Farid Elazouzi !!!

By Jamal Elabiad

I'm sure you have never heard of such a name.This is normal, for Farid Elazouzi is not as well-known as singers, actors, writers, politicians,etc; even that, his life story is worth shedding some light on.

Farid was my friend for years. I really spent wonderful moments with him. We first knew each other as classmates at high school. We very often prepared for the exams together. In fact, we were friends in the full sense of the word.

After getting the Baccalaureat, we both majored in English at fez university. Farid, however, couldn't attend the university lectures regularly. He didn't tell anybody why.

In the summer of 2004,I was told that Farid had won the Green Card and was on the verge of travelling to the USA.This may have been the why. I did my utmost to contact him before he travelled, but in vain.

In 2005, I was utterly surprised to learn from one of Farid's friends in the USA that he joined the American army. How come? I failed to find any reason behind such a decision. Farid will be sooner or later sent to Afghanistan or Iraq,I thought. My God !

Farid Elazouzi was killed in Iraq in June, Alassae magazine reported recently.The news badly shocked me. I couldn't help crying. I was about to lose my consciousness.

I finally arrived at the conclusion that Farid, like many others from different nationalities, must have been exposed to brainwashing. In other words, he must have been indirectly forced to enrol in the US Army.

June 2007

Reprinting the Cartoons!

By Jamal Elabiad

I recently read a long article on the Internet by a Danish writer seeking to explain what is meant by the “Danish freedom of expression”, which, he claimed, is what made some newspapers republish the degrading drawings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Danish newspapers, according to him, are free to tackle all topics, whether or not they intend to insult what other people consider sacred.

It seems the writer does misunderstand the concept of the freedom of expression. As it is internationally known, the freedom of expression has nothing to do with lying about people, especially the prophets and religious leaders. This means newspapers or any other section of the media are free to express their views depending on reliable sources, not lies and fabrications. Most importantly, the freedom of expression, like all freedoms, has a number of limits, one of which is that it refrains from humiliating God’s prophets.

Additionally, the writer claimed that the Danish government cannot “decide what is published in the Danish media.” But I wonder why the government managed to prevent newspapers from writing about the reality of the Holocaust or even caricaturing it, which is only one of countless examples where the government can and does intervene. Frankly speaking, the Danish government cannot control only what newspapers write about Islam and Muslims!

In conclusion, there is no denying that the freedom of expression is just a pretext, and that hatred of Islam and Muslims is the undeclared reason behind reprinting the cartoons, either in Denmark or elsewhere.

March 20th, 2008