Dear Mr President/ Prime Minister

I write to express our deep concern that the denigrating film has driven the peace-loving Muslim masses into yet another threat of extremism and terrorism. It has posed them a grave challenge they have to face, following the concerns and distress it has wreaked. It is history that no people tolerate defamation of their political or national leaders leave alone the denigration of the exalted Prophet of Muslims with over 1.5 billion followers in the world. The Prophet is the honour of the community which no people can compromise. Produced and directed by Nakoula Bassely Nakoula and promoted by the pastor, Terry Jones, the hatred film has hurt the sentiments of billions of Muslims, stoked the fire of hatred and sparked worldwide protests. It is downright conspiracy against the world peace in general and the Muslims of the world in particular to portray the peaceful Muslims as a violent and extremist community. Our failure to address this situation has allowed it to spread all over the world, with no end in sight. This situation has been unnecessarily allowed to spiral out of control and has threatened the concept of peaceful co-existence. If not addressed, it can lead to a potential clash of not only civilizations but religions and societies as well. Particularly, in war against extremism and terrorism, all the nations of the world stand united, bringing the societies and religions of the world closer to each other and reducing the gaps to the minimum. We strongly believe that the day is not far when the plague will be eliminated and the humanity will inhabit the planet with serenity, tranquillity and unity.

The Muslim world is already passing through a sensitive phase of its history, and is engaged in fighting against many perils simultaneously to make its way to the goal of advancement, peace and stability. The ugliest menace it is trying to rid of is terrorism. In this perspective, picking up a tool like producing a denigrating film, hurting the sentiments of the entire Muslim community, blazing the inferno of violence, creating anti-US sentiments on the one hand and portraying Muslims as an intolerant, violent, and extremist community on the other is certainly a real threat to world peace and efforts to promote moderation, integration, peaceful coexistence, interfaith tolerance and harmony round the globe. This ignoble film has in this way jeopardized US interests as well as the Muslim world’s struggle in line with UN policies.

You will certainly disincline to disagree that, according to the proven thought of psychic pathology and mob psychology, all violent reactions have their roots in some spiteful, malicious and detesting stimulants. The obnoxious film episode is no exception to the rule. Needling someone’s heart and rending sentiments of love and veneration for some inviolable personage indeed hurts deep and for long. The pain excruciates when the tenderest area is pricked with venom. The Revealed Books and the Prophets like Moses, Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad are those vulnerable points where the love and reverence of all the believers repose. They are the nucleus of faith of the people’s collective as well as individual selves where lancing proves fatal. This is applicable to the followers of all religions and is not pertinent to Muslims alone. The blow given by the loathsome film is unimaginably toxic and brutal.

As for the significance of free speech, we believe in that as one of the basic human rights, enshrined not only in the US constitution and law but also in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Bill of Rights and in all the regional documents on basic human rights. However, the libel law and defamation law entrenched in the constitutions of many countries simultaneously ensure the safeguarding of basic human rights such as human dignity. So free speech is a basic human right but human dignity too is a basic human right with equal weight. Constitutions and laws prevent behaviour detrimental to human dignity. Even the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution cares so much for human dignity that it decrees: “A punishment must not by its severity be degrading to human dignity.” How then can human behaviour in general be permitted to be hurtful and degrading?

Former Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr Kofi Annan said: “I also respect the right of freedom of speech. But of course freedom of speech is never absolute. It entails responsibility and judgment.”

Former British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said: “There is freedom of speech, we all respect that. But there is not any obligation to insult or to be gratuitously inflammatory. … There are taboos in every religion. It is not the case that there is open season in respect of all aspects of Christian rites and rituals in the name of free speech. Nor is it the case that there is open season in respect of rights and rituals of the Jewish religion, the Hindu religion, the Sikh religion. It should not be the case in respect of the Islamic religion either. We have to be very careful about showing the proper respect in this situation.”

Former US State Department’s Spokesman, Kurtis Cooper, once said: “We all fully respect freedom of the press and expression but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatred in this manner is not acceptable.”

Former French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said: “The principle of freedom should be exercised in a spirit of tolerance, respect of beliefs, respect of religions, which is the very basis of secularism of our country.”

