The “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day” Facebook campaign was not the first time that someone started a campaign, wrote an article, published a book or drew a caricature to demonize, hurt the image, make fun of, or belittle Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him.) The campaign was meant to generate publicity and also reactions from Muslim groups, and it accomplished both. More than 100,000 people joined the campaign’s Facebook page. The reactions from Muslim groups ranged from blocking Facebook and YouTube altogether by the Pakistani government, to angry protests mostly online, to forming many Facebook responses including “Against Everybody Draw Mohammad Day” that generated more than 184,000 friends.  

It all started in Mecca about 1400 years ago, when Mohammad “the honest and the trustworthy” started preaching the message of Islam to the people of Mecca as it was revealed to him by the angel Gabriel. The Meccans worshiped different "gods" or idols, and they believed that these idols interceded between them and the higher God. They also had a corrupt social class system, where the dominant families exploited slaves, women, immigrants and minorities.  The message of Islam was simple but powerful: to believe in one unique, independent, merciful, just, loving and indivisible God, and to submit to Him completely. It meant also freeing oneself from the oppression of other creation and liberating oneself from the diseases of the heart while resetting one’s soul to the original pure unburdened form (called fitra). To be Muslim meant to be balanced, to be engaged and to take responsibility in order to change life for everyone for the better.

The Meccans wanted to keep the status quo; they wanted to keep the same political system in which a few powerful families and their allies control the rest of the society and its resources. They also did not want to change what they were raised on. Islam was not a mere set of rituals, they concluded, but it was a liberating and powerful ideology that would force them to surrender their privileges and agree to share power with their slaves, women and the poor. They waged relentless war against the Prophet accusing him of madness, sorcery and fabrication. They hired street gangs to follow him and make fun of him while he was preaching, and they hired poets to write poems attacking him. His response was to ignore the noise, smile at them, argue with them with reason and tenderness, forgive them, keep preaching and teaching the truth, and focusing on the message.

The Prophet and the truth prevailed. By the time the Prophet Mohammad died 23 years after the first revelation, most of Arabia subscribed to the simple faith called Islam, or “submission to the Creator.”

The fast spread of Islam throughout the world in the following 14 centuries, generated predictable reactions from the old religious and political establishments. There were concerted efforts to discredit the message of true monotheism by attacking its two foundations; the Prophet and the Holy Book. Thousands of books were written by religious scholars, academics, historians and authors to dissect every aspect of the life of Mohammad and to discredit every aspect of the Quran.  Prophet Mohammad was subjected to character assassination unparalleled in history under the disguise of academic research, religious scholarship, and more recently, freedom of speech.   

In spite of the relentless campaigns against the Quran and against the Prophet Mohammad throughout history, the love of the Prophet continued to grow in the hearts of the believers.

Prophet Mohammad was the perfect embodiment of Islam and was described by his wife as "a Quran walking on earth."  He was, as the Quran describes him, “Mercy to mankind.” He was pious but understanding of people’s limitations. He was warm, gentle, humble, loving, brave, witty and very accommodating. When a man came to the Mosque and urinated publically, the Prophet told the companions to “let the man finish” then wash the place with water, and he advised the man nicely that the place for prayer must be kept clean and pure. When an elderly woman stopped him while he was among his close companions, he paused to listen to her concerns patiently and attentively.  He was a family man who lived a very simple life even doing household chores when he was not attending to the issues of the community. His house was a simple room built of mud, and barely accommodated two persons. He slept on a hard woven rug that left indentions on his skin. He listened to the advice of his wives and his companions and admitted his own limitations in issues unrelated to faith or revelation. He told men to honor women and not to abuse them. In fact, in his last sermon to the community, he told men to treat women fairly. He was a role model not only to Muslims but for the whole of humanity.

Our simple response to “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day” or to any future campaigns of slander is not to react with anger, nor to demonstrate or burn flags or books, nor to ban journals, or embargo companies or countries, but to simply educate people about the Prophet of humanity, and call on them to "Be Like Mohammad," may peace and blessings be upon him.