.... Ordinary Muslims understand these manoeuvres very well. Last week, a friend in Tunisia told me that his country's rabble-rousers had started an ''auction'' where ''everyone wants to show that they are a better Muslim than anyone else''. He then added words that should be carved in marble: ''My Prophet would not worry about a video. He wouldn't care about that. My Prophet would care about the state of our societies. He would want us to be developed, he would want us to be successful.''
Is the true face of Islam represented by the Cairo mob, or by the quiet wisdom of my friend in Tunis?
If his words prevail, the Muslim world will grow to understand that Western countries can never abandon freedom of expression, and that coexistence cannot be based on intimidation.
So the battles being fought outside Western embassies are also signals of a wider struggle within Islam itself. The outcome hangs in the balance. [Brisbane Times] Read more
