America Must Accept Its Responsibility

What happened on Tuesday in Libya was, in the end, only a predictable consequence, to say the least, of the recurring interventions of the United States in the Arab and Muslim world. Analysts and politicians seem not to have taken these into account, nor to have measured their relevance. You cannot format peoples as you do your computer, any more than you can control the urges at work deep within these peoples. This is all the more true when these peoples are so diverse, as much in their languages and history as in their cultures and customs. What do these peoples have in common? Islam! In reality, it is this religion that unites and cements together a billion and a half human beings, who are otherwise distinct on every level were it not for their religious belief and their veneration of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh*).

So it has become commonplace, in the name of freedom of speech, to blaspheme against Islam and its prophet. The anti-Islam film that has been inflaming the Muslim world this week is in fact merely sporadic epiphenomena which should not have garnered any attention. This was also the case a few years ago, with regards to a series of similarly disgusting caricatures infringing on the integrity of the prophet (pbuh). You cannot promote idiocy and stupidity, be it through a justified anger.

Exacerbating the fanaticism of some and the instrumentalization of this fanaticism by others does not serve Islam, nor does it give it good publicity. However, what it does manage is to provide those who do not understand anything about Islam – who will never understand the religion of 57 countries of the planet – with arguments. And it will only encourage the enemies of Islam who play on our emotions to manipulate us and use us to achieve their designs. By attacking Islam, those who pull the strings behind the scenes knew what they were doing. They provoked the brutal reaction of fanatics, who are in no way representative of the vast majority of the world’s Muslims.

Muslim states have nothing to do with the Islamist states, a confusion deliberately maintained when out of 57 officially Muslim countries, only five proclaim themselves Islamist (a necessary precision in these times of all-encompassing parallels). [Would any of the attacks] have been possible if the Muslim states had taken their responsibilities toward the religion they are entrusted with [as seriously] as taking a firm hand with permissive states who, in the name of freedom of speech, let the prophet (pbuh) be insulted with cartoons, films or literature? And that is not a favor, it is a right: the right to respect the beliefs of all. You will not find one Muslim, however intolerant, who will dare insult either Jesus Christ or Moses. It is not done, because that is part of the innate culture of Muslims, who revere the People of the Book that are mentioned in the Quran. With one stone, those who directed this depravity of a film also offended Christ and Moses. Do they not realize this? We doubt it!

But the first to bear responsibility for these abject acts against Islam are really states and governments. For it was down to them to place religion and its prophets above lowly political intrigues and/or malicious manipulations. The prophets should have been protected from the insanities of some and the irrational emotions of the others. This was not done! Yet precedents, notably the wounding caricatures of the prophet (pbuh), should have warned of the danger in leaving the sacred up for manipulation. But this warning was not heeded by those holding the decision-making powers.

And please let them not talk to us about freedom of speech or invoke (especially in the United States) the famous First Amendment. Obviously, this amendment cannot protect the troublemakers and those who have taken on the mission to make a mockery of Islam. Thus, Obama must, on top of clearly condemning the anti-Islam film, demand its destruction. Or else he must take full responsibility, in front of the American people, for the death of Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi. It is time for the United States to pay for their erring ways.

*Peace be upon him