| Muhammed or Metal |
10 March 2003
|
Morocco Jails Musicians
Morocco is one of the more benevolent and civilized Arab, Muslim nations. So, the fact that is has jailed 14 young men, aged 22-35, for playing heavy metal music, does its reputation immense harm. Perhaps those who jailed them for 1 month to 1 year should be tried for bringing Islam into disrepute.
The trials in Bogart's Casablanca could have been played out in any small-minded town in America forty years ago. The judge said the judge for saying "normal people go to concerts in a suit and tie", not a black T-shirt with heavy-metal symbols. The judiciary in every society is laughable in its certainty of behavior in the broader world.
The Prophet himself, peace be unto him, probably attended a concert (or what passed in his time and place for such) and did not wear a suit and tie since they had not been invented yet. Yet, his actions help define the Sunna, correct behavior for Muslims. Should one deduce from this that wearing a suit and tie to a concert are actually un-Islamic?
Worse, the music has been determined to be an attempt to get people to abandon Islam in favor of another faith -- a crime carrying a 3-year penalty in Morocco (and illegal in many other Islamic states). Recall the glories of J.S. Bach, L. Beethoven, Haydn, etc., were largely Lutheran in inspiration -- do those playing such ditties subvert Islam?
Genuine faith needs no legal compulsion. Indeed, compulsion undermines it. Morocco is one of those places in the Islamic world where the strength of the belief among the faithful is not in doubt. The law in this case is truly an ass.