The very idea of an image in any religious context of Islam was, I thought something to be avoided. I have always thought this a beautiful thing. A ‘severe poetry’ as Lawrence Durrell described it. It has proved a good way to avoid a lot of the extreme kitsch of the Christian religion. But it must also be remembered that the days of Islam followed the excesses of image worship that the Egyptians were prone to practice. It is perhaps an historical antidote to aesthetic decadence. It seems surprising that photos of suicide martyrs are carried around as icons of faith when the prophet is not to be depicted. The act seems to put political soldiers above god and his prophet. Perhaps true Islamists would not even aggrandise their martydom to their faith by depicting themselves before an attack. But that is for moderate muslims to elucidate. The Jyllands-Posten comics are small examples of what the moderate muslim has to answer in a light voice. Never let them see you bleed.
What might work better than trying to get more people angry with the west is to be above reproach. The way to speak to the west is to say loudly ‘I will resist you with non-violent action’, through speech, media, song and without malice. This is a hard task. The depiction of Muslims is so slanted now that the moderate voices are drowned on both side of the argument and almost everywhere on the media circuit. There are some arab comedians in Australia. Their voices need to be heard, they also need perhaps to surprise the so-called ‘west’ by not pandering to the cliche of the arab as a subwoofer obsessed , female belittling egomaniac. To be funny in another genre, rather than Choco-chic is a hard ask when it’s such an easy and well worn button to press, but there are clever observations to be made, mild ones, social ones, feminine ones, and the muslim is up to the task. Jyllands-Posten should not be another flashpoint it’s a pointless dull thud in history if played better.
