Danish Cartoons - on display at NYU THIS WEEK!
Published by Haseeb March 26th, 2006 in Islam, Current News(Forwarded to me by Brother Khalid Latif, Chaplain, NYU)
On March 29th, this upcoming wednesday, an event is being held by a student organization at NYU called the Objectivist Club. The event’s purpose is to analyze the issue of free speech with an emphasis put on a series of cartoons recently published in a Danish newspaper that depicted the Prophet Muhammad 
, peace be upon him, and Islam in a highly offensive manner. The student group is planning on displaying the cartoons at the event and we have been meeting with the university and its administration to ensure that they will not. The event itself and the topic that the students would like to discuss is not problematic in any way, but the pictures themselves are just hatred and there is really no justification in preaching something that breeds that kind of hate.
I am asking you as my collegues and classmates, as my acquaintances and friends, and as my brothers and sisters to help us ensure that these cartoons are not displayed. If you could take the time to immediately send an email to John Sexton john.sexton@nyu.edu, the president of NYU, as well as Bob Butler bob.butler@nyu.edu , the director of student activities as NYU, letting them know of your concerns it would be greatly appreciated. At this time all we are requesting is an email be sent from you individually. Please do not take it upon yourself to take further actions and be sure the message that you are trying to get across is conveyed clearly and effectively.
The following is a letter that I sent to President Sexton earlier.
I hope all is well with you
I am writing to you in regards to an event that is scheduled to take place next Wednesday at New York University. This event is being sponsored by the Objectivist Club, an OSA club, and its purpose is to analyze the issue of free speech with an emphasis put on a series of cartoons recently published in a Danish newspaper that depicted the Prophet Muhammad , peace be upon him, and Islam in a highly offensive manner. These cartoons have lead to riots, protests, beatings, and even deaths on an international level and now the idea is being discussed whether or not they should be displayed at NYU at the aforementioned event. I, for one, am all for discourse and dialogue and I would encourage the objectivist club to partake in whatever discussion they would like in terms of the cartoons. I, however, would not encourage racism is any shape or form, and to me, and many other Muslims, these cartoons are racist and we adamantly oppose their display. As such, I am asking you to not allow these cartoons to be displayed in any shape or form. The event itself and the topic that the students would like to discuss is not problematic in any way, but the pictures themselves are just hatred and there is really no justification in preaching something that breeds that kind of hate. One of the images shows what the author claims to be a rendering of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban that is shaped like a bomb, making it seem as if Islam is a religion that can be equated to terrorism. If ideas like that are not enough to keep these images from being displayed, the potential of what might happen after they are shown is something else that should be considered and not taken lightly.
As Chaplain for the Muslim community at NYU, my primary concern would be for those undergrads, grad students, faculty, staff, and admins who are Muslim and what kind of state displaying these cartoons would leave them in. Already I have students who are shocked that it is even being considered that these cartoons would be displayed. Some are left in states of wonder, many in states of anger, but, most importantly, there are some who are afraid. They are afraid as to what kind of thoughts these images would leave in the minds of those who don’t understand Islam. They wonder what kind of verbal abuses they will be subject to, what kind of taunts and teases. They remember the days going back to September five years ago when their parents told them not to attend classes or remain hidden and not show the world that they are Muslim because they were scared of what might happen to them. They remember not being able to travel on streets alone that were once safe to them because doing so might lead to unthinkable danger. They remember being told to shave their beards and remove their headscarves so no one would notice they were there. Now they wonder if something like this would happen again and I do not have an answer for them.
Aside from that, the repercussions that would take place outside of the university setting are potentially huge. All over the world Muslims have been coming together over this issue and in New York they would not hesitate in doing the same thing. New York itself is also one of the most metropolitan cities in the world and media attention that would be acquired would not limit itself to the city, but could go across the nation and even around the world as it already has with issues pertaining to these cartoons. NYU has facilities all over the world and Muslims also live all over the world. At that point in time no one will be thinking about the objectivist club that is an OSA organization made up of ten or twenty students. Rather, at that time all people will be thinking about is New York University and the decision it made. That decision however has not been made yet and I pray that, God-willing, when it is made, it will be the best one.
I would welcome the opportunity to further discuss this with you at your convenience, or anyone else whom you could direct me to. I thank you for your time and consideration and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
Khalid Latif
If there was ever a time to stand up for anyone, the time would be now. Racism that exists in any kind of form, against any people is never justified and these images are racist in nature, specifically against the Muslim community. Together we should stand up not just for our sake and for the sake of those around us, but also for the sake of our prophet alayhi salaam. Be you brown, black, yellow, or white, Allah 
has given us all the oppurtunity to protect the image of His most beloved, and it is upon us as individuals to decide how we respond. As i mentioned to president sexton, i mention to you all as well: I pray that inshallah all of our responses, when made, are the best ones.
