I wanted to see what was behind the minds of respected people in the Boston community,” he said.
Islamic Society of BU President Yasir Bugrara said he hoped the lecture would create a greater understanding of Islam in the BU community.
“There are many people who don’t understand the Muslims’ point of view about the cartoons,” he said. “I hope this lecture will clear some incorrect assumptions and help to create a dialogue of peaceful communication.”
—Editor’s note: While The Daily Free Press stands by the decision not to reprint the offensive cartoon of Muhammad, it is our obligation to enable our readers to understand the cartoon controversy as completely as possible. Therefore, we append two links to websites that show the cartoon. As readers you now have the choice to access the cartoons that have caused the furor, however we will not force you to view them if you are among those who would find them offensive.
The first link is via Wikipedia and shows the 12 original cartoons of Muhammad printed in the Danish newspaper. The second is via a Danish news website and contains the clearest image of the most controversial cartoon, in which Muhammad is depicted wearing a bomb for a turban.—
– en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_drawings.jpg – http://www.uriasposten.net/pics/JP-011005-Muhammed-Westerga.jpg