Was the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s depiction of Muhammad justifiable?

Last Wednesday at about 1 a.m., an unidentified person threw a homemade explosive through the window of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office, destroying the newspaper’s building. This attack is assumed to be in response to the paper’s latest issue.

In honor of Tunisia’s recent elections, in which the Ennahda Islamist Party won the majority, the newspaper announced the Prophet Muhammad as a guest editor.

The cover featured a racist caricature of Muhammad with the following speech bubble: “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter!”

The newspaper’s website was apparently hacked shortly after the bombing and replaced with the message “No God but Allah.” Depictions of the Prophet are strictly prohibited in Islam.

Charlie Hebdo’s decision to belittle the beliefs of a religious group that represents about two out of every 25 people in France was a terrible one, and the violent response to it was just as bad. Both sides are unquestionably at fault for the thoughtlessness of their actions.

Muslims are often targeted in France, and the French media should know better than to print offensive depictions of Muhammad, especially when doing so has led to serious problems in the past. In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten commissioned 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to several death threats toward the newspaper’s staff and deadly riots in the Middle East and Pakistan.

On the other hand, we must rise to the defense of Charlie Hebdo. It is a satirical publication that uses its right to free speech to skewer all aspects of French society, not just Islamic culture.

Although the newspaper should be more considerate of Islamic beliefs in the future, it shouldn’t be firebombed for poking fun at Islam just like it has done for every other aspect of society.

The attack is a blatant attempt at censorship and greatly disproportionate to the newspaper’s actions. In trying to silence Hebdo, the firebomber is objecting to the same freedoms that allow the practice of Islam in the first place.

Islamic groups around the world have both condemned the radical attack on the newspaper and peacefully expressed their disapproval for Hebdo’s unfitting depiction of their religion. This is a much more effective way to handle incidents of this nature.