Saudi Arabia says no to protest against US-made anti-Islam film
By
Agha Iqrar Haroon |
Sep 21, 2012
Thousands of Pakistanis are burning properties of their country
against US-made, anti-Islam film and cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in
a French magazine. The whole Muslim world has had bloody protests since
this film was released except for Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates
(UAE) where no such protest has been observed, confirming the fact that
people of these countries follow the official guideline before acting
against anything. History confirms that Muslims out of the holy land are
more sentimental over the issue of any derogation against the last
prophet of Islam – Muhammad - who is the most sacred personality of any
living Muslim. Muslims living anywhere in the world, including North
America, Africa, and Europe, are perturbed by constant derogation of
Islam by the western media, and protests are being observed in these
countries as well but in a moderate and civilized way.
Al Arabiya News reports that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, billionaire
nephew of Saudi Arabia’s king, said on Tuesday only a minority were
involved in violent anti-US protests over a film mocking the Prophet
Mohammad, and Islam was too strong to warrant such an uproar over the
matter. Known for his investments in some of the world’s top firms,
including Citigroup, Alwaleed told Reuters in an interview that reforms
in his homeland, the world’s top oil exporter, were not going fast
enough and that Arab states must learn lessons from Arab Spring revolts
to avoid being swept by more violence.
Albawaba News reports that the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, the
highest religious authority in the kingdom, on Saturday condemned the
attacks against diplomatic representations as contrary to Islam after
protests that have rocked the Arab and Muslim world. Sheikh Abdulaziz
bin Abdullah Al al Sheikh condemned the anti-Islamic film, “The
Innocence of Muslims,” which sparked protests and called on governments
and international bodies to criminalize insults against the prophets.
“It is forbidden to punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty
or attack those who were given the protection of their lives and their
property or public buildings exposed to fire or destruction,” said the
Grand Mufti in a speech quoted by the SPA news agency.
Describing the film as “pathetic” and “criminal,” he said attacks
against innocent people and diplomats were “as a deformation of the
Islamic religion.” They “are not accepted by God,” he said.
According to Press TV, Saudi police is making random arrests of
people who allegedly look suspicious and are planning any protest
against the blasphemous film.
Guardian reports that security forces in Islamic countries are
bracing for a day of anti-western fury, with international protests
planned against a YouTube video ridiculing Muslims, and French cartoons
mocking the prophet Muhammad.
France has closed embassies and schools in about 20 countries around
the world after the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published a series
of cartoons depicting the prophet, including two showing him naked.
Pakistan has drafted in troops to protect foreign embassies and
blocked mobile phone signals in about 15 cities after thousands of
violent protesters clashed with police on Thursday. The government has
declared Friday “a day of love for the prophet,” a move welcomed by the
Taliban, and that risks substantially increasing the already high threat
of violence on the traditional Islamic holy day.
The American embassy in Pakistan has been running television
advertisements, one featuring the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton,
emphasizing that the US government had nothing to do with the film.
The US and French embassies were closed on Friday in Jakarta, the
capital of Indonesia, and diplomatic missions in the Afghan capital,
Kabul, were on lockdown.
The cartoons in the French satirical weekly have provoked relatively
little street anger, although about 100 Iranians demonstrated outside
the French embassy in Tehran.
In Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab spring revolts, the Islamist-led government banned anti-cartoon protests planned for Friday. Four people died and almost 30 were wounded last week when protesters incensed by the anti-Islam film stormed the US embassy.
Condemning the publication of the cartoons in France as an act
verging on incitement, Egypt’s grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, said on Thursday
it showed how polarized the west and the Muslim world had become.
Muhammad and his companions had endured “the worst insults from the
non-believers of his time,” he wrote on the Reuters blog Faith World.
“Not only was his message routinely rejected, but he was often chased
out of town, cursed, and physically assaulted on numerous occasions.
“But his example was always to endure all personal insults and
attacks without retaliation of any sort. There is no doubt that, since
the prophet is our greatest example in this life, this should also be
the reaction of all Muslims.”
Last week, Egyptian protesters scaled the US embassy walls and tore
down the flag. They clashed with police for four days, although most of
the thousands who took to the streets did so peacefully.
Gomaa said insults to Islam and the response, including the killing
of the US ambassador in Libya and attacks on other western embassies in
the region, could not be dissociated from other points of conflict
between the west and the Muslim world.
He cited the treatment of Muslims at the US detention center in
Guantánamo Bay, the US-led war in Iraq, drone attacks in Yemen and
Pakistan, and the demonization of Muslims by far-right European parties
as “underlying factors” for the tension.
“To then insist on igniting these simmering tensions by publishing
hurtful and insulting material in a foolhardy attempt at bravado –
asserting the superiority of western freedoms over alleged Muslim
closed-mindedness – verges on incitement,” he wrote.
