Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, states:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief�"

Islam insists it does not permit images of its prophet for fear it will lead to idolatry. Well, my muslim friends can take a lesson of what peace is like from a religion (Hinduism) with the worst forms of idolatry in the world. Showing tolerance for others while worshipping an idol is by far a better choice, than being intolerant without it.
These caricatures were done by a few in a country far away from those innocent (mostly Christians) in Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan, etc. who had nothing to do with it but still had their lives turned upside down because of it. Is this not ignorance worst that those who caused it? In my opinion, it is not the West that must change, for if they do, like Saudi Arabia, all will not be free to practice their faith. Sadly for the world, the gallant few who can make a difference in bringing rational changes to an intolerant faith, are being murdered, forced to go underground or never being consulted by media.

"This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion". (Soorah Al-Maa'idah 5:3)

One would have to wonder why it took Allah such a long time to perfect religion? Let's think of this sura very seriously, had Allah perfected religion in the very beginning, there would have been no atheists, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. to offend those who have found 'perfected' religion. As a matter of fact, there would have been only one religious conflict (Sunni and Shite) to deal with.

It had to be that people were offended before that would have warranted the cause for religion to be perfected, but if they are still offended inspite of it, then it would mean it is far from perfect.
Perfected religion in the true sense would mean that it can withstand "debate, criticized, proselytize, insult and even to ridicule" scrutiny of the worst kind which should make it impossible for the ignorant to offend those perfected by it. What is even more absurd, is, it seems to me that Allah himself has abandon Islam, now that Muslims are calling on Western nations to bring in laws to protect "perfected" religion. What's next?

Changing the rules, even though mortals are fallible, in the middle of a game is bound to create friction, but never happened. How then, can God, being infallible, deprived billions before 1400 years of "perfected" religion? Therefore, the religion of Islam has to be the work of a man (Muhammad) since no institution on this earth will ever hire an illiterate to promote the cause of progress through intellectual supremacy, muchless God. Where there is pain and misery the cause is ignorance and if such ignorance accompanies one to Paradise then it certainly cannot be free of chaos and lawlessness.

It is Muslims who, for the benefit of their own good, must aggressively take the initiative to have all caricatures of Muhammad and whatever else they are offended by, foreseeable and unforeseeable, published in all medium of communications, television, radio, newspapers, pony express and the internet in all corners of the globe, so that all people, especially those who are free to express, might come to know what not to do to offend them.

This they must do so often as a reminder for non-muslims who might tend to forget or slip up, since they are not fortunate to have a God as perfect as Allah or no God at all to guide them to know or care how serious a matter, for some reason or the other, Muslims can be deprived of paradise by offending their prophet and God. For example, now that the whole world knows that flushing the 'Holy' Quran down a toilet offends them, it never occurred again as far as we know, unless, God forbids someone did it secretly.

Keeping in mind the "truth hurts" - fact, when freedom to express offends, it has to be a higher truth than the faith practiced by the offended.

Muslims insist such depictions could encourage idolatry. It is true idolatry amounts to sin, but to incite riots, killing and destruction against idolatry is the even greater sin. And worst of all sins is the ideology behind the hate to commit murder, pillaging, and destruction which was going on from the inception of Islam. Strange enough, much of the hate is with those (Imams or Clerics) who are well versed in the study of the Quran. They go on to incite the masses to turn to violence who (masses) otherwise by themselves would rather go about their daily lives without it.

This is truly hate for those who do not agree with you:-
Taken from works of Anwar Sheik

1. Men are superior to women (surah 2:228).
2. Women have half the rights of men: in court witness (surah 2:282) and in inheritance (surah 4:11
3. A man may punish his wife by beating her (surah 4:34).
4. A man may marry up to four wives at the same time (surah 4:3). A wife is a sex object for her husband (surah 2:223).
5. Muslims must fight until their opponents submit to Islam (surah 9:29).
6. A Muslim must not take a Jew or a Christian for a friend (surah 5:51).
7. A Muslim apostate must be killed (surah 9:12)
8. Stealing is punished by the amputation of the hands (surah 5:38).
9. Adultery is punished by public flogging (surah 24:2).
10. Resisting Islam is punished by death, crucifixion or the cutting off of the hands and feet (surah 5:33).
11. Fate decides everyone's eternal destination (surah 17:13).
12. Every Muslim will pass through Hell (surah 19:71).
13. Heaven in Islam is the place where a Muslim will be reclining, eating meats and delicious fruits, drinking exquisite wines, and engaging in sex with virgins (surah 55:54- 56) &(surah 52:17,19).

