Anti-Islam: Islamophobic

It simply doesn't do to offend the sensibilities of religious fanatics. And, of course, some religious fanatics are more liable to extract violent revenge than others. Within fundamentalist Islam it is considered the duty of the faithful to avenge insults to the Prophet Mohammed, imagined or otherwise. Nor can the reputation of Islam be impugned. It can be, however, at great personal risk. And, unsurprisingly, there are those who knowingly assume those risks.

A Somali man of the faith living in Denmark made use of an axe to confront one of those notorious cartoonists that set the Islamic world aflame with their noxious depictions of the Prophet, wearing a bomb-infested turban. He failed in his mission, and will not be greeted as a hero by his peers. Four Swedish residents were convicted of terrorism in Denmark last year for plans to conduct a shoot-out at the newspaper which first published the Mohammed caricatures.

Even benign, or admiring, or representative depictions of the Prophet are forbidden; idolatry is not to be encouraged. And although the scorching rage that invariably erupts when Muslims are made aware, true or not, that someone is about to embark on desecrating a copy of the Koran, or making light of Islam in any way whatsoever, it is no deterrent to those who are convinced of the accuracy of their denigration of that tribal, brutal religion bearing no resemblance to the one most Muslims worship.

On the other hand, most Muslims who worship a kind and generous benefactor who beams down at his followers exhorting them to respect one another and their fellow man, reject the very notion that a Muslim is capable of committing atrocities. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, they believe that Islam represents a charitable and hopeful view of humankind.  Others believe that Islam is the ultimate, and perhaps only, true religious devotion, all others being pretenders.

Polite discretion prevents too many from repeating that belief, but nothing dissuades Islamists from shouting it from the rooftops. Or mosques from playing recordings declaring "God is Great", as a battle hymn, accompanying rebel mobs of the faithful extracting vengeance from the heretics among them. 

A Danish writer, a prominent critic of Islam was set upon at his home in Copenhagen. Described as a "foreign" man in his early twenties, Lars Hedegaard, met this man under inauspicious circumstances. He responded to a doorbell at his apartment. On opening the door, the 70-year-old "Islamophobic" Dane was confronted by a man with a gun. The shot narrowly missed him.

"The bullet flew past my right ear, after which I attacked him and punched him in the face, which made him lose the gun", he explained later, unharmed. Mr. Hedegaard is the publisher of a weekly anti-Islam newsletter; he is no novice. As head of the Free Press Society in Denmark and its international offshoot, the International Free Press Society, he is well aware of the dangers his views place him in.

This is a dangerous man. Not the attacker, the attacked. In 2011 Mr. Hedegaard was convicted of hate speech, fined 5,000 kroner for insults and degrading statements he issued, regarding Muslims. When he appealed the ruling he was acquitted by the Supreme Court in Denmark a year later. Mr. Hedegaard is on collegial terms with people like Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders.

Denmark's prime minister had this to say about the "despicable" act. "It is even worse if the attack is rooted in an attempt to prevent Lars Hedegaard to use his freedom of expression." Indeed, it most certainly is that. "Failed attack on my friend and Islam critic Lars Hedegard in Denmark this morning. My thoughts are with him. Terrible", tweeted Mr. Wilders.