Tension between the Muslim community and the Mail & Guardian newspaper eased this week after the paper apologised for publishing a cartoon depicting prophet Muhammad. It published the cartoon, by popular and controversial cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, last Friday. It showed the prophet seated on a psychologist's couch complaining that "other prophets have followers with a sense of humour". The newspaper carried the cartoon after the Muslim Council of Theologians had failed to prevent it from being published. It is against Islamic practice to depict Muhammad in a drawing or painting. It provoked outrage among Muslim organisations and individuals, who banded together to form the United Muslim Forum of South Africa and request a meeting with the newspaper's management. The forum comprises representatives of the Muslim Judicial Council, Media Review Network, Muslim Lawyers' Association and various Islamic clergy.
After the meeting with the Mail & Guardian management, editor Nick Dawes and chief executive Hoosain Karjieker said the newspaper had "communicated its regret and apologised at the meeting for the harm caused by the publication of the cartoon".
"The newspaper in no way intended to cause injury or to associate itself with Islamophobia, which it repudiates in the strongest possible terms," they said. "We have learned an enormous amount since the publication of the cartoon about the depth of reverence in which Muslims hold the prophet. We invite community leaders and ordinary readers to communicate their devotion in our pages, as some have already begun to do." They added that, in light of the reaction to the cartoon, the newspaper would refrain from publishing images of the prophet while it reviewed its editorial policies on religious matters. "This review process will be informed by consultation with religious leaders, including, but not limited to, the United Muslim Forum of South Africa. We commit during the review period to honouring the prohibition on representation of the prophet."
Iqbal Jassat of the Media Review Network and spokesman of the forum said they appreciated the deep sense of humility shown by the newspaper. "It was a wonderful moment to have achieved this without any acrimony, and we were able to reinforce and keep an absolute commitment to freedom of expression," said Jassat.
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He added that, despite the tension, the meeting ended in "good spirit". He said the forum members had argued that the depiction of Muhammad had violated the constitution, but they did not want it to be perceived as an attack on freedom of expression.
Council of Muslim Theologians secretary-general Ebrahim Bham said they were satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. "In the greater interests of the country, the parties have been able to reach some form of understanding of one another's position."
This week, the newspaper carried an article by Na'eem Jinnah, editor of a Muslim community newspaper, who said "Muslims do have a sense of humour". In response, Zapiro commented in a new cartoon strip, which showed him seated in front of a psychologist talking about reaction to his cartoon. "I'm sorry I'm being linked to that juvenile Islamophobic Facebook campaign. And I'm sorry if anyone's linked me to the Islamo-phobia of the US 'war on terror'. Or the burqa and minaret bans in Western Europe."
He said Muslim clerics told him they were in favour of freedom of expression, except for drawings of the prophet. "Making exceptions for religious censorship is hard for a cartoonist." He tells the psychologist he "may have to live with the contradictions". Then his phone rings and he promises his editor he will not draw another Muhammad cartoon. "Just a 188-word Muhammad essay."