Weapons of Mass Defamation: Aspects of the 2006 'Cartoon Crisis'

• Main Author: MIKAEL ROTHSTEIN
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Finnish Society for the Study of Religion 2007-01-01
• Series: Temenos
• Online Access: https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/4627

The so called 'cartoon crisis' that arose in the wake of the publication of twelve satirical drawings of the Prophet Muhammad has been discussed in numerous ways. So far, however, the debate has not included a deeper analysis of why the desecration of Islam's prophet ignited such a response. Contrary to the claims of Islamic dogmaticism, the attributions regarding Muhammad's properties as a human being in Islamic culture in certain ways supersedes the cult for Allah. Muhammad is perceived as the perfect human being, and everything good about humanity consequently has Muhammad at its root. The disfavouring of Muhammad therefore is the disfavouring of any Muslim and of humanity as such. The article argues that the cartoons were interpreted more than anything else as a mockery of human dignity, and that the response was in defense of that rather than of Islamic dogmaticism.