Monday, February 13, 2012
Freedom
A man by the name of Hamza Kashgari has been detained by Malaysian authorities. Kashgari is a 23-year old Saudi writer and blogger who publicly expressed his personally views about Prophet Muhammad via Twitter. His tweets caused and uproar and strong reactions from many Saudis. The people who were angered by the tweets responded back with their own hate-filled tweets, Facebook posts, and even resorted to Youtube videos demanding that kashgari be arrested and punished. In Saudi Arabia, this crime is considered apostasy, in which they separate themselves from the renunciation of a religion. This crime can be punishable by death under Saudi law and that is just what many people want for Hamza Kashgari. In the following video, you can see a man, Sheikh Nasser Al Omar and his outpour of emotions over the situation begging the king to execute Kashgari.
The following are the tweets that have caused the intense reaction. Tweet #1 “On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you.” Tweet #2 “On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more.” Tweet #3 “On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more.”
Kashgari later removed these tweets and apologized. Realizing his life was in danger, Kashgari decided to flee to New Zealand. However, he was detained along the way by Malaysian authorities at the request of Saudi authorities. His purpose for fleeing to New Zealand was to seek political asylum.
There has been much controversy over this matter and surprisingly there are many Muslim supporters of his release. Even more shocking, those Muslims who support him are from predominantly Muslim countries. This shows that people are trying to move forward and allow more public expression. I can understand why people would be angered if someone said something against their beliefs but that is something that occurs everyday in the world. The only reason Hamza Kashgari is being punished is because he publicly stated his opinion. In America, you’re given this freedom through the first amendment. I know we can’t assume the same for other countries since they have specific rules against such crimes but is it really fair and have we not come far enough to treat everyone equally across the world? Why does someone not have the same rights as a person who lives in another part of the world? I am a Muslim and I honestly see why the people of the country are upset. However, it is not possible for everyone to think alike and I do not see any extremely rude remarks in his tweets.
Tags:
0 Responses to “ ”
Post a Comment