I haven’t said much about the cartoon controversy because in all honesty, the way it has been approached in general infuriates me.

First of all, as a practicing Muslim, the fact that the cartoons actually depict the Prophet (pbuh) does not offend me in the least. The physical depiction of the Prophet is discouraged within the faith, but that fact alone does not deserve the outrage it has caused. The way it depicts the Prophet, however, is particularly distasteful, but could have been tolerated had it been the work of a poor cartoonist. The fact that the newspaper sought to create some kind of outrage by publishing the cartoons — the point of the whole exercise was to offend, when you look at it closely — is clearly the crux of the problem.

That being said, I resent the fact that people in European and North American media are framing this controversy as one of the freedom of the press. Anyone that is involved with the press at all know that the press only has three limitations: they can not overtly incite hate, they can not be obscene, and they can not commit libel. The publication of these cartoons does none of these directly, and therefore are within the limits of free speech. The issue at hand is not free speech, however; instead, it is an issue of blatantly bad judgment.

The Aga Khan, in a recent speech made when receiving an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Evora in Portugal, clearly spoke of the responsibility of the media to exercise good judgment that is innately ingrained in the concept of freedom of the press: “This is not to say that governments should censor offensive speech. Nor does the answer lie in violent words or violent actions. But I am suggesting that freedom of expression is an incomplete value unless it is used honourably, and that the obligations of citizenship in any society should include a commitment to informed and responsible expression.”

While it is easy to condemn the publishers of the newspaper for their deliberate lack of judgment and the incendiary way they have responded to the situation, I must bemoan the way some — and I emphasize the word ‘some’, because this is in no way indicative of the actions of the whole Muslim community — people around the world have responded to this controversy through violence. I fully respect CAIR’s decision to address the cartoon controversy through education, and I believe that any misunderstandings and offense taken during this whole event will only be properly addressed through dialogue and not any kind of violent protest.