The incident which took place on the 7th of January in Paris, the capital city of France, which led to the slaughtering of twelve persons at about noon, by two armed terrorist brothers who forced their way into the building of the headquarters of the French satirical magazine firm,Charlie Hebdo,which later culminated in a massive man hunt and ended on the 9th of January, two days later, with another five civilians killed in a shootout, on the premises of a company, between the terrorist brothers(who were also killed)and the French force authorities, can be seen as an unfortunate event!
It generated a nation wide sympathetic street match response of three million persons, involving about forty world leaders! The incident was condemned world wide in its totality as gruesome. But this is not the first time such a terrorist attack has occurred for the same reason- the defaming of Islam and prophet Muhammed for that matter!
Far worse attacks had been recorded for situations which were not as outspoken and confronting as the cause of the Charlie Hebdo attack. Charlie Hebdo should have reckoned with this. Many heinous terrorist incidents have occurred by blood-thirsting groups under the religious banner of Islam, for far less unreasonable excuses! The recent senseless execution on January 12th, of thirteen teenage boys in the open, in Monsul, Iraq, by ISIS jihadists, for violating their sharia law, by watching a soccer match between Iraq and Jordan, is an example.
At a time like this, we should be cautious and avoid what can be prevented from happening; that is, we should let sleeping dogs lie. This idiom means we should not instigate trouble; leave something alone if it might cause trouble or danger to us; but which will not, if left alone! On september 9th 2010, Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Centre, in Florida US, cancelled his intention to burn two hundred copies of the Qur'an to coincide with the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, after his intentions were condemned by the US government.
The Pope, in addition to his condolence message for the Charlie Hebdo victims and condemnation of the attack, however, cautioned against religious blasphemy and mockery. In his very words:
"freedom of expression has its limits when is comes to insulting religion......you cannot provoke. you cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others"
Not all religious bodies would take lightly or overlook satires towards them. Islam is just one of the volatile religions which will not condole this! The Charlie Hebdo satires of prophet Mohammad which includes nude caricatures, is seen as a confrontation and provocation to Islam. Charlie Hebdo attracted attention for its controversial caricatures of prophet Muhammed and also jokes about Islamic leaders as well.
Let us not throw caution to the wind when dealing with sensitive matters. Although Islam is not the only religion satirised, it is indeed, very different, sentimental and volatile in its response to any act of defamation to its cause of faith; and Charlie Hebdo is aware of this. Its office had been burnt down once, with death threats issued to its principal staff members by Islamists.
Ironically, the French magazine has vowed to continue with its satirical publications. Its says it has to carry on until Islam is rendered as "obsolete" and "boring", as catholicism. This is a sign of a fight to a finish. How many more innocent lives are they risking by this decision? How many world wide reaction do they intend to generate? How many solidarity match are they calling for; when all that is needed to avoid these situations is to tread carefully with Islam and let sleeping dogs lie?
With this decision to continue their satirical works on Islam and its revered prophet Muhammed, they are directly confronting armed and well funded extremists and calling out to them to come do their worst!
If these extremists cannot get at Charlie Hebdo's offices again, they might decide to visit some where else,only God knows; a school, busy bus or train station, a shopping mall, sporting complex etc, which have always been their targets of reprisal attacks. Then, how many more innocent souls would be lost, all because of cartoons? Charlie Hebdo should think twice, and let the sleeping dog lie!