Other faiths not similarly respected and Violence
Other religions including Christianity have been similarly denigrated as well, especially Hinduism, with symbols of divinity being denigrated in a far greater manner (footwear, underwear, toilet seat covers). These protests have been mainly peaceful. I noticed that the Hindu American Foundation objected to Muhammad's cartoon depiction, but no Muslim organization has similarly joined hands with others. No condemnation of the Bamiyan Buddha demolition etc. And these protests were organized to be violent gradually (cartoon appeared in September), including the recent killing of a Hindu in a ship in UAE, stoning of the Indian embassy in Pakistan etc (who had nothing to do with this). These should be condemned as well.
Perfection
If you look at the Koran, it starts off well, forward thinking for its time. It starts with wanting to live peacefully with Christians & Jews. As it progresses to the fifth chapter, the tone gets gradually more violent, asking Muslims not to trust Christians, Jews & Kafirs (idolators) as their friends, and to kill them if they don't subject to the Allah's will. The Jihadis take (conveniently) for themselves the later verses rather than the initial ones. I want all the Islamic organizations to similarly condemn & ostracise the terrorists and in today's world (such as the Diwali blasts, Coimbatore blasts etc.), aim for universal brotherhood & tolerance.
Furthermore, the promise of honeyed figs & 77 dark-eyed virgins in heaven is taken literally. Arthur Osborne beautifully argues in his book: "Be Still, it is the wind that sings" (that I lent once to you I think) that this is actually symbolic.
Muhammad's marriage to his daughter is also perhaps reminiscent of those times, and not practical for today's time, which means that a literal following of Muhammad doesn't sound right in today's world. Also, there can't be any takers today for the literal understanding of the sun going into a muddy pool when it sets (I think this is again may be symbolic, maybe meaning something else).
There are internal contradictions in all religions that I've read (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, communism, atheism), but the tendency for mindless physical violence is diminished in today's world in most of them.
People have suggested that Islam is going through a crisis that Christianity underwent 500 years ago (with respect to slavery & racism). By focussing on the peaceful verses, & rejecting violence (as the Afghans did when Gandhi went there, even though removing a gun was like nakeness to them-such was the power of the man) is the right way to go.
Do feel free to correct any mistakes of mine here. CCing Pavan since he is our usual discussion guy on these topics, and is open-minded based on my interactions with him, he did condemn with full force Gujarat & Modi, as well as condemn the Kashmiri Pandit massacre.
What Muhammad means to Muslims?
By Razi Mohiuddin
Some of us, might have red this article on Sanjose Mercury news a few days back. Just incase, if you haven't.
The cartoon controversy is spiraling out of control around the world as a fight between freedom of speech vs. derogatory depictions of a prophet. Some Muslims unfortunately have resorted to violence and destruction of property. This is un-Islamic and must be condemned.
While we can argue about the merits of freedom of speech vs. responsible journalism, and peaceful vs. violent protests, lost in this debate is the persona of the individual who has been insulted and depicted in a most vulgar way. What would he have done and why does he evoke passions that we in the West have a hard time understanding? Why is this fury equally intense among disparate people whether they are Arabs, Indonesian, Afghan, European or American Muslims?