Nishan and Majority

Nowadays I began to hate the word “Freedom of Expression” despite believing in yet, but I just got sick from hearing it every where from every one. You know it is silly thing because every time some one makes a mistake against some one with several supporters, Religions are being humiliated based on the principle of “Freedom of Expression” in a way that no one accepted , Historical figures are defamed thank to the same principles

It is the chaos

I mean now the new fashion or crusade in the Arabic media and blogs is to stand with the Moroccan magazine “Nishan” changing it from its original context in to another Islamic-Freedom of expression war thing as if Islam were against their Freedom of Expression

For those who don’t know the Moroccan authorities decided to close and ban “Nishan” magazine after publishing an edition including a report about the jokes in the life of the Moroccans, till now there was nothing wrong, yet these jokes were not like any Jokes beside they were about Sex, explicit ones as I understood from some Moroccan readers’ comments and Politics, it had a section about the Jokes about religion mainly the Islamic one and here comes the problem

Jokes about God, about Prophet Mohamed, about his companions from what I understand from reading in Moroccan blogs.

This is unacceptable; making fun from the religion in a disgusting way is a taboo to be discussed in a public magazine, this is not sex or politics, it is about scared beliefs of not only to the Muslim population of Morocco and they are the majority “98.7%” according to the C.I.A fact book but also one billion Muslim around the globe if the jokes were really as they were described in the media, already I can’t judge by my own self as the edition and the magazine itself were banned from publishing online from the ISP itself after the government banning order and public anger , and even an anti-Nishan Website was publishing the jokes online as a part of the campaign against the magazine yet unfortunately by the request of the readers they deleted the scanned pages

Look before anyone jump in to conclusions, I am 100% with the Freedom of Press and Expression as long as they don’t cross their limits of what accepted and unacceptable from ethical behaviors, that’s what My Grand father an Egyptian Journalist who lived his last 20 years of his life in a battle with the Freedom of Press in Egypt taught me, there are certain red lines not to be crossed

“Nishan” made a huge mistake; I don’t mind speaking about Sex or Politics at all, despite some may object on Sex as a taboo from the Eastern taboos not to be discussed widely and openly in magazines and newspapers but religion no way

Even their excuse is not acceptable; it is very naïve saying that

“So what these jokes are from the Moroccan streets??”

What Streets exactly??

Are they from the communist streets or the secular streets or the aesthetic streets??? From what I know the Moroccan people, the simple average Moroccan Joe; who is the source of the jokes just like in any other country; respects Islam so much regardless of his or her behavior, you can feel this if you watch the Moroccan satellite channel, the influence of Islam in this nation is so great despite all the western –Franco influence, it is there and no one can deny it

It is there and the regime, the dictatorship Monarchy is using to its advantage creating myths from considering the King as another religious symbol, the Prince of Believers whose foot is kissed by old men, I can’t forget the scene in the King Hassen II funeral when some old, very old sheikh came and kissed the hand of the young king

“Nishan” could have saved itself from all that trouble, if it didn’t publish these religious jokes sections and kept only the sections about the sex and politics. Already I know for sure that the Moroccan regime did what it did from banning and punishing the journalists of the Magazines because of the jokes about King Hassen II and the interior ministers using the religion insult. You want a proof, well if you want to any “Anti-Nishan” Website you will find that the following

The “Nishan” magazine insulted Allah, Prophet Mohamed “pbuh”, his companions and the King of the country!!

Why do they consider their king is so holy to be considered as Allah, the prophet “PBUH” and the companions of the Prophet!!??

Look this is not an inspection court or that Islam against the Freedom of expression but everything must have limits. Some people I see what to internationalize the case, ok internationalize it

But let’s speak about Democracy which means you must have your rule based upon the majority, the majority of the Moroccan people are against this magazine after what it did and with its ban, and they are the majority not the sophisticated intellectuals I believe

This is problem I believe comes from the fact that Morocco is just like any other Arabic country which got no democracy at all, pure dictatorship, the personality cult of the king is there but the question here if Morocco were a real 100% democratic country and the majority was against that magazine and called for its ban, well the opponents and activists agree??

Insulting religions in the name of Freedom of expression is a crime against Freedom of expression

P.S update (2/1/2007) I found an online version for the forbidden essay on Wordpress.com ,I read it and I don't see a direct insult to the Islam or Allah or the prophet !!

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