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Think of me as a Muslim who does not mind painting or drawing the Prophet Muhammad. Will I get mad when I see the insulting cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad on the cover of Charlie Hebdo magazine? The answer is yes! My conscience was disturbed and even hurt by it.
You and I can see paintings of the Prophet Muhammad, such as those in the Istanbul Topkapi Library and the Edinburgh University Library in Scotland. Just type on your smartphone! Although it is forbidden, in the paintings it is very clear that the painter poured his brush as a sense of reverence, respect for the Prophet. This is in contrast to what Charlie Hebdo did!
I love Prophet Muhammad and I still study him today. In the process of studying it, I found obvious traces of how some European scholars mocked the Prophet Muhammad. Actually, my heart broke when reading those indirect comments. But how else? These are historical facts that I must swallow. I mean, I read and criticize while thinking about how these negative opinions can be born and accepted by the European community.
Why does Charlie Hebdo magazine make fun of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad? Including some European citizens, especially those who are anti-Islamic?
I think hopefully it is not an exaggeration, what Charlie Hebdo magazine has done is closely related to the long history of how biased views of European scholars on the Prophet Muhammad and Islam.
In fact, what Charlie Hebdo magazine has done will only become an obstacle in the relationship between civilizations and interfaiths that they have pioneered so far. Including Fergerry Watt’s information in the book Prophet and statesman, works in a tone of contempt, mockery, defamation, even slander of Prophet Muhammad, and Islam cannot be used as a solid basis for establishing mutually beneficial relationships among humanity. (p. 350). He added, of all the great figures in the world, no one was so insulted as the Prophet Muhammad (Watt, 349).
Of course, it must be admitted that acts of violence in the name of religion (Islam) such as ISIS, the Al-Qaeda network, including acts of terrorism in the country, have contributed to building a negative image of Islam in the eyes of the world. In fact, Charlie Hebdo has also acted on behalf of such a version of the war against Islam by presenting these heartbreaking cartoons.
However, it should also be noted that this negative view of Islam was also based on the contribution of some Western scholars. Yes, although today many Western scholars have narrated the Prophet Muhammad and Islam with a more comprehensive approach, still, the narratives of some of the mocking Orientalists still exist and have been embedded in people’s perceptions of Islam. .
The mockery of the Prophet Muhammad isn’t actually something that happened recently, actually. Long before the Crusades began in the 12th century, the great figure of the prophet Muhammad had been slapped by his name as Mahound, the prince of darkness. In the era of the Crusades, Islam and its followers were seen as a kind of joke that would have a negative impact on their morality (Watt, 350). That means that you should not be close to Islam, much less become its follower! Islam is seen as the “great enemy” of the European-Christian civilization.
Next, we can see how the slander against the Prophet Muhammad was narrated by the Orientalists of the Enlightenment. Starting with the Prophet was considered a fraud, he was afflicted with epilepsy and had lustful sexual desires and was described as someone with pedophilia.
Before discussing it, again, I do not intend to instill hatred in the West, no! But, this is the dark notion of some views that were once born by that civilization about Prophet Muhammad and Islam. The point of view comes from a sense of westernity that is considered advanced, superior and civilized, while Islam and the eastern world are backward and inferior.
Prophet Muhammad has also been described as a false prophet who brought false news. This view is derived from the principle that there is no truth outside the church. Christianity is believed to be the “truth” and there is no truth outside of Christianity. The only thing outside Christianity is the devil (anti-God) and therefore Islam is the devil’s work and Muhammad was inspired by him. With this in mind, there is no reason to accept Islam. And Muhammad is none other than the false prophet. This information can be seen in the work of Jabal Muhammad Buaben entitled Image of the prophet Muhammad in the West.
Another indictment on the psychology of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. Some Orientalists call it epilepsy. This accusation was made after Prophet Muhammad, as a child, was cut off by two angels. Orientalists like William Muir commented that Muhammad had epilepsy or epilepsy.
The accusation of this epileptic disease is reinforced by what the Prophet experienced when he received the revelation by dropping the beads of sweat and his body trembling. This accusation was later refuted by various Muslim scholars who declared the error of the Orientalists in reading the Prophet’s sirah. They mispronounced the word Usĩb to the Greek in epilepsy! Scholars who view the Prophet Muhammad sympathetically like Montgomery Watt also contradict this claim.
The family life of the Prophet Muhammad, he said, received strong attention from Western writers. In the philosophical and religious views of the medieval West, sex and chastity could not be combined. Also, the practice of polygamy of the Prophet Muhammad. The marriage of Prophet Muhammad to Sayyidah Zainab bint Jahsyi, the former wife of Zaid bin Haritsah, who was once the adopted son of the Prophet, was written as a kind of romance.
Sadly, the Prophet Muhammad was described as fascinated by the beauty of the ummul Mukminin Zainab when he opened the door of his house and discovered that Zainab was in his room. His marriage to Aisyah, who is still nine years old, is also accused of being a form of pedophilia.
Allahumma willi alaa sayyidina Muhammad!
Really, in the bottom of my heart, I really don’t want to write all this – telling the ridicule, the slander and the insults of the kanjeng of Prophet Muhammad. But that is the reality in our academic history. Of course my heart breaks when I read it, much less write it like that. However, my hope is that all of this can make us realize that the jihad that presents Islam as a religion of compassion has no last word.
I, you and all of us have a duty to make Islam become rahmatan lil alamin, studying and imitating the Prophet Muhammad as the best role model in the practice of life. Security, tranquility, peace, as a manifestation of these exemplary efforts, are felt by us, the environment, the country and the global world that is not doing well.