If internationally recognized principles of tolerance and coexistence are put aside and moral and religious values are dishonoured, then the present situation will worsen and the prevailing tensions will intensify.

We need to evolve some mechanism to put an end to these horrific occurrences which may prove a potential threat to world peace. Those who advocate that the right to freedom of speech is being eroded and any restraints upon it cannot be tolerated must look within their own “democratic societies” and the extent to which their civil liberties have been eroded through the recent anti-terrorist legislation. These are the measures that have curtailed the rights and liberties of individuals and have much more serious implications which need to be addressed. Muslims are feeling alienated and targeted. Thus, when the most sacred elements of their faith are ridiculed or the most esteemed Prophet of Islam is insulted or defamed, reactions will inevitably be high.

While holding the freedom of speech in high esteem, there is no religion in the world that allows defamation of holy dignitaries, Messengers and Prophets and the words of God. Even the Bible—the Old Testament and the New Testament—forbid defamation of Holy Moses and Holy Christ. In this connection, Old Testament Leviticus 24:13–16; Leviticus 24:23; 2 Samuel 12:14; and New Testament Matthew 12:32; Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10 refer.

Islam, being a revealed religion in continuation, has made it a part of faith to venerate all the Prophets and Messengers, especially Moses, Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad. All the Abrahamic religions of the world strictly forbid the denigration of the Prophets. But the reverence of the Prophets ordained in the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qur’an does not at all deny any human being the right to freedom of speech.

Seen in this context and in the perspective of the genetics of psychic pathologies, the producers, the directors and the promoters of the heinous film do not come within the ambit of freedom of speech; rather they exploit the US constitutional provision of freedom of speech to their own ends, and in doing so threaten US interests by igniting terrorist groups who will further exploit the film in their favour.

Mr President/ Prime Minister,

Muslim economies and communities are being strangled by extremist and terrorists elements; they earnestly desire an end to this plague at the earliest. They only ill afford any fresh conflicts, particularly those potent enough to jeopardize the peace process. The current film predicament falls into this category, but it has befallen them unaware and has knocked the bottom from under their feet.

Islam denounces violence, extremism and terrorism, such as we have seen during the protests. I have previously expanded upon this subject in my book Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings. Since 9/11, simultaneously, we have struggled against violent extremism and terrorism the world over, and my book attempts to bring about conceptual clarity on many questions in this connection. This book has already been submitted to your office.

When the British newspaper, The Independent (January 27, 2003), depicted the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, eating the head of a Palestinian child while saying, “What’s wrong, you’ve never seen a politician kissing babies before?”, this caused an uproar in Israel and other parts of the world, raising tempers especially in the Jewish communities around the world. Whatever the matter of that caricature, the uproar was a natural reaction of a people for their leader.

When the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi compared himself to Jesus Christ, the Vatican and a number of Italian politicians immediately expressed shock and anger at these comments. A senior Catholic Church official added, “I know he will say he was speaking in jest but such things should not be spoken of in jest.”

The issue here is not one of curtailing freedom of expression but objecting to the ridicule and insult of the Holy Prophet of Islam that has infringed the sentiments of billions of Muslims on the globe. No Scripture permits this destructive behaviour.

According to “the law of defamation”, the absolute right to free expression is curtailed in order to balance the rights of an individual. In the same way, an act that causes offence to a whole community can never be justified under the banner of freedom of speech. Moreover, in many countries, it is illegal or at least discouraged to degrade or abuse the constitution or certain national institutions such as the army, courts of law, or parliament. Contempt of court also exists all over the world which severely limits freedom of speech, violation of which can lead to imprisonment. So the right to freedom of expression is no more absolute; it is seen in relation to other basic human rights. Therefore, hurting the sentiments of a community cannot be weighed against an individual’s freedom of speech.

In reality, the issue is not one of curtailing the “right to freedom of expression” since this is a right that is not absolute and no one can claim so. Rights are reciprocal and their enforcement is interdependent on other fundamental rights. To insist that a right is absolute is erroneous since such a right can infringe other basic human rights. Every country that claims to be part of the “civilized and democratic” world has put its own limits on freedom of expression in the interests of society in order to maintain a certain level of human behaviour, be it based on local norms and customs, culture or religion, but in essence to protect the dignity of their moral and religious, social and societal values.

