PESHAWAR, Pakistan – In the world where we live, there are different religions and faiths. Every person has the full right to believe in any of the religions according to their own understandings.
Indeed, religions are the main pathway of humanity, and every religion talks about friendship and peace between people.
Islam, which is one of the largest religions with more than a billion believers, is a balanced faith. Following the teachings of Islam, Muslims respect all other religions and faiths in addition to their own.
From the Muslims point of view, however, Islam is the last of the religions and its book, the Koran, is the complete one.
That is why we Muslims make Islam their religious priority.
Outside of religion, democracy under human laws is a blessing. As people, we have the right to live life to the fullest in a democratic society.
As the outward appearance of every one of us is unique, so, too, is everyone’s imagination and ideology different.
Every person has got the right to have freedom of speech, ideology and imagination and to express comments on each issue, but we must be careful not to harm anyone while doing it and not to torture anyone’s heart in the process, either.
But earlier this year, Danish newspapers reprinted insulting cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, who is a sacred leader in the Muslim world.
This move was a very irresponsible action by the publishers that deeply affected more than one billion human beings (Muslims) and also depressed some scholars.
I strongly denounce this kind of irresponsibility, because, as a Muslim, I believe that people have the right to do anything in limitation, but not to hurt others.
It seems clear to me that those who published these offensive cartoons don’t believe in any religion or faith and don’t like to live in human society.
But since the offense is limited to some individuals, it should not be held against the rest of the people in Denmark.
Everyone has the right to defend their rights and benefits. Muslims are, too.
But as Islam is a religion of brotherhood that doesn’t accept violence. The best way to solve problems is through dialogue and negotiations.
As humans are intelligent creatures. we have the ability to solve every issue through peaceful discussions.
Protesting calmly is a very good way to make governments and leaders aware of problems and spur them to find solutions.
But protesting violently means creating more problems, and sometimes the lack of responsible people present brings about angry protests.
In my point of view, the United Nations must play a key role to dissolve the matters in these cases, not just holding conferences without any results.
I hope we don’t see any more torturing of people’s hearts by insulting their faiths, so that no violence breaks out.
Edrees Kakar is a Reporter for Youth Journalism International.