Art challenges values held sacred by the faithful

Salman Rushdie case turned conflicts of freedom of expression and Islam into a major international issue

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By Jukka Petäjä
     
      The uproar over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by Denmark's largest newspaper Jyllands-Posten began on September 30th, when 12 cartoons of the prophet commissioned by the newspaper were published. The purpose of the page was to ponder issues of freedom of the press and expression.
      Now, four months later, Muslims around the world have been angered by what they see as cartoons desecrating the prophet, have burned Danish flags this week, demanding "death to Denmark".
      They feel that the Danish newspaper committed blasphemy simply by publishing images of Muhammad, because the Koran has a specific prohibition against doing so. According to the strictest interpretation, it is not permissible to produce an image of a human being.
     
Art has often served as a catalyst when the concepts of freedom of expression in Western and Arab countries have found themselves on a collision course, and the moral iron curtain of the world has come down between Christianity and Islam. The conflicts have almost always reached global dimensions - as the Danish case indicates. On the other hand, Christian attacks against anti-Christian, or blasphemous art have remained inside the individual countries.
      In retrospect one can say that the Salman Rushdie case was the first to raise into the centre of the political ring the differing views of Muslims and Christians on freedom of expression, and on the right of artists to deal with religion and sacred doctrines in their art.
      On February 14th, 1989 Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini decreed that Bombay-born British author Salman Rushdie should be killed. The spiritual leader felt that Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses ridiculed Islam and Muhammad. The fatwa, based on a religious edict, became an international dispute, which finally forced the EU and Iran into a so-called critical dialogue, so as to normalise the situation.
      Muslim extremists have also attacked other writers. Those who have had to fear for their lives have included the Egyptian Nobelist Nagib Mahfuz, as well as Nawal El Saadawi, Ala Hamed, Aziz Nesin, and Taslima Nasrin, who has emigrated to Sweden.
     
The last time that self-censorship concerning Islam was confronted in Finland was in the autumn of 2005, when Otava Publishers published the book The Caged Virgin by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
      The Finnish version of the book, which takes a critical view of Islam, was missing a part containing severe criticism of the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad. According to the author, the publisher was afraid of offending Muslims.
      The wrath has not always been left at the level of threats. The shooting and stabbing death of film director Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam on November 2nd, 2004 is still fresh in the memory.
     
Jesus has also raised intense reactions, especially in films. Among those to experience this was director Pier Paolo Pasolini, although he did not insult Jesus in his film The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964).
      It was enough for the Catholic Church that the director was homosexual and a communist.
      The best-known uproar was sparked by Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), which provoked Christian groups in the United States to try and block its distribution.
      In Finland, artist Harro Koskinen got into trouble for his work Sikamessias ("Pig Messiah").
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 3.2.2006  

More on this subject:
 COMMENTARY: It is wrong to insult that which is sacred
 COMMENTARY: Even negative expression must be free

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Foreign Minister Tuomioja: Denmark should have reacted earlier to cartoons (2.2.2006)
  Publisher says "technical error" led to omission of part of book critical of Islam (19.9.2005)
  Estimated 200 Muslims hold protest at Danish Embassy in Helsinki (7.2.2006)
  Vanhanen and Tuomioja sharply denounce attacks on embassies (6.2.2006)
  Foreign Minister Tuomioja: EU countries have to work together over Danish cartoon crisis (3.2.2006)

JUKKA PETÄJÄ / Helsingin Sanomat
jukka.petaja@hs.fi