Every culture in the world has its own unique sets of standards, beliefs, traditions, and ways of doing things. From time to time, cultural dimensions among people will differ and this inevitably leads to cultural conflicts and related issues. The Islam culture and religion is recognized as among the most popular in the world today. Prophet Muhammad is a central figure in the Muslim religion and culture and many non-Muslims believe that he founded Islam. After Prophet Muhammad, there was profit Muhammad, or simply Muhammad the profit.
The first mentioning of Muhammad the profit was made after Kurt Westergaard created the 12 popular cartoons. In the cartoons, Muhammad was depicted as wearing a sizzling bomb for a turban. Westergaard was heavily criticized for his depiction of Muhammad as a member of the “criminal” and had to be protected as there were already some attempts on his life. The cartoon that got Westergaard into trouble had gained great popularity by 2012 and many people wanted to buy it, including Martin J. McNally who was willing to part with up to $5,000 to get the painting (McGraw, & Warner, 2012). The high demand for the cartoon has transformed Westergaard to the new profit Muhammad who has gained both popularity and fame from the cartoon and now stands a chance to cash-in from his depiction of the real Prophet Muhammad.
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"Symbolic Dimensions of Culture".
Back in the years 2005 and 2006, protests were witnessed across many Muslim states and beyond after a Muslim controversy expose came up in form of the so called Muhammad Cartoon Crisis. This incident was experienced after a Danish Newspaper; Jyllands-Posten published very many cartoons in their newspaper with the title, “The Face of Muhammad.” The protest was so serious that more than 250 people lost their lives and another more than 800 were injured. In 2012, a YouTube video mocking Muhammad surfaced and also led to many protests in the West and the Muslim world (McGraw, & Warner, 2012). Like in the case of the picture posts by the Danish Newspaper, many people lost their lives in the incident and others ended up in the hospital. In the same year of 2012, the United Nations gave a report saying that Denmark cartoons describing Muhammad were indeed a violation of Human Rights.
One of the major reasons for the development of cartoon crisis is the idea that the cartoons did not represent the face of Muhammad. When the first set of cartoons first surfaced, many Muslims claimed that there were a hidden message behind the cartoons and that the cartons were only meant to humiliate Prophet Muhammad and the Islam faith. Another major cause of the cartoon crisis is that some people believe that what is being communicated through the cartoons is completely different from the way things are in real sense. There is also the argument that the cartoon messages are in some cases misinterpreted thus leading to conflicts and protests. The third cause of the development of the cartoon crisis is what may be termed as dangerous diplomacy (McGraw, & Warner, 2012). It is clear that the cartoonists who developed the various cartoons depicting Muhammad had their own agendas in mind. Protests erupted because some people took it that the cartoonists had the intention of humiliating them and their religion and they couldn’t take this while sitting down.
Cartoons are a great way of communication, but only when used appropriately. As seen in the case of Westergaard, his depiction of Muhammad as a criminal led to detrimental repercussions and many lives were lost. When communicating to people of different religions and cultures, it will be important to create an atmosphere of reduced tensions by portraying all people as equally important. If people feel they are being mistreated or humiliated in any way, they will in no doubt stand up and fight for their rights.
