An Important Statement

This is admittedly a slight tangent from the Lawfare's broad themes, but Eugene Volokh drew my attention the other day to this statement on free speech, issued by a group of Muslims in the United States and Canada, and thought it worth bringing to readers' attention. The Muslim American community gets a lot of criticism for not speaking out loudly and unequivocally on subjects of political violence. The criticism sometimes has merit; some Muslim leaders denounce terrorism while defining it narrowly enough to leave room for activity commonly understood as terrorism or defining it so broadly as to include activity commonly understood as warfare and statecraft. The criticisms also, however, often reflect a significant penchant on the part of elements of the larger society towards guilt by association and double standards; when a person wants to build a church or  synagogue, we don't mine all of his or her prior statements, and we don't parse those statements to see what tolerance they reflect for what sort of violence. We frequently do this with Muslim figures. Whichever problem one thinks is the dominant one here, and which one thinks is the subsidiary issue, it has to be significant that a group of prominent American and Canadian Muslims has here done precisely what the community often gets flak for not doing: taking a strong stand in favor of free speech, even speech highly offensive to Muslims. It has done so in a fashion specifically directed at the Muslim community and specifically and explicitly insistent that threats of violence against writers and cartoonists by Muslims are a bigger moral problem for the Muslim community than offensive cartoons or Koran burnings. This is a courageous statement and warrants more attention than it has received:

A DEFENSE OF FREE SPEECH BY AMERICAN AND CANADIAN MUSLIMS We, the undersigned, unconditionally condemn any intimidation or threats of violence directed against any individual or group exercising the rights of freedom of religion and speech; even when that speech may be perceived as hurtful or reprehensible. We are concerned and saddened by the recent wave of vitriolic anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiment that is being expressed across our nation. We are even more concerned and saddened by threats that have been made against individual writers, cartoonists, and others by a minority of Muslims.  We see these as a greater offense against Islam than any cartoon, Qur’an burning, or other speech could ever be deemed. We affirm the right of free speech for Molly Norris, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and all others including ourselves. As Muslims, we must set an example of justice, patience, tolerance,  respect, and forgiveness. The Qur’an enjoins Muslims to: * bear witness to Islam through our good example (2:143); * restrain anger and pardon people (3:133-134 and 24:22); * remain patient in adversity (3186); * stand firmly for justice (4:135); * not let the hatred of others swerve us from justice (5:8); * respect the sanctity of life (5:32); * turn away from those who mock Islam (6:68 and 28:55); * hold to forgiveness, command what is right, and turn away from the ignorant (7:199); * restrain ourselves from rash responses (16:125-128); * pass by worthless talk with dignity (25:72); and * repel evil with what is better (41:34). Islam calls for vigorous condemnation of both hateful speech and hateful acts, but always within the boundaries of the law. It is of the utmost importance that we react, not out of reflexive emotion, but with dignity and intelligence, in accordance with both our religious precepts and the laws of our country. We uphold the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Both protect freedom of religion and speech, because both protections are fundamental to defending minorities from the whims of the majority. We therefore call on all Muslims in the United States, Canada and abroad to refrain from violence.  We should see the challenges we face today as an opportunity to sideline the voices of hate—not reward them with further attention—by engaging our communities in constructive dialogue about the true principles of Islam, and the true principles of democracy, both of which stress the importance of freedom of religion and tolerance.