Demonizing Muslims

 

Many religious leaders in America also frequently demonize Islam and condemn Muslims. In Europe, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI made some insensitive remarks that many Muslims believe were hostile to Islam—because they contribute to the growing climate of Islamophobia.

At a high-profile address in Regensberg, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI quoted Emperor Manuel II Paleologus as saying, “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

The process of demonizing Muslims and manufacturing Islamophobia is now a global phenomenon. An example is the Disney film, "Aladdin," that was released in the early 1990s. Many of the American soldiers now serving in Iraq saw "Aladdin" during their childhoods when they were vulnerable to psychological programming and the demonization of foreign cultures portrayed as inimical to core American values. In "Aladdin," the villains are all depicted as Arabs speaking with Arabic accents, while Aladdin is portrayed as an American youth with an American accent. This tactic is nothing less than the transparent demonization of Arabs, i.e., Arabophobia.

The propaganda of Islamophobia infiltrates society through the propaganda pronouncements of government and religious leaders that lead to the contamination of the mainstream media. The headlines of newspapers in the Occupied Territories proclaiming, “Vigilantes take up arms, vow to expel, ‘Muslim Filth’” incite cultural hatred, i.e., Islamophobia. These headlines expose attitudes that are the products of cultural prejudices compounded by the global media campaign designed to propagate Islamophobia as the primary strategy to promote perpetual war.

“'Hell, the Musical,' Comes to the Vatican," read the headline on the BBC News coverage of the announcement that the Vatican has recently authorized a new popular opera based on Dante’s Divine Comedy—one of the greatest works of Christian literature. But, is there a hidden agenda behind the launch of this major new artwork? The BBC reported, “[Marco Frisina], a Vatican composer, is to stage an opera based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, with visions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory....Organisers have asked permission for the premiere to be held at the Vatican in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI.” [BBC].

While this story seems innocuous enough, we should turn to The Divine Comedy to examine its potential for promoting the demonization of Muslims and Islamophobia. In "Inferno," the first part of The Divine Comedy, Dante wrote his description of the torments of Hell. In the "Inferno: Canto XXVIII," Dante places ‘Mahomet,’ i.e. Mohammad, in one of the most terrible, tortuous and tormenting tableaus in Hell.

Undergoing an infinite series of traumatic mutilations, Dante’s ‘Mahomet’ is tormented by a Satanic torturer armed with a massive sword called a “falchion.” The sword-wielding demon slashes, lacerates and mutilates ‘Mahomet’ repeatedly in an eternal cycle of Satanic vengeance. After each one of these horrific woundings, ‘Mahomet’ wanders along a circuitous path, whereupon his mortal wounds heal only to be confronted again by the same sword-wielding demon who slashes him—again and again and again in an unending cycle of Hellish torture, mutilation and punishment. When Dante witnesses this dreadful scene, ‘Mahomet’ turns to him, opens the gaping wound in his chest and says,

“See now how I rend me;
How mutilated, see, is Mahomet;
In front of me doth Ali weeping go,
Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin;
And all the others whom thou here beholdest,
Disseminators of scandal and of schism
While living were, and therefore are cleft thus.
A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us
Thus cruelly, unto the falchion’s edge
Putting again each one of all this ream...
In 1869, the Christian artist Gustave Doré illustrated Dante’s Inferno. Doré’s illustration of Mahomet did not create global pandemonium at the time. In the twentieth century, Salvador Dali produced some of the most outstanding Christian works of art including: "Christ of St. John of the Cross" and "The Madonna of Port Lligat." One of his lesser-known works is his "Mahomet," whom he depicts as slashed and lacerated following the model in Dante’s Inferno.
Given the course of events in the first years of the twentieth century, from the language and wars of the Bush-Cheney government and the statements of Pope Benedict XVI in Regensberg, it is only prudent to ask the following question: Will the forthcoming Vatican opera contain any Islamophobic elements that might enflame international tensions and foment wars against Muslim nations?

Confucius taught that the ruler must govern via his moral authority. He wrote, “The moral character of the ruler is the wind, the moral character of those beneath him is the grass. When the wind blows, the grass bends.”

We have seen how the rulers, presidents, vice-presidents, religious leaders and the Pope have contributed to the demonization of Muslims and the fomentation of Islamophobic wars.

The death toll for the wars of the Bush Era is a secret number. Highly qualified scientists at Johns Hopkins University calculated that 655,000 Iraqis had died in the first three years of the war. It is now one year later. We do not know the number of the deaths, dismemberments, disabilities, disfugurations, ravages, rapine and capricious slashings, shootings, woundings, burnings, explosions and anarchic homicides of the Bush Era, but we do know that secret number is still ascending.

Driven by despair and disgusted with the treachery of their leaders who have cooperated with the warmongers, the people of the planet are mobilizing like never before in human history.

Empowered by their common sense of decency, their desire for justice and their love of peace the people of our planet are revolted by their disastrous leadership. There is a growing sense of urgency.

The pace of change is gaining momentum. The people are seizing the moment to make an impact on their political institutions to bring war criminals to justice.

The future is in the hands of ordinary people—like those who are reading these words.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Carmichael is a historian and author based in Oxford, England, UK. Carmichael, who read a version of the paper above before the Global War Crimes Commission & War Crimes Conference that met in Kuala Lumpur in February, 2007, is the founder and chief executive officer of planetarymovement.org. This article is republished in the Baltimore Chronicle with permission of the author.