Did you ever came across a cartoon of Navin Ramgoolam ? or (that) of Paul Bérenger ? No doubt you did. But did you ever ask yourself the question : How do I know that a cartoon refers to a specific person? Probably you did not. Well, you should. Somewhere in the cartoon there is always a physical resemblance that brings you unequivocally to the person targeted by the cartoonist. Somewhere, somehow, a component in the picture will make you associate it with the real person, be it in the shape of his face or the wrinkles of his skin. Any professional caricaturist will confirm that fact.

This leads to our main point. Can a caricature (cartoon or line art drawing) represent the Prophet of Islam, of whom no historical image exists, be drawn ? Such a drawing has never and will never exist. We have no picture to associate the cartoon with. No one can say who this man with a beard is. The caption is another story which has nothing to do with the representation itself.

This bring us to the burning question of the hour : Did “Charlie Hebdo” publish a cartoon portraying the Prophet of Islam ? Based on the above, the answer is obvious : No. The French Weekly simply surfed on the crest of the wave created by the infamous movie which has set the muslim community ablaze with a clear objective, financial benefits at the end. Under the cover of Freedom of expression “Charlie Hebdo” wittingly exploited the hatred between two groups. On one side, there are those who hate Islam together with anything associated with this religion and on the other side there are those who hate the West and all that it represents. And both groups swallowed the bait at the expense of common sense and to the financial bliss of “Charlie Hebdo”. They have clearly misled their readers by putting on sale a product which is in reality non-existent.

The face of a stereotype bearded man is in no way representative of the last Prophet. No matter what the cartoonist, the editor of the newspaper or the caption of the image says. It could have been any other man or circus bearded woman for all that the muslim community cares, but saying that it is the Prophet will not make it so.

This, of course, applies only to the Charlie Hebdo case. The american movie - which is more of a bad copycat of the Monty Python without the humour - is another debate altogether.