Should you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to contact me at the information below.
jazakumullah khairun
was’salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah
Khalid Latif
13 Responses to “Danish Cartoons - on display at NYU THIS WEEK!”
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from: United States us
Pingback on Jun 7th, 2007 at 2:06 am
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from: United States us Pingback on Aug 14th, 2007 at 1:56 am
i used to think objectivism was pretty kewl back in the day….you know Ayn Rand, author of Fountainhead and the Anthem and Atlas Shrugged. Something about her writing always appealed to me. I think it was the tendency to talk endlessly of reason, rationality, choice and freedom. Over time i realized Ayn Rand was a bit of a wacko. She was narcisstic, a grown woman who was a bit infatuated with her husband, also had a thing for the i believe at the time deceased Frank Loyd Wright and who had an affair with one of her rather reluctant disciples, Nathaniel Branden. Now Nathaniel Branden went on to become a guru of self-help and self-esteem. No ironic twister there right. Not just that but Ayn Rand also had a group who she met with which was referred to as the Collective and the Collective did and thought whatever she told them to. This woman who desired to respresent the antithesis of all religion, of all totalitarian ideology instead oddly enough replicated it.
Meanwhile to this day i believe that she is a terrific author and that theres something about her outlook on life that is still golden i do think theres alot of wierdness surrounding this thing called Objectivism. The philosophy is in and of itself way to romantic to be anything more than a subjectivisitc outlook on the world.
Bottom line if your looking for an intellectual female voice of reason arguing for the higher values dont go to Ayn Rand, a better bet might be Hannah Arendt.
damn kid…
All I know is that Atlas Shrugged is the most boring piece of crap book i’ve ever (partially) read.
ASTAKFIRULLAH, THE ITS WILL BE THERE TO DECLARE TAKFIR ON NYJEW!
What I don’t understand is what other analysis can you draw from such offensive cartoons. Anyways, I don’t know if you saw Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday but Reza Aslan made a guest appearance, and made a great point about religion as a whole. [Click]
i know. i did see it friday night
i also asked the webmaster of that site to put up that clip
I agree with Salman.
Freedom of Speech/Press was to ensure that what was printed was not suppressed by gov’t or other institutions and to be able to hold the govt’ responsible for its activities by expressing dissent.
For example, the war in Iraq. We are allowed to express our opinion that this is an unnecessary war based on some people’s personal interests. Even others in government can challenge the very institution it works for. Otherwise the government would get away with whatever it wanted (which some would argue it does despite the fact that we express disagreement with what its doing but thats besides the point).
Another example, the conflict in Palestine. The press should be printing the TRUTH of whats going on. Unfortunately thats not whats happening as the research of Allison Weir concurred (http://www.ifamericansknew.org/). In this case its not necessarily the gov’t who is suppressing the news but that of the private ownership of these media outlets (such as Rupert Murdoch).
The problem is now people have taken these means to prevent suppression and to promote truth and turned it into Rights of the Disrespectful. They invoke their right to free speech/press when they want to offend somebody. A freedom that was meant to prevent a people from being oppressed is instead oppressing them in other ways, through bigotry.
The right of freedom of speech/press comes with responsibilities. Its ridiculous when people can easily use means to offend people and not give a care but when they are offended by someone else they get all huffy and puffy and expect to be treated like kings and queens. This is hypocrisy.
I think Muslims should respectfully confront this club and bring up these points and see what progress these cartoons are making in people’s lives (i.e. none). Its pathetic to see that what the West considers “progress” is actually regression into the jahiliyya. Germany giving mandatory screenings to immigrants (from conservative countries) of open sex or gay scenes, to see if they are “open-minded”, is an clean indication of what direction this society is going in.
As Muslims, we should not be or come off as hypocrites. We should not do that which we ourselves condemn. We should be respectful and not stoop to such lowliness. How will people respect us otherwise when we are double faced? People respected RasulAllah (saw) because he was Al-Amin and stood up for what was right even if it was not popular (because in the end that which is right and al-Haqq will succeed). We should not get into the vicious cycle of “well they did it so we did it too.” Returning a “favor of disrespect” will only bring it upon oneself again and again.
Insha’Allah
any communication between these two groups will end in respectful discussion and not yelling/cursing. Let us know how it goes.
wheres the rest of the letter i can only see one sentence… or is there something wrong with my computer?
nvm it worked. wat a smart guy man that letter was very powerful
The cartoons aren’t being displayed at NYU. The e-mail…
Alas, the Truth has been stifled. Here again we have “freedom of speech” permitted to run rampant, mocking Christianity, morality, and God Himself, and as usual “freedom of speech” is restrained only to permit leeway to atheists and Mohammedans.
Let us not forget that idolatry is a sword with two edges— on the one end are those that worship idols by making them, and on the other end are those that worship idols by worshipful fear. Here we have Muslim idolatry of the prophet, by demonstrating their idolatry in giving undue awe to his depiction.
Shame on the Objectivist Club for giving in to hypocritical Islamist fury. Especially since I don’t think that the truth has been told about the “cartoon controversy.” I believe that the violence it precipitated was incited by politically-engaged “men of god” - the imams. The head Imam of Denmark himself proudly admitted his role in inciting violence. Also many of the cartoons after the first on were PHONY, cobbled together from old images and given anti-Muslim captions for inflammatory purposes by Islamists.
Then take the frequent anti-semitic (and anti-American) images and caricatures displayed in the Muslim world but that’s OK to the crybaby Islamist “victims” of discrimination.
Don’t you get it — we are all infidels, unworthy of respect by those cloaked in superior Muslim “spirituality” and culture. No political correctness by them toward infidels, but we have to apologize for expressing our democratic rights. Airline employees in UK forbidden to wear crosses for fear of offending Muslims while Muslim employeess can dress and adorn themselves religiously any way they want, etc., etc. etc.. Political correctness and multiculturalism has already infiltrated our schools. If we don’t wake up now one day we might wake up in a caliphate living under shariya law.
