In memory of Charlie Hebdo’s angels

By Laurie Baron

SAN DIEGO─In Memory of Charlie’s angels: Stephane Charbonnier, Jean Cabut, Georges Wolinski, Bernard Verlhac, Bernard Maris, Philippe Honoré, Michel Renaud, Mustapha Ourrad, Elsa Cayat, Frederic Boisseau, Franck Brinsolaro, and Ahmed Merabet.

“If you’re going to get into social criticism with absurdity and satire, you can’t be politically correct when you do that.” John Cusack

Satire depends on caricature.  Magnifying the flaws of ideologies, people, or policies reveals their dangerous potential if left unchallenged.  The cartoons of Mohammed in Charlie Hebdo were not intended to mock Mohammed but rather the Jihadists who have elevated the significance of images above the value of human life.  If René Magritte were alive, he might have reminded the assassins that a cartoon of the Prophet is not the Prophet.

The backlash to this infamous attack already has degenerated into tarring all Muslims with the sins of their most radical fringe.  Yet the prohibition of images of Mohammed does not even appear in the Koran, but rather in Hadith attributed to him.  Traditionally Shiites did not forbid such images; whereas Sunnis have.  The ban on portraying Mohammed is to prevent idolatry where the image of the Messenger becomes worshipped instead of Allah.  The murderous assault to protest the desecration of Mohammed’s image erects that idol on an altar of Kalashnikovs.

Like all holy texts, the Koran contains many contradictory passages, and factions within Islam can fixate on those which stress violent intolerance against infidels over those which perceive the competition between faiths as an intellectual battle.  From what I can tell, Mohammed didn’t have a great sense of humor.  He once declared, “Do not laugh too much, for laughing too much deadens the heart.”  If the assassins die resisting arrest, they might discover in the afterworld that there was a misprint in the Koran when they are greeted by 72 surgeons who operate on them to determine if they have hearts.

Nevertheless, Mohammed also said, “Be tolerant, command what’s right; pay no attention to foolish people,” and “Call people to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good teaching, and argue with them in the most courteous way.” In other words, execution is no substitute for elocution.

Let Charlie Hebdo journalist Laurent Leger have the last word: “The aim is to laugh. We want to laugh at the extremists — every extremist. They can be Muslim, Jewish, Catholic. Everyone can be religious, but extremist thoughts and acts we cannot accept.”

Baron is professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University.  Your comment may be posted in the box below or sent directly to the author at lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com