As far back as people would like to remember, there have always been conflicts between people with differences. Whether it is the color of their skin or the gods they choose to worship, people will always find something about someone else to dislike. One group of people that have been attacked for their beliefs for centuries is the Muslims. But there is a current and specific event that needs to be discussed, and that is the Muslims and their reaction to the cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. In September of 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet, Muhammad (Brussels Journal, 2006). As a result, there was an outcry from the Muslim world due to the fact that it is against their beliefs to depict the Prophet in any way. They responded with boycotts and violent protests. “At the core of the row is the Islamic tradition which holds that any depiction of the prophets is sacrilegious,” (Aljazeera, 2006). This is the cornerstone as to why they got upset in the first place, but the question is: why did they react so violently? Some reasons might be due to the centuries of persecution, other actions by the Danes besides the initial publishing of the cartoons, and because of how the current Muslim civilization works.

When it is heard in the news that there were violent protests in the Arab world over some cartoons from a Danish newspaper, most people would most likely think that this is a huge overreaction. There aren’t too many Americans that would go attack an embassy just because of a cartoon, so often it is hard to grasp why these Muslims are doing just that.

To try to understand Muslims, it is necessary to know some of the history. Since its birth, the Muslim religion has been under attack. From the first war between Mecca and Medina, to the crusades, to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, to the Danish cartoon scandal, the Muslims have dealt with controversy. When the religion first came about by Muhammad, it sparked controversy. Practically immediately after gathering followers, Muhammad fled from Mecca to Medina and not long after, a war ensued. But because Muhammad had collected so many followers, Mecca gave up without a fight (Wikipedia, 2006). The fact that one of the first things that happened with Islam was to go to war may be some insight as to why the Islamic people have reacted the way that they have. Perhaps after hearing the history of their religion for centuries, it has become an acceptable thought amongst them.

There is another, more recent and current, even event that has been a huge issue with Muslims in the middle east Middle East that could shed some light on why the reaction to the comics has been the way that it has. That issue is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After World War II, when the Jews were basically handed the area which is now Israel, the Muslims that were living there at the time (the Palestinians) were basically pushed aside. Without a proper nation-state, and most likely feeling cornered and helpless, Palestine has attacked Israel for decades with car and suicide bombings. These Muslim people seem to be more than just a little on edge, so it is fairly safe to assume that when something happens that they don’t like, they’re going to make it known.

Now, the Danes have done their part to fan the flames with this issue. The paper knowingly published the cartoons with the claim that they were defending their freedom of speech. They were basically already on the defensive before the newspaper ever published the issue. They went ahead with the idea knowing that it was just going to anger Muslims around the world, but maybe they thought it was all right because freedom of speech allows it. To make matters worse, it was reported that the editor of the newspaper previously shot down the idea to put cartoons of Jesus in the paper saying that it was a bad idea and that it would offend the readers (Younge, 2006). The fact that other European newspapers republished the cartoons after Jyllands-Posten had already apologized was most likely not very helpful as well (BBC News, 2006).

The answers might not just be found in the past, but when looking around at the present. The countries were the most violence has erupted have been those with the weakest governments. There were protests in the second-largest Muslim country in the world, India, but these protests were peaceful, while the protests in Pakistan were far from it. This is most likely due to the fact that Muslims in India are empowered and live in a successful democracy, while those in Pakistan are not so lucky (Friedman, 2006). The violence in their protests may have spawned from lack of knowledge of humanly acceptable behavior due to a faulty government that did not take care of nor show its people how the world works.

In the Middle East and North Africa, where much of the world’s Muslims live, the unemployment rate is the highest of anywhere in the world at 13.2% (Friedman, 2006). Places like this just don’t seem like breeding grounds for understanding of foreign affairs, and not only that, but their education system is just getting worse and worse. As Thomas Friedman said “No wonder so many young people in this part of the world are unprepared, and therefore easily enraged, as they encounter modernity. And no wonder backward religious leaders and dictators in places like Syria and Iran -- who have miserably failed their youth -- are so quick to turn their young people's anger against an insulting cartoon and away from themselves and the rot they have wrought.”

So, after taking a slightly closer look into the world and history of the Muslims, possible explanations can be found as to why such drastic actions were taken over, in the eyes of western thinkers, an issue that does not seem so dire. It is necessary to understand these probable causes so that Muslims around the world are not seen as radical monsters, but rather just different people with a history and current life more complicated than most.

Chaudhry, Humayun. "The Taboo On Picturing the Prophet." Aljazeera. 07 Feb. 2006. 20 Mar. 2006 <http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/91084647-A29C-4EE9-9027-1CA2BF52657C.htm>.

Friedman, Thomas L. "Empty Pockets, Angry Minds." Editorial. New York Times 22 Feb. 2006, sec. A: 23.

Gudmundsson, Hjörtur. "Danish Imams Propose to End Cartoon Dispute." 22 Jan. 2006. 20 Mar. 2006 <http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/698>.

"History of Islam." Wikipedia. 19 Mar. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_history>.

"Muslim Cartoon Fury Claims Lives." BBC. 6 Feb. 2006. 20 Mar. 2006 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4684652.stm>.

Younge, Greg. “The Right to Be Offended.” The Nation. 08 February, 2006