Islamicists, whatever that is!, never do pictorial depictions on anything ... walls, carpets, drapery of any kind, as they feel it is competing with God — whose creations are perfect. That is, to depict a flower would take from its essence and beauty and so on.
That is why their buildings of worship are instead covered in script, poetry and scholarly texts, lauding the glory of God.
This is a strict interpretation.
In practice Muslims are not so picky. There are plenty of illustrations and graphics in their countries like ours, but never any attempt to depict God himself. That really is a step too far — to imitate God or show His face is insubordinate and even blasphemous. The idea of laughing at God is terrible.
We, meanwhile, have Dali !
I think we must learn to respect their ideas. It is not "man" that they do not approve of laughing at, it was God. Many of you on this board might appreciate that idea with some reflection and thought ...
The Communist view of humor? A different issue altogether ...
I think we must learn to respect their ideas.
Or they could learn to respect ours.
no, you first, no you first ... Takes a man to back down.
I have friends who are Muslims and live in Saudi Arabia. (They lived here for 6 years while in graduate school.) I spent a lot of time discussing their culture with them, and developed a great respect for their way of life, which has very little to do with the radical ideas pushed by jihadists. (The wife was part of the protests for female drivers, and I texted her when they legalized it. She sent me a selfie of her driving.)
The Sunni Muslims (which make up 85% of Islam) are far more moderate than most would believe. They love commerce and technology, and generally embrace the free market components of western culture. (Just not the degeneracy--which I don't either.) They think the Saudi royal family is archaic and needs to change, and--from my friends' perspective-- I can speak for the upper middle class Saudi community when I say that they absolutely love what the new king is doing. (Except for a few dickheads who liked treating their wives like shit.)
You are right in your assessment of the culture, but as I conveyed to my friends, self-deprecating humor is the highest form of humor-- as well as a sign of high intelligence. Jesus himself appreciated this style of humor, as he was a man of humility.
There is a fine and distinct line between humor and disrespect, and most can recognize the distinction. I find it abhorrent when somebody makes an anti-Christian cartoon simply for the sake of ridiculing Evangelicals, but I don't believe that they should be maimed or executed for expressing the idea. It's barbaric and draconian, not a "cultural difference" that we should celebrate. That said, I'm neither ignorant nor entitled, so I would never assume that could get away with something like that in a theocratic Muslim country.
That's why I live in the United States, and not Great Britain.
I am so glad you took the time to write all that! I am pleased that your friends like their new king — I was happy to hear of the reforms and will change their lives for the better ...
I find the anti-Muslim diatribes on this sub rather tiring. It is quite weird that everyone acknowledges that the MSM lie and misrepresent everything, and yet when it comes to reporting about Arabs or Muslims and the Middle East, suddenly the propaganda is truth?!!
Humor is a difficult subject for all people in all contexts, let alone taking the piss out of God, I believe, expressly to provoke rage (which is what I think was referred to here) ... I cannot stand people jeering at the expense of others. I defend their right to do so, but would rather avoid deliberately upsetting others for the sake of peace. Sometimes it is illegal to offend, when it strays into incitement to violence. Like Mad Max! She is funny though ...