The sound of Muslims singing praises reverberated in Cape Town on Thursday, as thousands marched in protest and called for a boycott of Danish products.
The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) organised the march, which police estimated was attended by 30 000 people. It was the first mass South African response as worldwide condemnation of Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad gathered momentum.
The MJC wants an immediate and unwavering apology from the Danish prime minister and the Danish government to the global Muslim community, as well as immediate ”reproach” of the editor of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which first published the offensive cartoons.
”We demand that … [it] be implemented before the embargo against Danish products is lifted,” read a memorandum addressed by the MJC to Danish ambassador Torben Brylle.
The MJC registered its disgust at what it called an infringement of human rights and religious dignity.
”The intention of the cartoonist was clearly to undermine the holy and noble character of the beloved prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), who is revered by over 1,6-billion Muslims the world over,” read the memorandum.
It accused the Danish newspaper of taking the principle of freedom of speech to a ”very dangerous, irresponsible and unacceptable” level by showing a disregard for the sensitivities and fundamental tenets of Islam, while proclaiming to uphold the highest ethical standards based on freedom and respect.
The MJC said with freedom comes responsibility and accountability, with the paper in this regard failing a large part of the international community.
Earlier, as Muslims from gathered ahead of the march, MJC president Sheikh Ebrahim Gabriels said those who abuse the prophet Muhammad face severe punishment in the hereafter.
”I speak on behalf of all the Muslims in South Africa. We are very emotional,” said Gabriels, who nonetheless urged restraint and discipline.
A poster reading: ”One oppressor, one bullet” was taken down, as was one saying: ”Slain [sic] those who insult Islam”.
Gabriels said Muslims present at the march considered this one of the greatest moments of their lives, because they were defending the honour and personality of their prophet.
Gabriels said Muslims love the prophet Muhammad more than their parents, their children, ”even more than ourselves”.
Moulana Ihsaan Hendricks, first deputy president of the MJC, said the media are portraying the victims, Muslims, as the perpetrators, ”and the perpetrator and the victim are never the same”.
Hendricks said the Muslim population has been around in South Africa for 300 years, are ”indigenised” in the country and are not foreigners waiting for the sympathy of the government.
”Make sure that we all conduct ourselves in a manner that will be the best message of Islam here today,” he said.
This message was heard, except on two minor occasions, once when an unknown man commandeered the main microphone and stirred the crowd’s emotions by referring to the perceived enemy as ”bastards”, while exhorting the crowd with: ”We are not afraid to go to jail”.
He was quickly silenced by the more moderate members, who had taken to heart the message that the world’s eyes were on the march.
Mbeki promotes cautious approach
Meanwhile, reports Donwald Pressley, President Thabo Mbeki has told parliamentarians that he supports the view that there is no merit in publishing offending cartoons involving the prophet Muhammad.
Much of his reply to the debate on his State of the Nation speech was devoted on Thursday to the worldwide protest against the cartoons.
A cautious Mbeki said he agrees with the view expressed by a British newspaper, The Independent, which said there is ”no merit in causing gratuitous offence”.
The Independent wrote recently: ”While we defend [the Danish newspaper] Jyllands-Posten‘s right to publish, we also question its editorial judgement. It is not a decision we intend to emulate.
”This newspaper could have published the photos at the centre of this row to make a point about free speech — as newspapers in Germany, France, Italy and Spain have done — but we believe this would have been a rather cheap gesture.
”There is no merit in causing gratuitous offence, as these cartoons undoubtedly do. We believe it is possible to demonstrate our commitment to the principle of free speech in more sensible ways.”
Noting that the Danish newspaper has apologised, Mbeki reported that one of the cartoons depicts the prophet with a bomb in his turban, with a lit fuse and the Islamic creed written on the bomb. Another depicts the prophet standing on a cloud, greeting dead suicide bombers with the words, ”Stop, stop, we have run out of virgins!” — this being an allusion to the promised reward to martyrs.
Underscoring his theme of promoting social cohesion in South Africa — in the context of respecting other people’s cultures — he praised both Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille and National Democratic Convention MP Gavin Woods for their contribution to the debate.
He noted that De Lille had said that South Africa could only succeed as a nation if it recognised the problems that were faced by all communities and that South Africans were prepared to make the necessary compromises needed to address them. She had said the problems of the poor were the problems of the rich.
Woods had referred to the progress towards social integration that South Africa had seen over 12 years ”as quite exceptional against the world experience”. — I-Net Bridge, Sapa