A Pakistani Muslim’s Perspective

Facebook is the third most accessed website from Pakistan. It has become a part of life for people not just in Pakistan, but across the globe. Perhaps Maybe just too important a part, as because I have seen people planning things just only so that they can update their status on facebook. It is an easy and convenient way of staying in touch for with other people and or expressing their views and opinions, from something as mundane as weather to more hard-hitting topics such as politics and history.

While I have always held the belief that people take Facebook way too seriously, I am compelled to write this article about Facebook. The Lahore High Court of Pakistan ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block access to Facebook on the following stance:

“‘Facebook’, has deliberately or recklessly been responsible for immense hurt and discomfort caused to the majority of Muslim population of Pakistan by deliberately or recklessly not taking any effective measures for preventing, stopping or blocking the very blasphemous contest of ‘Everybody draw Mohammad day’ to which it has complete and autonomous authority and has already built-in mechanism for blocking such very blasphemous misbehavior or misconduct”.

This ban affects 2.3 million Facebook users in Pakistan. This move was coupled with the banning of eight hundred websites, including YouTube. In addition, the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan has also been directed to lodge an official protest with the U.S. State Department. Apart from the official government stance, the general Muslim sentiment on this issue is that Facebook is a social networking website and its should restrict itself to just that, instead of becoming a forum for hurting the sentiments of a particular religious group.

I am a Pakistani Muslim. I was raised to be an individual who believes that Allah and the Prophet Muhammad should be given the same level of love and respect as we give our parents. To us, the Prophet is just as near, just as real and just as important as any close family member. I was also taught the basic tenets of Democracy and Freedom, the right to express through speech or writing whatever it was that I needed to say. I was taught to accord the same right to others. The most important thing, however was to ensure that whatever I said or did should not, in any way, under any circumstances, hurt another individual. This is where I was taught to draw the line.

There are people, I know, who say that it is harmless fun and that Muslims should not be offended. But yet, when you grow up thinking that one is to love and honor someone, one cannot tolerate insolence towards them. So yes, when i I hear that there are people who are drawing caricatures or cartoons of the Prophet, I find it just as distasteful as saying something against someone’s family member. This is an act that can only evoke negative reactions. Muslims, therefore, feel outraged.

Having said that, I disagree with the High Court’s orders of banning Facebook in Pakistan for two reasons. One, and this I have said many times, we as Muslims need to be stronger and better as a nation. Islam is a religion of peace and all we exhibit is hatred and violence. It is in instances such as this that we need to act maturely and sensibly, instead, we make a spectacle out of ourselves by being overly emotional and sentimental. Those who are mocking our Prophet are doing it because of how we conduct ourselves. Muslims are what is wrong with Islam. Without understanding the principles of Islam, we preach and judge others and when we are criticized, we become violent in our defense. We are a weak nation and if the world sees us this way, it is because that is how we portray ourselves.

Secondly, I believe that everyone does have the right to say or do whatever it is that they will. Mankind has come very far in pursuit of the rights to think, express and speak freely, and no court should disallow it. Also, I believe that people can only mature in their thoughts and behaviors when they are confronted with issues such as these. These should be taken as an exercise towards more evolved and cultured thinking. But freedom of thought, expression and speech comes with a responsibility as well, to be sensitive to others’ beliefs. I believe most of the time when we say something about someone, it is more a reflection on us, than on them. It is often more about how we see things often, rather than what they truly are. So really, if someone has the time and inclination to make some cartoons or caricatures, that’s fine by me. It is their time, their energy, their creativity being used on something that will really get them nothing.

I know people will disagree with me, and they can because it is their right, just as it is my right to say what I want to say. Voicing opinions can be very tricky, not only because we need to maintain the delicate balance between constructive criticism and mockery. So there it is, my opinion. I know that I am being judgmental, which is what these cartoons and caricatures are all about. We judge and we are judged. There is a high road to be taken here, but i guess we are too busy making judgments to consider it.

- by Batool Fatima (MPP 09/11)