Abu Abed Mubarak, imam of the Baton Rouge Islamic Center, stood in dark robes before a crowd of about 50 students as he spoke about the life of Prophet Muhammad.
In light of the recent international controversy over a Danish magazine republishing several offensive cartoons of Muhammad, the Muslim Student Association hosted a lecture in the Union Cotillion Ballroom on Thursday afternoon.
As students walked into the room, they were offered pamphlets about Islam and translated copies of the Quran.
Mubarak lectured for the first half of the program on the life of Muhammad and gave examples of how the prophet led a merciful and humble existence.
“Before you can understand the cartoon controversy, you have to understand who the Prophet Muhammad was,” said Omar Suleiman, member of the Islamic Center.
Mubarak said Muhammad was a prophet sent from God, and his teachings guide the Muslim way of life.
“We owe this great man; we love him,” Mubarak said. “Whatever we do, we feel like we are shorting him because he has done so much for us.”
Mubarak said when the cartoons were published, it was an insult to Muhammad, which is an insult to God who sent him.
“Making fun of him is making fun of God,” Mubarak said. “If you have no respect for God, you have no respect for your own life.”
Mubarak said Islam honors freedom of speech, but the Quran prohibits Muslims from “disgracing or insulting others’ beliefs.”
Mubarak said the Quran does not allow any prophets, including Jesus and Moses, to be illustrated because the actual prophets are “more beautiful, more handsome and more sacred than any picture.”
He said Muslims were discouraged from seeing “The Passion of the Christ” because it portrayed an image of Jesus.
“It was an insult to Jesus,” Mubarak said. “He’s not like us.”
He said the riots in Denmark caused by the cartoon, are not representative of Islam.
“We are in a state of chaos,” Mubarak said. “We are seeing individuals expressing anger according to their own conscience.”
Mubarak said after Sept. 11, 2001, the Muslim community received negative attention, but the attention eventually led to more people converting to Islam.
“Now in Denmark you have lots of children saying, ‘Who is this man?’ and I predict that a lot of Danish people will be Muslims very soon,” Mubarak said.
Several students who attended came to talk about the cartoon controversy.
Bret Martin, Catholic veterinary medicine freshman, said, “As a believer of freedom of speech, I respect that they can publish the pictures, but I don’t agree that they should make fun of any respectable figure.”
Prentice Evans, Christian biological sciences freshman, said she grew up learning about different religions, and Islam had always sparked her interest.
She said she does not know the details of the cartoon controversy, but she believes that she would stand by freedom of speech.
Suleiman said the MSA will be planning to host a debate concerning the cartoon controversy in upcoming weeks.
 
Contact Rebekah Allen at [email protected]