There has been a great to-do in recent days concerning the cartoons published by a Danish newspaper.
A friend of mine I met at the gym was disturbed that other European nations were joining in with the Danes in insulting our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him).
He was worried that Muslim countries would have to boycott the products of all European countries and not just Danish ones.
I understand that this is a concern for many Muslims; therefore I will propose, for them, a suitable response to our European friends and allies.
I do this, however, with the presumption that Muslims are serious in their desire to stop the Europeans from continuing in their assault on the dignity and honor of our Prophet.
This has not been the case in past incidents of Western aggression against Islam and Muslims, the most recent incident being the desecration of the Holy Qur’an at the hands of Western troops in their prison camps around the world.
Muslim response has to date been less than inspiring.
Nevertheless, I shall assume that this time we mean business.
Let me step back for a moment to give a little background information that may help you make better sense of what is happening.
For a number of years now Western nations have suffered from a growing doubt; they fear that the global hegemony the West has enjoyed for the last couple of centuries is finally coming to an end.
This uncomfortable realization is by no means confined to Westerners; in fact most non-Western people have come to believe this as well.
So a gradual, but perceptible, fading of their global hegemony coupled with a growing fear of an uncertain future motivates Western society to intimidate weak nations in an attempt to keep their power unchallenged and intact.
A US neocon put it very succinctly when he said (I am not quoting exactly): “We must periodically find a weak country, hold it against the wall and slap it around to impress others”.
The ideal target for Westerners has been the Muslim world, due to its extensiveness and perceived weakness.
The current assault on our Prophet by the Danes and other Europeans must be seen within this context.
What can we do?
We Arabs have a saying: “What cannot be attained as a whole should not be abandoned as a whole.”
Therefore, the first thing we need to do is to cool down and take a deep breath.
I recommend that we utilize a gradual and escalating approach to boycotting Western goods and services. Starting with luxury items and easily replaceable products as a first step that can be quickly and, relatively painlessly implemented.
We may then move on to more complicated items that require finding alternative sources and working with them to produce goods that match our specifications.
Finally we move on to products that we will need to build our own factories to produce.
This serves several purposes: One, it allows our businessmen to find alternatives to Western products in an organized way. Remember, it is not an easy task to rearrange trading patterns that have been in place for decades, if not centuries.
Second, it allows our economies to realign and adjust to the changed trading environment with a minimum of difficulty.
Third, it allows our non-Western trading partners to adjust their production to fulfill our needs.
Fourth, it allows the West time to back down and apologize for the insults they have heaped upon our beloved Prophet and to make sure it never, ever happens again.
This proposal is predicated on the seriousness of the resolve of Muslims around the world to defend the honor of the Prophet.
If that is not the case, then Muslims around the world must prepare to eat not only Danish cheese, but their own pride as well.