After the invasion of the US embassy in Tunis on Friday last week,
the Tunisian interior ministry banned protests against the cartoon this
Friday “to prevent human and material losses.”
In an attempt to defuse tensions, the EU, the organisation of the
Islamic Conference, the Arab League, and the African Union issued a
joint message.
“We share a profound respect for all religions,” it said, “We are
united in our belief in the fundamental importance of religious freedom
and tolerance. We condemn any advocacy of religious hatred that
constitutes incitement to hostility and violence. While fully
recognizing freedom of expression, we believe in the importance of
respecting all prophets, regardless of which religion they belong to.
“The anguish of Muslims at the production of the film insulting
Islam, posting of its trailer on the Internet, and other similar acts is
shared by all individuals and communities who refuse to allow religion
to be used to fuel provocation, confrontation, and extremism.”
The furor over the anti-Islam film and the cartoons has presented a
tough challenge to authorities in Arab countries where popular uprisings
have overthrown entrenched autocrats.
In Libya, where militias that helped overthrow Muammar Gaddafi still
wield much power, the foreign minister offered a further apology for the
death of the US ambassador, Chris Stevens, to the visiting US deputy
Secretary of State, William Burns, on Thursday.
Stevens and three other embassy staff died in an attack on the US
consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi by gunmen among a crowd
protesting against the film that denigrated the prophet.
AFP reports huge crowds attempted to storm Islamabad’s diplomatic
enclave Thursday, and similar demonstrations took place around the
world, with crowds from Nigeria to Iran and Afghanistan chanting: “Death
to France” and “Death to America.”
Western missions across the Islamic world are on high alert ahead of Friday prayers, which are often followed by protests.
The Pakistani government has called an impromptu public holiday on
Friday - a “day of love for the prophet” - and has urged people to
protest peacefully to show their opposition to the crudely made
“Innocence of Muslims” film.
All of Pakistan’s major political parties and religious groups have
announced protests, as have many trade and transport organizations.
Shops, markets, and petrol stations will close, and transport is
likely to come to a standstill, but authorities will hope there is no
repeat of the violence seen on the streets of the capital on Thursday.
Around 5,000 angry protesters, many armed with wooden clubs, battled
police near Islamabad’s heavily-guarded diplomatic enclave, demanding
access to the US embassy, as police used tear gas and live rounds to
disperse the crowd.
There have been dozens of protests against the film across Pakistan
in the past week, and two people have died, but Thursday was the first
time violence erupted in the capital.
Dozens of officers were wounded, and a police post burnt to the
ground before army troops were eventually called in to disperse the
protesters, who had breached a wall of shipping containers designed to
hold them back.
The film has triggered protests in at least 20 countries since
excerpts were posted online, and more than 30 people have been killed in
related violence.
The US State Department on Thursday warned its citizens to avoid
travel to Pakistan, and Washington paid to air adverts on Pakistani
television in a bid to disassociate the US government from the
inflammatory film.
US interests bore the brunt of the first wave of protests against the
amateurish film, which depicts Mohammed as a thuggish sexual deviant.
But this week, France also found itself in the firing line after the
French satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo, printed a batch of cartoons
caricaturing the founder of Islam, including two showing him naked.
French authorities banned a demonstration planned for Saturday in
front of Paris’s Grand Mosque, and will close diplomatic missions,
cultural centers, and French schools in around 20 Muslim countries on
Friday.
The French interior ministry has said it will deny all requests for
permits to protest against the film after a demonstration last weekend
near the US embassy in Paris turned violent.
Leaders of France’s Muslim community - the largest in Western Europe -
said an appeal for calm would be read in mosques across the country on
Friday but also condemned Charlie Hebdo for publishing “insulting”
images.
The magazine’s Editor, Stephane Charbonnier, mocked those angered by
the cartoons as “ridiculous clowns” and accused the government of
pandering to them by criticizing the magazine for being provocative.
The United States is still investigating a deadly attack on one of
its consulates in Libya after the row first erupted that left four US
officials dead, including the ambassador.
The White House confirmed that FBI investigators suspected that
Al-Qaeda may have been linked to the September 11 attack on the Benghazi
compound.
However, it is not yet clear whether the attack by armed militants
sprang out of the protest movement against the privately-produced film
or whether it was a pre-planned assault by an organized Islamist
faction.
US President Barack Obama’s spokesman called the killings a
“terrorist attack” and said officials were probing reports that the
militants could have links to Al-Qaeda or its North African offshoot.
Separately, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that a
senior panel would be appointed to review security in the wake of the
killings. She was also to brief lawmakers on the investigation into the
attack.
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