The Caricature
Dr. Farish A. Noor is perhaps one of the more important Muslim intellectuals Malaysia has produced. Read this and you’ll see why I say so.
Here are some excerpts to whet your appetite.
[Thus far much has been said and written about the global Muslim response to the controversy surrounding the caricatural cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that appeared in a Danish newspaper last year. Western observers in particular seem to be shocked by the extent of Muslim anger worldwide, and the level of organisation that has gone into the demonstrations that have erupted from Europe to Southeast Asia. Those who read this as an instance of the ‘revenge of God’ or a sudden display of emotional piety are missing the point: The demonstrations, global in scope and highly orchestrated in their execution, shows precisely how modern, developed and globalised the Muslim world has become. This was, in fact, a demonstration of a parallel form of globalisation at work: albeit one that is not capital-driven but rather based on a set of firmly shared values…]
