Actor Hamza Ali Abbasi has advised fellow Muslims to deal with peace against religious incitement and mockery from Islamophobes on Tuesday.
His tweet came in response to the international outcry from Muslim countries over Islamophobic comments hurled by French President Emmanuel Macron. Speaking after teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded for showing caricatures deemed insulting to Islam to pupils in a lesson on free speech earlier this month, Macron vowed France would “not give up cartoons” and said Paty “was killed because Islamists want our future”.
The worldwide backlash initiated last week and has so far have worsened the diplomatic relations of France with several Muslim countries, particularly Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Macron to have “mental checks” for treating “millions of members from different faith groups this way” — comments which prompted Paris to recall its envoy to Ankara.
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Pakistani actor, Abbasi, who has been vocal on religious, political, and social issues gave his two cents on the ongoing fiasco.
He condemned the disrespect of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in his tweet. He urged Islamophobes not to mock religious figures with the intent of incitement and provocation.
“It is your right to disagree and criticise but it is not your right to mock with the intent to deliberately insult and provoke. It is immoral, unethical, and uncivilised; and the only way we muslims can make the world understand that is solely by peace and dialogue – not murder, war, and hostility,” he posted.
He quoted an example of disrespect of other religions by Muslims in his tweet, to elaborate his argument.
“What if Muslims organize a contest of throwing cow meat on a Ram statue? Or who can slaughter the most pigs in a synagogue, or who can spit on a cross with the most accuracy. It’s evil. Same applies in the case of making insulting cartoons of a man held sacred by more than 1.5 billion people,” he protested.