LETTER | Why is Charlie Hebdo not full of respect?

LETTER | I do not know Goh Cia Yee. I am neither his neighbour nor friend. But I am one of the "everyday people on the street" - people who Goh knows are not hateful, but kind and loving.

Importantly, I do not condone the killings that have taken place in France. But it beats me that French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo saw it fit to republish the derogatory cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, which provoked a violent attack against it in 2015.

The editors said that the drawings "belong to history, and history cannot be rewritten nor erased".

But the drawings are derogatory of a man who belonged to history itself and whose history cannot be rewritten nor erased as well.

History has recorded the life of this man culminating in the events of the Farewell Pilgrimage. It was a historic, massive gathering, as it also happened to be hajj akbar (major haj), a haj that coincides with the Friday prayer. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) utilised this august occasion to deliver his Farewell Sermon.

The encyclopedic Muhammad in History, Thought and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God sees it fit to describe the sermon in the following words:

"With his Farewell Sermon, Muhammad abolished … limitations on human rights, thus universalising human inviolability to all times and places. This was a large step away from traditional Arab custom and could easily be rejected by the community.

"The Prophet thus emphasised his injunction through the prominence of his wording as well as the time and place he uttered it. The sermon was delivered during the hajj, which took place at a sacred time and in a sacred place, and he repeated his injunction several times on several occasions.

"He also made it explicit that this injunction was from God and that God was the witness when Muhammad conveyed it to the people. Muhammad spoke as a prophet of God but also as a state leader and a lawmaker."

Suzanne McIntire in Speeches in World History calls it "a landmark speech, comparable to Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, which will remain part of humanity's legacy, with a very special place in the annals of human history".

The Farewell Sermon was a declaration of human rights that highlighted the Qur'an's emphasis on justice for all, equality, the sanctity of life, honour and property and the rights of women.

It was a 7th-century declaration of human rights, if you like, as well as on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women - a 7th-century Cedaw.

If Mariam Mokhtar wonders why Mahathir is so full of hate, may I wonder why Charlie Hebdo is not so full of respect for such a man?

If we can agree to disagree, why can't we be respectful?

Does freedom of speech allow one to be disrespectful?

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