Cartoon must not be used against Muslims as a whole

28 maart 2008, NRC:

Prophet Muhammad with a time bomb in his turban: That is how the film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders begins. The Danish cartoonist responsible for the drawing explains to Spiegel Online why he wants his drawing removed.

Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, 72, drew a cartoon for Jyllands-Posten depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb for a turban. Since the end of 2007, he has been living underground as a result of death threats made against him.

Spiegel Online: Mr. Westergaard, the anti-Koran movie made by right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders begins with your drawing of the Prophet Muhammad showing him with a time bomb in his turban. You are taking legal action against Wilders as a result. Why?

Westergaard: The Danish Union of Journalists will file for an injunction today to force Wilders to take my cartoon out of the film. I don't want my cartoon taken out of its original context. It was a cartoon aiming at fanatic Islamist terrorists -- a small part of Islam. The cartoon must not be used against Muslim society as a whole. That was not my intention.

Spiegel Online: And this is what you think Wilders is doing with his film?

Westergaard: Wilders has a overly generalized perception of Muslims as potential terrorists. But it's not like that at all -- I know a lot of Muslims living here in Denmark who accept democracy completely and who live their religion as a very private matter. I hope that all Muslims will adapt to secular society. There is currently friction between Muslim and Christian culture. But I am quite sure, that our Western democratic culture will prevail over the darker version of Islam. We must have Islam-light.

Spiegel Online: You also sued a Danish group that used your cartoon as part of their warning against the Islamization of Europe. Why?

Westergaard: For the same reasons I am going after Wilders. I know I can not prevent the use of the cartoon everywhere. It has become something of an icon in this debate. But I will do so where I can.

Wilders is against Islam, not all Muslims, and there is no such thing as Islam-light:

Madam Speaker, I acknowledge that there are people who call themselves Muslims and who respect our laws. My party, the Freedom Party, has nothing against such people, of course. However, the Koran does have something against them. For it is stated in the Koran in Sura 2, verse 85, that those believers who do not believe in everything the Koran states will be humiliated and receive the severest punishment; which means that they will roast in Hell. In other words, people who call themselves Muslims but who do not believe, for example, in Sura 9, verse 30, which states that Jews and Christians must be fought, or, for example, in Sura 5, verse 38, which states that the hand of a thief must be cut off, such people will be humiliated and roast in Hell. Note that it is not me who is making this up. All this can be found in the Koran. The Koran also states that Muslims who believe in only part of the Koran are in fact apostates, and we know what has to happen to apostates. They have to be killed.

Westergaard hopes that Islam-light will prevail. Unbelievable. Western democratic culture has no defence against the demographic jihad. With the rapidly growing Muslim communities, outbreeding the rest of us 6 babies to 2, Western culture will be extinguished. Over time, all that will be left is the Koran.

So long as moderate Muslims fail to rip the violent passages out of the Koran, the cartoons do reflect on Muslims as a whole. So long as they share the same book, they share the same violent ideology. They are helping to spread hate and violence, whether they intend to or not. In that sense, all Muslims are guilty of not distancing themselves from terror and violence. In that sense, all Muslims carry a bomb in their turban - whether they wear one or not.

UPDATE: Westergaard Draws Wilders