On the Subject of Respect and The Limit to Tolerance: The Hamad Al-Naqi Story
Now, I’ve noticed that not a lot of blogs in Kuwait have discussed this but, apparently, the story of some extremely disrespectful and hate-filled tweets which were made by a Kuwaiti man by the name of Hamad Al-Naqi (although he alleges that his account was hacked and that it wasn’t him) has gone insanely viral across Twitter over the last 24 hours.
Here’s why:
These tweets (whether or not it was actually Al-Naqi who made them) bore deeply scathing, disrespectful, and (if you’re a Muslim) highly sacrilegious INSULTS to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) along with his revered family and companions (Ahl Al-Bait). The words that were used in these tweets were so wildly rude, uncivilized, and clearly intended for the purpose of direct insult and hate that I am afraid I cannot personally allow myself to either repeat them or even describe them in detail.
I’m sure if you look up alnaqi88 on Twitter you will easily find examples of what I’m talking about (however, they are in Arabic).
Now, these words have rightfully received a huge wave of backlash from the Kuwaiti community. Al-Naqi himself seems to have changed his username on Twitter (although not the actual Twitter account) and is now claiming that these tweets were made by a hacker who was purposefully trying to defame him. Either way, I’m afraid this will not fly.
I am not an ultra-conservative, extremist Muslim and I am a staunch supporter of a person’s right to express themselves freely and openly in whatever medium they choose. I do not support censorship nor do I think that anyone has the right to regulate how people think or act. Whether you are a highly devout, religious human being or you completely denounce the existence of God as a whole, you have the right to freedom of speech and deserve tolerance and respect.
But lets get one thing clear: Freedom of speech loses its right to tolerance and respect when it fails to reciprocate them. That means that if you want people to respect you for your actions and your words and, really, anything you publicly do, you have to respect them back.
And don’t even try telling me that “some people will always feel disrespected no matter what” because I know (from both personal experience and observation) that every thought and word and action anyone can possibly come up with can always be expressed in a respectful and tolerant manner WITHOUT losing its integrity.
So if you made an argument or a comment about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) which was both respectful AND tolerant I would support your right to that freedom even if I didn’t agree with you. Because I know that your intention was not to insult the prophet but to merely share your thoughts with the world and that is not something that my religion (Islam) objects to.
The tweets that were made on Hamad Al-Naqi’s Twitter account were made without the slightest hint of either respect or tolerance. In fact they were the exact opposite. They were words filled with hate, defamation, and utter filth. There was nothing about them that I could ever place under the banner of ‘Freedom of Speech.’
These would be placed squarely under the banner of ‘Hate Crime.’
According to ilSul6ana, an official statement has been released announcing the arrest of Hamad Al-Naqi and the impending investigation of his hate crime. Q8Ping has also posted a video of a large crowd of people protesting against this man in front of the State Security building.
I’m not entirely sure of the back-story to this incident–on whether or not the tweets were actually made by him–but whatever the truth turns out to be, whoever was responsible for those abominably irreverent and vile tweets should be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the Kuwaiti law and should not walk without proper and clear legal punishment.
All my love!
