peace at last

thanks for the mail jools - i hope you are well

lets see....the silly cartoon saga - what a bloody nuisance that was!

i just kept thinking why, why? why did they have to pour fuel on the fire that seemed at the time would consume us all

but thankfully we are finally nearing an end to the riotting and mayhem (does riotting have two t's ? )

firstly - my initial reaction was - why? so i wanted an explanation from the cartoonist, editor of the magazine - what was the meaning - i was genuinely interested

and then i wanted to ask the muslims who were screaming revulsion - whay are you screaming? can you not speak calmly - why do you need to rage? beacause the europeans are not heartless machines who will not listen to your point of view - they are willing to listen to your argument, your sensitivities - but only if you speak politely and show them the respect you want for yourselves and your prophet

but

then the news tells us - that arab diplomats who wanted to meet with danish govt officials blah blah to discuss the matter had effectively been shunned

well that is stupidity on the danish govt's part - rudeness too and probably arrogance

and so it seemed to me that there were some europeans who felt that they are the champions of freedom - i imagine in all its forms - and so they shouldnt have to answer to muslims who have no respect for freedom ...........i felt there was an element of prejudice, stereotyping i.e arab muslim = barbarian (or maybe im being too harsh - who knows- but something was wrong with the refusal to meet with the diplomats - which was worrying)

and so they felt they were sending a clear message that freedom of speech cannot be curtailed at all - whatever - but the only thing is they were curtailing the muslims right to free speech by ignoring their initial quiet protest

but moving on

i have to say that i became curious - i wanted to see the cartoons to judge for myself

bloody hell - let the individual decide if the danish magazine people had insulted the prophet or not

and also - why cant muslims be brave and take something like that on the chin - laugh back at the cartoonist for being immature in his understanding of world politics, culture, religions?

and then i think also - as muslims we have no right to dictate to another who is not of the same faith - how and what rules he/she must observe when thinking of islam and the prophet muhammad -

for god's sake we cant control anyones mind - be he/ she a muslim or not

freedom is too precious

but to the danes and others - who arrogantly bleat that they are simply upholding human rights blah blah i feel they should have been diplomatic and polite

a quick SORRY AND WE HOPE YOU CAN PARDON THIS BUT PLEASE REALISE THAT WE FEEL THE CARTOONS WERE ABOUT POLITICAL DEBATE RATHER THAN TO INSULT.......BLAH BLAH

would have been a sensible thing to do

IT WAS A SILLY TIME

BUT I HOPE MUSLIMS CAN SEE THROUGH THE STUPIDITY OF THE FEW WHO WERE HYPER AND BONKERS AND MAD AND BLOODY DISGUSTING AT TIMES

AND QUESTION WHY NON-MUSLIMS ARE QUESTIONING OUR FAITH AND ITS PEOPLE

THE MAJORITY OF MUSLIMS EXPRESSED DISAPPROVAL OF THE CARTOONS BUT DIDNT GO MAD

for me the cartoon said - muslims your religion has been tarnished by the terrorism, the corrupt governments, by the childish arrogance of community leaders and so on

it makes me want to work even harder to help build bridges and real respect between all types of humans

i hope this is a coherent answer!

peace and love