November, 2007

It’s one thing when a piece of controversial news trying to depict Islam in a negative manner is splashed across the front of The Sun or the Daily Mail; but when you pick up a copy of the Guardian and sneak a peek at the Times with similar headlines, something’s not quite right. The story in question is that of Gillian Gibbons: teacher, Brit, Liverpudlian who has been arrested in Khartoum, Sudan for letting her 6-7 year olds name a teddy bear Muhammad. Emblazoned is the worst of the fate she could endure: 40 lashes. No mention, of course, was made of the fact that she may also be sentenced to 6 months prison or a heavy fine – 40 lashes sounds more barbaric, more African, more ‘madness of Islam’.. sells more papers, clearly.

It needs to be made clear that in an interview with the BBC, the head of the school Gibbons taught at said two things: the students were asked why the bear was named Muhammad, to which the students responded that it was because of a particularly charming and good looking member of their class named Muhammad; and secondly, talk of the 40 lashes is preposterous as Gibbons has yet to be charged of anything. But it seems the damage has already been done with the arrest.

The story, as it transmits to me here in England, reads like a jigsaw puzzle with many, many missing pieces. Here are my thoughts on the issue, and as usual, correct me where my reasoning fails me.

(a) I don’t see how naming a teddy bear Muhammad, per se, warrants 40 lashes under Islamic law. First of all, parents name their kids Muhammad all the time. But yes, there is valid argument to say that likening the Prophet pbuh to an animal may be construed as an insult. Was the bear actually meant to be a representation of the Prophet? When the children played with him, was he a teddy bear, or was he cast as the Prophet in a role play situation? This is unclear, and no detail is being provided by any of the news sources online. Al Jazeera English hasn’t even carried the story.

To add to all the confusion inside my head: Simply Islam sells a teddy bear by the name of Adam. For £7.99, Adam the Muslim Prayer Bear can be bought here. Adam, of course is a Prophet in Islam and when we speak of him we are taught to say Adam alaihissalam as a symbol of respect. So is naming toys by Muslim names right or wrong? What was required of the teddy bear that caused parental anger? Or were the Sudanese just offended that the name was given by a non-Muslim?

(b) The word blasphemy – the defamation of the name of god or gods (Wikipedia) – was used in relation to this issue. How can this be? Muslims do not worship Muhammad pbuh; we respect him as a Messenger of God, but he is not worshipped like Jesus is by Christians.

(c) A friend whom I respect muchly for his breadth of Islamic knowledge once told me it is frowned upon in Islam if we were to take actions that worsened the view of Islam in the general eye. I think the reaction of the Sudanese authorities merits such frowning, from two perspectives. If, on the one hand, they have overreacted and become shortsighted in their overzealousness, then clearly their actions are tarnishing the image of Islam more than it has promoted it.

On the other, if the teacher has indeed contravened Islamic rules – and remember, this is, as yet unclear as there is scant information available at the time of writing – then the Sudanese authorities should take action to see to it that the correct story is transmitted worldwide. One may argue that the media is entrenched in Western agendas. I have to takes to that argument: firstly, the media is Westernised but not every news channel is FoxNews, and for the most part, the further you get away from America and the likes of the Daily Mail, the media in the west is generally fair. Second, if we know that the way forward in efforts to project Islam in a positive light lies in control of the media, then why are we focusing all our efforts on sending people to the moon instead of to Hollywood? I am rather disappointed with al-Jazeera’s coverage of the affair, if for nothing else, then just a balanced view of things from the Islamic or Arab viewpoint.

At the risk of being even more pedantic that I have been already, I have emailed the BBC News team expressing my concerns. Why don’t we all – and not stop at the BBC, even – because every little helps, haha.

(d) Lest we forget, Africa hasn’t had that good a track record of applying Islamic principles as they are, without imposing patriachal and cultural values that often contradict how Islam view women and human rights.

Ah, beginilah rasanya menjadi umat Islam di zaman kita semua umpama buih-buih di pantai, and lebih gamat berperang sesama sendiri. Kalau the pen is mightier than the sword, mungkin di sinilah jihad alaf baru. Semakin bertambah respek aku kepada Faisal Tehrani dan karya karya beliau