Canadian Islamic scholar Younus Kathrada said in a Friday, September 11, 2020 sermon that was uploaded to the Muslim Youth Victoria YouTube channel that disrespect of the Prophet Muhammad, such as in the form of cartoons that insult him, is disrespect of Allah, of Muslims, and of Islam. He said that this is worse than police killings of black people in the United States, and he bemoaned the fact that Muslims did not demonstrate or stage rallies when cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were recently circulated.
In addition, he said that Muslims should not accept the claims that insulting the Prophet Muhammad should be allowed as a form of free expression. Sheikh Kathrada also said the "enemies of Islam" want to be allowed to insult Islam and Muhammad, but they investigate and accuse Muslims of antisemitism when they denounce Israel, of homophobia when they denounce homosexuality, and of hate speech when they pray for the elimination of "one of the greatest threats to humanity." Earlier, in September, French satirical Journal Charlie Hebdo announced that it would reprint cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, which had first been printed in 2015.
For more about the Islamic world's reaction to the Charlie Hebdo cartoons see MEMRITV clips 6910, 5472, and 4732. For more about Sheikh Younus Kathrada, see MEMRI TV Clips 8003, 7896, 7534, 7098, 6950, and 6906.
To view the clip of Sheikh Younus Kathrada on MEMRI TV, click here or below.
"Any Disrespect Shown Toward The Prophet Muhammad Is An Insult And An Abuse Of Allah... It Is A Slap In The Face Of Every Muslim"
Sheikh Younus Kathrada: "Any disrespect shown toward the Prophet Muhammad is an insult and an abuse of Allah.
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"It is a slap in the face of every Muslim. Yet, when some magazines or some papers, or perhaps websites circulate and re-circulate offensive cartoons of the Prophet, we the Muslims hardly feel a thing. We the Muslims do practically nothing about it.
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"[When] A Black Man Was Murdered By Police... Many Muslims Participated In Rallies[;] When Something Worse Than That Happened... When The Prophet Was Insulted... Then Where Are Their Rallies?"
"We watched in horror as a black man was murdered by police in the United States.
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"Many Muslims participated in rallies and demonstrations, expressing their outrage over these horrendous crimes.
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"When something worse than that happened, when our Prophet Muhammad, the best man to have ever walked the face of this earth...
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"[The Prophet] was insulted and abused, and accused of being a terrorist...
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"Then where are their rallies and where are their demonstrations?
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"When We Ask Allah To Destroy... What We Believe To Be Perhaps One Of The Greatest Threats To Humanity, We Are Accused Of Hate Speech"
"Do we accept this claim by the opponents of Islam, that circulating such cartoons is an expression of freedom of opinion and freedom of speech?
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"The enemies of Islam want to silence us when we speak the truth. But they want to be allowed to insult Allah, his Messenger, the Muslims, and Islam.
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"When we speak of the occupation of Palestine and denounce the treachery and crimes of the Zionist state we are labeled as antisemitic. And we are put under investigation. When we denounce homosexuality, and state what Islam's stance is on it, we are labeled as homophobic and we are investigated.
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"When we ask Allah to destroy and eliminate what we believe to be perhaps one of the greatest threats to humanity, we are accused of hate speech."
