Earlier this year, 17 Danish newspapers spurred a new wave of protests in the Muslim world by reprinting an infamous set of caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Intended to express solidarity and press freedom, the “blasphemous” cartoons did not go unnoticed by Islamic extremists.
An audio warning from Osama bin Laden appeared on the Internet in March, and an Al Qaeda operative claimed responsibility for a June 2 bombing that decimated the Danish Embassy in Islamabad as a warning against religious disrespect.
Meanwhile, an unknown group of locals took to the streets of Brno and Prague, plastering reprints of the cartoons and other anti-Islamic fliers near the hubs of the cities’ Islamic communities.
In March, the anonymous distributors spread dozens of fliers depicting Muhammed with an ignited bomb instead of a turban near Brno mosques, prompting a critical reaction from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
“In his time, the Prophet Muhammad did not know what a bomb was. It’s sheer mockery,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. “In my opinion, such posters are an expression of intolerance and aggression. I consider it a sad truth that something like this has appeared in the Czech nation. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech.”
When the following criminal investigation failed to identify the perpetrator, Brno police were forced to shelve the case. “Finding out who pasted up these fliers is extremely difficult,” Brno police spokeswoman Andrea Procházková said in a March 20 statement.
After a two-month hiatus, the posters began appearing near Prague mosques May 31. Aside from the turban bomb posters copied from Danish newspapers, the newest fliers include the distributor’s own renderings: They depict Muhammad as a devil-horned pedophile.
All of the posters are emblazoned with the caption “May be provocative, but the freedom of speech is still more important!” and include the address of an unfinished Web site that lists links to anti-Islamic films including Fitna, a 15-minute interpretation of violent passages in the Koran by right-wing Dutch deputy Geert Wilders.
On the Web site, the anonymous author compares Islam to a “dormant volcano.”
“If it has a small role in the society, like in the Czech Republic, it can even seem like a problem-free religion. But that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous,” the author wrote. “In some parts of the Euro-Atlantic civilization, the rough and reproachable aspects of radical Islam are already evident.”
Peaceful teachings
Despite such comments, local Muslims remain steadfastly placid. When asked about the inflammatory posters that recently appeared in the city, Yosef Sharif, a Charles University postgraduate student and Muslim from Libya, merely shrugged and smiled.
“We don’t feel a problem with anybody,” he said, shortly after emerging from Friday prayer at the Islamic Cultural Center in Prague. “Here, the community is not as big as in Germany and France. … Our imam persuades us not to make any crazy comments, to be open-minded and understanding.”
Inside the mosque, the imam himself reiterated Sharif’s pacifist outlook.
Eleven years after founding the Prague Islamic Cultural Center, he emphasized the importance of secularity and requested that his name not be published to avoid the politicizing of his statements.
“I discourage any demonstrations or protests against [the caricatures],” he said. “Muslims here prefer to be patient and not to cause any problems for authorities, who are friendly. Any problem may endanger the government’s supportive attitude.”
By urging moderation and discouraging displays of conservative Islam such as “long beards, long robes and big yellow hats,” the imam advises local Muslims to adapt to Czech society.
“In some countries, there may be radical Muslims. They stage protests and irritate lots of people, but this is not our way,” he said. “Muslims do not follow politics. They do not follow political aims by using religion.”
Instead of inciting protests, local Muslims should deal with the caricatures’ distributors in a peaceful manner, he said.
“This group could not harm the attitude toward Muslims, because the majority of people understand that this is wrong,” he said. “It’s nothing new — the Prophet Muhammad was also harassed in his time, but he was patient. We should learn from the prophet to forgive these people, because he did the same.”
To prevent the spread of intolerance, Munib Hassan Alrawi, director of the Brno Islamic Foundation, encourages openness and education.
“When a Czech person receives enough information about Islam, his attitude usually becomes completely different,” he said.
Miroslav Mareš, an expert on political and religious extremism from the Masaryk University in Brno, said the moderate nature of the local Muslim community — which is relatively small in comparison with France, Germany or Holland — was partly strategic.
“It is true that a majority of local Muslims are secular. They tend to distance themselves from anyone with a more dogmatic approach to Islam,” he said. “They do not want to upset their social position here.”
Unlike the resident Muslims who view the Czechs as tolerant and understanding, Mareš expressed reservations about local attitudes toward Islam.
In recent years, citizens signed petitions against the construction of mosques in Czech towns like Orlová in north Moravia or Teplice, north Bohemia, he said.
“As long as the community is small, it won’t create any conflict,” he said. “But, if it became larger, the Czechs would see it as a problem, even if [the Muslims] remain peaceful.”
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