On the facebook issue!

Before I begin, I want to clarify that not only am I a Muslim but I am a proud Muslim and dearly love our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and can go to any extent to protect his Honor. But I want to use his teachings for doing so. Being a Muslim, being an intelligent Muslim, I am gravely ashamed by the actions of certain decision makers in Pakistan! I agree that the competition being held ON Facebook (NOT BY Facebook) to draw caricatures of our beloved Prophet (SAW) is gruesomely wrong but is the measure we are taking to register our protest “right”? Hazarat Muhammad (SAW) is the person who even went and looked after the woman who used to throw garbage at him every single day! No, I am not saying that we need to start looking after those who are conducting this competition, all I am saying is that there are better ways of tackling the issue than going for a boycott/complete blackout of Facebook

What we need to realize is that almost half of members of the page on which this competition was being held comprised of a group of both Muslims and Non-Muslims condemning their actions!!! And simultaneously various groups of Muslims started pages in Honor of our Beloved Prophet (SAW) where they had declared 20th May as the Honor the Prophet (SAW) Day and were supposed to post their favorite Hadiths and let the world know of the greatness of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which I believe is the right way to counter any attempts by the infidels at attacking Islam and the Prophet (SAW). But with a ban on access to Facebook, Muslims from Pakistan, who were leading the “good” pages on Facebook are unable to gain access to them and can only sit and wonder what is to be done!

What disturbs me is that the PTA have gone for another “quick fix” by not only blocking access to Facebook but also by stopping all BlackBerry services in order to “ensure” that no one gains access to Facebook without realizing that it has also stopped users’ access to their emails and other useful applications. And all of this is setting the wrong precedent. Instead of taking care of other major issues such as pornography, including websites which continue to post leaked pictures of Pakistani girls on a regular basis, and blocking and taking action against these websites, the PTA is going for “quick fixes” and is effectively stopping a productive counter movement to the infidel’s competition. Yes, Facebook probably should take measures to close down that page but why are we sitting here hoping for them to do something when we can do better on our own using the very same platform as them?
I hope that the above makes some sense. May Allah Guide us all!

Ahmad B