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A turban of our choice!

Article Summary: This is pretty much the message conceived within the Danish cartoons or the Dutch documentary. The cartoonist made a clear statement saying: this is the image Muslims are promoting of their Prophet and their religion! The time-bomb-like turban topping a rigid face stands as a symbol, for the message of Islam had been long delivered prior to the invention of gunpowder in China, and there are no credible historical resources that give an illustration of the Prophet's countenance. The cartoon stood for how the world pictures radical Muslims.

A turban of our choice!


Stabbed in my integrity, my pride, my whole existence … I have never been as viciously offended as when a virtual friend came to express his take on Prophet Mohammed: “he was a pedophile”! The few words left me speechless, questioning whether the whole openness experience online was the right decision to make. The outraged child in me craved for an instant retaliation, but the American young man was an agnostic, hence, turning on Christianity in revenge would have been a losing battle! Muslims are obliged to pay respect to prior messengers as a pillar of their belief. I wrapped up the discussion by hinting the absurdity of assuming that a religion embraced by almost quarter the population upon the surface of earth could have been preached by a pedophile!

Taking the blasphemy to a personal level was very applicable, and it was personal indeed, considering that Muslims are inspired by the Prophet’s most significant characteristic: his mortality. Muslims neither worship nor iconize Mohammed; they resemble his demeanor in almost every aspect of life … prayers, almsgiving, family ties, commerce, and so on and so forth. It is true; some tend to exploit the canon, which seems to be very common a phenomenon along the history of mankind, while others hold on to husks rather than substance. However, that exceptional relation bonding Muslims to their Prophet explains why they emotionally react whenever someone offends Mohammed.

In Europe, it is a whole different situation. Religion has retreated in role to merely a cultural component … a feature within the background scene. Cathedrals and churches are mostly redundant, and the separation between church and state had divested the Christian clergymen of their authorities. People submit instead to the power of laws and ethics, which holds no sanctity for tenets against criticism or even mockery.

What has converted a fourteen centuries old religion into humanity’s worst nightmare during the past few years? Conspiracy theorists would point their fingers on the Western mass media. A quick look at the ongoing race for presidency in the United States bares it all! It has become essential for contemporary politicians to maintain acting expertise … massive personnel of highly skilled artists are hired in order to monopolize the public and global opinion, but a dramatic plot remains flat without the role played by the villain! Every super power is in need of an equivalent menace to legitimize its expansion, the collapse of the former Soviet Union had left an empty seat that had to be filled … an enemy to the free world, and there arose Islam to occupy the vacancy. A religion was twisted to create an impact on the audience … spectators of the show.

In a fast food culture that dominates our world; qualities like extra crunchy, crispy, juicy, creamy, and spicy make the menu. Natural and healthy are no longer in fashion … customers will not buy, and green is out of trend. Thus, no one cared to seek the greenness in Islam, who would waste time to listen to the boring voice of the moderate Muslim, and miss the thrill of falling towers, chopped bodies, and abused women? People in the darkness of the theatre want to chew caramelized popcorn to a breathtaking pace of suspense, who would ask for a bowl of Salad?

The history of Islam is not a whole blank page either, like all religions … atrocities and genocides have been committed along the way, but on the other hand; Muslims have positively contributed to the march of humanity in so many ways … sciences, arts, literature, philosophy. Many of today’s technological accomplishments stand upon the solid foundations set by Muslim scientist and inventors, and if Islam was totally evil and narrow-minded; how come it preserved for humanity monuments like the Sphinx of Egypt, which must have been the largest known idol at that time, all the ruins of Mesopotamia, and the Hindu-Buddhist temples in Asia? Muslims had taken over the Holy Lands long centuries ago, yet all the Jewish and Christian landmarks had been kept unharmed.

I believe the critical question for Muslims to ask now is: why do we expect Westerners to hold a positive impression of Islam? That query should precede the most frequently asked question throughout the Islamic world: why does the West adopt such a spiteful assessment of Muslims? Trying to come to a conclusion; I attempted trading places … had I been an American, or a European, with absolutely no substantial background about Islam and its teachings; my opinions could have been very well shaped by the available resources of information: the media, the worldwide transmitted scenes of heartless men beheading their victims, violating all human rights, and shouting "Allah is Great"! No sane human being can sympathize with such a doctrine, yet some are enlightened enough to seek knowledge in books and studies, however … only a few of those are available in languages other than Arabic! The average Westerner is quoted on texts, or linked to scriptures taken out of context, and he feels he has seen, heard, and read enough. When I asked the American young man to mention a positive Muslim model … he could only recognize, after a while, Mohammed Ali Clay!

This is pretty much the message conceived within the Danish cartoons or the Dutch documentary. The cartoonist made a clear statement saying: this is the image Muslims are promoting of their Prophet and their religion! The time-bomb-like turban topping a rigid face stands as a symbol, for the message of Islam had been long delivered prior to the invention of gunpowder in China, and there are no credible historical resources that give an illustration of the Prophet's countenance. The cartoon stood for how the world pictures radical Muslims.

In 1830, Victor Hugo wrote his classic "Notre Dame de Paris", subtly expressing the corruption and brutality of the Catholic Church in the fifteenth century. The author chose to name the novel after the famous cathedral in Paris, with its unique Gothic architecture; known for being inconsiderate of the human scale both in dimensions and sculptures, utterly coercive in imposing religious themes upon the publics, who had been least esteemed in comparison to the power given to the clerics, represented in the novel by the awkward archdeacon. I often mention that Islam is currently experiencing its medieval era, and unless Muslims initiate self-reformations; I believe it will be a long time before our Renaissance comes!

There are massive responsibilities for the moderate Muslims to undertake, and it is a hard task indeed, no global forum will be easily offered to express the virtues of Islam, I have faced rejection myself, but there is still much work to be done if we want to change the misconception; the turban on the stereotype! We can practice the Islam that we believe in, we can be role models in the smallest of scales, we can teach our children what true Islam is all about: to be loving and compassionate, to be accepting of others no matter how different they might be. Muslims in the West need to quit their ghettos and interact with the communities they chose to settle within, not by imposing their Sharia law upon them, but by the very Islamic values of honesty, decency, chastity, helping neighbors, and feeding the hungry … sooner or later, that will come to change the image of the turban, and only then; Islam will no longer represent violence, malice, and death.


Ali Shakir
Iraqi architect and artist living in Jordan
Amman … April, 8th, 2008

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Ali Shakir