And Belated Justice in Pakistan

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Welcome back, Dissenters! This week’s Unbelief Brief covers the arrest of four LeMan cartoonists and the growing conversation around NYC’s newly chosen Democratic mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani. In EXMNA Insights, we explore how some conservative Muslims are aligning with conservative Christians in support of the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing parents to opt their children out of lessons involving LGBTQ+ themes. Finally, the Persecution Tracker highlights two cases from Pakistan where justice was served—though only after significant delay.

Unbelief Brief

Four employees of the “satirical magazine” LeMan have been arrested [[link removed]] in Turkey over a cartoon that purportedly depicts the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoon shows two angels [[link removed]], one named “Muhammed” and the other “Musa” (Moses), greeting each other as missiles fly beneath them. The magazine has denied that the “Muhammed” depicted is the actual Prophet Muhammad, saying they would never intentionally take such a risk. Instead, the cartoon is meant to “portray the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people by depicting a Muslim killed by Israel.” The editor also claims its message is intentionally being misrepresented by religious fanatics. However reasonable this explanation is, it did nothing to stop hundreds from protesting, rioting and chanting “tooth for tooth, blood for blood, revenge, revenge” outside the magazine’s offices.

Of course, the bigger issue here is that even if the cartoon does depict the Prophet Muhammad, that is no cause for violence or criminal prosecution in a civilized country. That it sparked this reaction, despite the fact that it doesn’t even seem to violate the prohibition on depictions of the Prophet, may be darkly amusing. But it is mostly an outrageous indictment of religious zeal, taken so far as to dumbfound any rational observer of the situation.

An investigation into the four employees for “publicly insulting religious values” is underway. The BBC reports [[link removed]] that “ arrest warrants have also been issued for other members of the magazine's senior management.” Turkey’s justice minister insists that “necessary legal steps will be taken without delay.”

It’s easy to forget that once upon a time, Turkey had ambitions to join the European Union. Even if the right to blaspheme is being chipped away in Europe as well, legal punishments have not yet gone beyond fines, and they have been rare (so far). President Macron of France famously declared [[link removed]] that France would “not give up our cartoons” after the beheading of Samuel Paty. Turkey takes the opposite route: it jails people for cartoons that aren’t even offensive according to Islam’s own rules.

Back in the States: the victory of Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City has generated more than a little chatter. The president’s son, for example, declared [[link removed]] that “New York City has fallen.” This is a good example of how poorly some on the right have reacted to [[link removed]] the result. Representative Randy Fine of Florida is warning [[link removed]] of a “Shi’ite caliphate” in New York City. Representative Andy Ogles has requested [[link removed]] that the Justice Department investigate the possibility of denaturalizing and deporting Mamdani, based on spurious accusations of “affiliation” with terrorist groups.

Even if one takes issue with Mamdani’s refusal to condemn [[link removed]] the phrase “globalize the intifada,” the anti-Muslim hysteria is a bit much. Mamdani himself is so socially liberal [[link removed]] that the mullahs of Iran would happily throw him in jail (or worse) without a second thought. As with any politician, criticism of his ideas—even very strong criticism—should be encouraged. Hysterical fear-mongering over the fact that Mamdani happens to be Muslim and the death threats [[link removed]] he’s received because of that fact are both wrong and unacceptable.

EXMNA Insights

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling [[link removed]] that parents may opt their children out of public school lessons involving “LGBTQ+ themes” was not surprising. This particular court has demonstrated a clear prioritization of religious concerns in cases where they come up. Whatever one thinks of the decision, it’s noteworthy because of who the plaintiffs in this case are. The parents who brought the initial lawsuit forward came from an interfaith background: “Muslim, Catholic, and Ukrainian Orthodox.”

EXMNA has written before [[link removed]] about the fraying of the tenuous alliance between cultural progressives and conservative Muslims. The success of this case demonstrates again that the idea of building a lasting coalition with conservative Muslims to further progressive causes is largely a fantasy of the left’s making.

While the case of Zohran Mamdani shows that anti-Muslim sentiment is still alive and well on the political right, we are no longer in the immediate shadow of 9/11. Indeed, progressives who took a paternalistic, protective attitude to Muslims 10 to 20 years ago were bound to discover, eventually, that many Muslims do not actually like what they stand for. A Pew survey from 2023-24 found that 55% of Muslims [[link removed]] said that homosexuality should be “discouraged.” The only religious subgroup more inclined to disapprove of homosexuality was evangelical Christians, at 61%. It should therefore be no wonder at all that conservative Muslims stood side-by-side with conservative Christians for this lawsuit.

For whatever reason, large swaths of the political right still cannot help themselves from expressing anti-Muslim vitriol, as the case of Mamdani clearly shows. But we cannot continue to ignore the progressive-Muslim alliance’s internal contradictions any longer.

Persecution Tracker Updates

Following a 23-year-imprisonment, 72-year-old Christian, Anwar Kenneth, has finally been acquitted of blasphemy and released, owing to a mental health condition. Read about that case here [[link removed]].

In a similar case, 28-year-old Farhan Masih, also said to suffer mental health issues, was acquitted of blasphemy five months after his initial arrest. Read about that here [[link removed]].

While the acquittals are welcome news, one should be careful about labeling them even as “belated justice.” There is no justice in wrongful imprisonment, whether of five months or 23 years—even if the wrong is eventually reversed.

Until next week,

The Team at Ex-Muslims of North America

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