The free propagation of child pornography for instance or the incitements of religious or racial hatred in the media is banned in many countries and quite rightly so. In many European countries it is a crime to deny the Holocaust, being a criminal offence in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland, and is punishable by fines and a jail sentence.

There is an agreement between many nations that such a ban is not against freedom of speech and freedom of expression because it infringes the sentiments of a religious community. The defamation of a religion too is a crime that injures the whole community that believes in it and should not be covered under any freedom, especially when it may threaten world peace, interfaith harmony and inter-communal integration.

To give respect to an individual’s honour and dignity and religious freedom is a fundamental human right protected by law. The UN Charter, along with constitutions and laws of many countries, provides protection to these rights.

The UN Charter recognizes these rights in Article 1 (iii):

To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

It is also recognized in the European Convention on Human Rights Article 9:

Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Prohibitive Laws on Defamation of Religions

Many European countries have laws on their statute books that forbid defamation of religion. For example:

1. Austria: Articles 188–189 of the Criminal Code
2. Finland: Section 10 of chapter 17 of the Penal Code
3. Germany: Article 166 of the Criminal Code
4. The Netherlands: Article 147 of the Criminal Code
5. Spain: Article 525 of the Criminal Code
6. Ireland: Article 40.6.1.i of the constitution of Ireland provides that the publication of blasphemous matter is an offence. Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989 includes hatred against a group on account of their religion.
7. Canada: Section 296 of the Canadian Criminal Code
8. New Zealand: Section 123 of the New Zealand Crimes Act, 1961
9. Churches, for instance, hold sanctity in the Christian world and are protected under the constitution in some European countries. An example is the constitution of Denmark, section 4 [State Church] which states: “The Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of Denmark, and, as such, it shall be supported by the State.”

Moreover, these laws or traditions have been enforced or practised from time to time in similar situations. For example:

1. Gerhard Haderer’s cartoon book, The Life of Jesus, was banned in Greece in 2003 under Greek laws of “blasphemy” and “insulting religion”.
2. In 2008, during a punk festival in Linköping, Sweden used marketing posters showing Satan defecating on Jesus on the cross, under the slogan “Punx against Christ [sic]!” The poster was taken down by the municipality of Linköping.
3. On 8 September 2011, UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, advertising watchdog, banned Phones4U mobile phone ad featuring an image of Jesus Christ after receiving almost 100 complaints that it “mocked and belittled” the Christian faith. According to the watchdog, the cartoon picture of Jesus winking and giving a thumbs-up sign was “disrespectful to the Christian faith”.
4. In 1997 Tatyana Suskin—also spelled Tatiana Soskin—was apprehended in Hebron while attempting to attach to an Arab storefront a drawing she had made depicting Muhammad as a pig reading the Koran. The incident created considerable tension, and she received a two year sentence.
5. In February 2005, the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden, decided to remove the painting “Scène d’Amour” by Louzla Darabi.
6. In February 2006, the activist Manfred van H. was convicted in Germany and sentenced to one year of prison.
7. Gregorius Nekschot, a Dutch cartoonist collaborator of Theo van Gogh, was arrested on May 13, 2008. His house was searched by ten policemen and his computer and sketch books were confiscated. He was held in jail for interrogation and was made to remove eight cartoons from his website at the request of the public prosecutor for being discriminatory against the Muslims.
8. In 2010, the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art quietly withdrew all images of the Prophet Mohammed from display because of Muslims who say the images are blasphemous.
9. In 2002, the release of the video game Hitman 2: Silent Assassin sparked controversy due to a level featuring the killing of Sikhs within a depiction of their most holy site, the Harmandir Sahib. An altered version of Silent Assassin was eventually released with the related material removed from the game.
10. In 2004, a theatre in Birmingham, England, cancelled the performance of the play Behzti (Dishonour) by playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti. The play depicted sex abuse and murder in a gurdwara—Sikh temple.
11. On 26 September, 2012, Google’s President of Brazil Operations was arrested for failing to remove YouTube videos. The president of Google operations in Brazil, Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, was detained by the country