As a proud alum of the University of Illinois, a Muslim American and a regular reader of the Daily Illini, I was extremely disappointed and hurt to see the offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published by the Daily Illini. What bothers me is not that people may disagree or even that some may dislike the Prophet; people are certainly free to choose their opinions. But rather what is most offending is that the editor’s actions offended a great deal of the Muslim community, both on campus, as well as its alumni. Moreover, I believe the comments from Mr. Gorton are disingenuous at best. There is a better way of provoking a debate than insulting someone’s religious sentiments.

Freedom of speech means not only freedom of expression but also implies a level of respect and tolerance for other people’s beliefs and values. Your publications self censor to exclude profanity, vulgarity and pornography as well. You do that because these elements of speech, though free, are not civil.

Similarly, publication of these cartoons violates civil manners. The purpose of a publication is to provoke thoughtfully and not be childish by offending adherents of a religion. Just as few newspapers publish anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish cartoons to stimulate debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, publishing caricatures of the Prophet do not help in discussing issues about the Islamic world.

Mustafa Hashmi

class of ’99