Some quotes to support hate in Islam:-
Taken from works of Dr. Ali Sina

• Quran tells us to: "not to make friends with Jews and Christians" (5:51), fight them "until they pay the Jizya (a penalty tax for the non-Muslims living under Islamic rules) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued" (9:29). "kill the disbelievers wherever we find them" (2:191), "murder them and treat them harshly" (9:123), "fight and slay the Pagans, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem" (9:5).
• Quran says that all those who disbelieve in Islam will go to hell (5:10), they are najis (filthy, untouchable, impure) (9:28), and orders us to fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left (2:193). It prohibits a Muslim to befriend a non-believer even if that non-believer is the father or the brother of that Muslim (9:23), (3:28).
• It says that the "non-believers will go to hell and will drink boiling water" (14:17). It asks the Muslims to "slay or crucify or cut the hands and feet of the unbelievers, that they are expelled from the land with disgrace and that they shall have a great punishment in the world hereafter" (5:34). And tells us that "for them (the unbelievers) garments of fire shall be cut and there shall be poured over their heads boiling water whereby whatever is in their bowels and skin shall be dissolved and they will be punished with hooked iron rods" (22:19-22) and that they not only will have "disgrace in this life, on the Day of Judgment He shall make them taste the Penalty of burning (Fire)" (22:9).
• Quran says that "those who invoke a god other than Allah not only should meet punishment in this world but the Penalty on the Day of Judgment will be doubled to them, and they will dwell therein in ignominy" (25:68). For those who "believe not in Allah and His Messenger, He has prepared, for those who reject Allah, a Blazing Fire!" (48:13). As for him who does not believe in Islam the Prophet says that after he dies it will be announced with a "stern command": "Seize ye him, and bind ye him, And burn ye him in the Blazing Fire. Further, make him march in a chain, whereof the length is seventy cubits! This was he that would not believe in Allah Most High. And would not encourage the feeding of the indigent! So no friend hath he here this Day. Nor hath he any food except the corruption from the washing of wounds, Which none do eat but those in sin." (69:30-37)
• The Prophet Muhammad prescribes fighting for us and tells us that "it is good for us even if we dislike it" (2:216). Then he advises us to "strike off the heads of the disbelievers"; and after making a "wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives" (47:4). Our God has promised to "instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers" and has ordered us to "smite above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them" (8:12). and "to strike terror into (the hearts of the enemies" (8:60). He has made the Jihad mandatory and warns us that "Unless we go forth, (for Jihad) He will punish us with a grievous penalty, and put others in our place" (9:39). Allah speaks to our Holy Prophet and says "O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be stern against them. Their abode is Hell,- an evil refuge indeed" (9:73).
• He promises us that in the fight for His cause whether we slay or are slain we return to the garden of Paradise (9:111). In Paradise he will "wed us with Houris (celestial virgins) pure beautiful ones" (56:54), and unite us with large-eyed beautiful ones while we recline on our thrones set in lines (56:20). There we are promised to eat and drink pleasantly for what we did (56:19). And have sex with "boys like hidden pearls" (56:24) and "youth never altering in age like scattered pearls" (76:19)

  Hate not the man, but his actions can never result in murder.

  

Our world is in deep chaos and without any doubt the cause is the belief in false Gods, but what a world we could have had had there been no God at all, or better yet, a God without a mediator.

The writers say the violence sparked by the publication of cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad shows the need to fight for secular values and freedom.

The statement is published in Charlie Hebdo, one of several European papers to reprint the caricatures.

The images, first published in Denmark, have angered Muslims across the world.

One showed the Prophet Muhammad, whose depiction is banned in Islam, as a terrorist bomber.

Many newspapers defended their decision to reprint the cartoons on the grounds of freedom of expression.

'Global threat'

Almost all of those who have signed the statement have experienced difficulties with Islamic militancy first-hand, says the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris.

They include Dutch MP and filmmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali and exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.

"After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global threat: Islamism," the manifesto says.

"We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all."

The clashes over the cartoons "revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values," the statement continues.

"It is not a clash of civilizations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats."

The writers said they refused to accept that Muslim men and women "should be deprived of their rights to equality, liberty or secularity in the name of respect for culture or tradition".

They also said they would not give up their critical spirit out of fear of being accused of Islamophobia.

"Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom, and secularism wherever it is present," the writers added, saying it is nurtured by fears and frustrations.

Full text: Writers' statement on cartoons

A group of 12 writers has put their names to a statement in French weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo warning against Islamic "totalitarianism". Here is the text in full:

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global totalitarian threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

Recent events, prompted by the publication of drawings of Muhammad in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values.

This struggle will not be won by arms but in the ideological field.

It is not a clash of civilizations nor an antagonism between West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarian ideologies, Islamism is nurtured by fear and frustration.

Preachers of hatred play on these feelings to build the forces with which they can impose a world where liberty is crushed and inequality reigns.

But we say this, loud and clear: nothing, not even despair, justifies choosing darkness, totalitarianism, and hatred.

Islamism is a reactionary ideology that kills equality, freedom, and secularism wherever it is present.

Its victory can only lead to a world of injustice and domination: men over women, fundamentalists over others.

On the contrary, we must ensure access to universal rights for the oppressed or those discriminated against.

We reject "cultural relativism" which implies an acceptance that men and women of Muslim culture are deprived of the right to equality, freedom, and secularism in the name of respect for certain cultures and traditions.

We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", a wretched concept that confuses criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatization of those who believe in it.

We defend the universality of the freedom of expression so that a critical spirit can exist in every continent, towards each and every maltreatment and dogma.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits in every country that our century may be one of light and not dark.

Signed by:

1. Ayaan Hirsi Ali	2. Chahla Chafiq	3. Caroline Fourest
4. Bernard-Henri Levy	5. Irshad Manji	6. Mehdi Mozaffari
7. Taslima Nasreen	8. Maryam Namazie	9. Salman Rushdie
10. Antoine Sfeir	11. Philippe Val	12. Ibn Warraq