Messenger of Allah Unites us

I don’t think that the demands made by Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist, in this report appearing in the Jordan Times today, August 22, 08. http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=10225; were very highly outrageous ones.

The prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba where they have been held since their capture made similar demands and were accommodated. They demanded that the food that they eat doesn’t contain any type of pork in it; they asked for and received a copy of the holy book Quran. They were given pieces of rug to prey on it as well as bathrooms to perform their ablution prior to the prayers.

The part that I don’t understand is whether Mr. Westergaard was sincere in asking for these things or whether he was trying to show case the fact that pork is prohibited in the Muslim world as well as the prisoners are prohibited from reading books, magazines, or any other literature.

Given the fact that he is a septuagenarian man, I would have to take his word for it and not accuse him of trying do more mocking about the pork, the prison cell, conditions and the reading material.

I honestly would like to see Mr. Westegaard come to Jordan and confront his accusers in an open court, I’m sure that the Jordanian government is more than capable of providing the necessary arrangement for his protection as well as for his accommodation during his stay in Jordan.

His is a real classic case about the clash between freedoms of speech, freedom of expression, versus theological interpretation of what is blasphemous and what is sanctimonious. I mean why not, let justice take its course, the man says that he has nothing against Islam, he doesn’t feel that he has done anything wrong, he isn’t about to apologize for doing something that he feels falls under his freedom of expression rights.

His accusers believe that he slandered the prophet of Islam by depicting him in very provocative manners. If he can prove his innocence then he will be off the hook, and if he get convicted he will understand that he wasn’t within his rights and he may have stepped off the line. All in all it would be very interesting to watch and see justice take precedent over personal animus.