In the rabid quest to justify the disappearance of a Nigerian humanist, who made an innocuous post on Facebook, some Muslim fanatics have continued to peddle the notion that the said post crossed the limit of free speech. Did it?
They have been relentless in voicing out this misguided notion and in publicizing a mistaken thesis: “You have a right to free speech, but you cannot insult another person’s religion”. One wonders if this set of Muhammadans ever listens to themselves or tries to discern the contradictions and inconsistencies therein. In this piece, I argue that this proposition encapsulates an acute misunderstanding of the limit of free speech amongst the jail-or-execute-Mubarak-Bala Muslims. Blinded by hate and ignorance, these Muslim fanatics have not understood the inherent contradiction and the counterproductive nature of their supposed limit to free expression.
Expressions that highlight other sides of a prophet or a religion are consistent with the values of free speech and critical inquiry because they are manifestations of independent thinking. Such expressions enrich knowledge and understanding of the prophet or the religion. They are not violations of moral or religious decencies as Muslim fanatics suppose. To hold a critical view is not a crime. Free speech and critical expressions are important for the generation and spread of ideas and beliefs. They are necessary for meaningful navigation of a world characterized by a diversity of thought and rapid flow of information and misinformation. Islam owes its origin and spread to free speech, to an unfettered expression of ideas. Islam is a religion that is critical of other religions. Islamic teachings contain views and opinions that differ from pre-existing notions; they make a caricature of faiths and beliefs. The prophet of Islam was critical of other religions and espoused ideas that ridiculed and sometimes radically departed from the knowledge and ideas of his time.
Leo Igwe
Thus if views that are critical of any religion are insults then Islam is an embodiment of insults, contemptible, and provocative ideas. If holding views that are critical of a prophet or a religion means insulting the religion or prophet, then, the prophet of Islam was a partaker in this exercise. The prophet of Islam proposed teachings that could be interpreted as insulting to pre-existing and successive prophets, to Christianity and other religions. By implication, the Quran is a codification of insults, of disrespectful and annoying propositions.
The Hadith is a scroll of blasphemies. If, as some Muslim fanatics have proposed, the said Facebook posts by Mubarak Bala crossed the limit of free speech, then the teachings of Islam and the preaching by Islamic scholars and clerics also cross the limit of free speech. Muslim sermons are verbalized disparaging remarks on other religions and other prophets or philosophers.
But critical views are not insults on any religion or any prophet. To hold a critical idea is not a crime but an intellectual duty to humanity. Unfortunately, for centuries, Islamic demagogues have held people intellectually hostage in many places. They have censored the thoughts and writings of individuals. Islamic authorities have demonstrated a disdain for freedom of expression and criminalized Islam-critical expressions.
Muslim clerics and theocrats have used various means and mechanisms to silence the voices of dissent while trying to perpetuate their religious doctrines, dogmas, and absurdities.
It is pertinent to draw attention to their mistaken sense of limit to free speech, and the necessity of critical inquiry and independent thinking, tolerance of religiously offensive remarks in a culturally pluralistic Nigeria.
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Leo Igwe
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