Islam and its perception in political cartoons

Abstract

Arab political cartoons arose in the 19th century in the Arab renaissance movement, known as Nahḍa (the awakening). But it was not until the 1990s, with the Gulf War, when political cartoons were consolidated as having a preponderant role in transmitting information and opinions. This evolution crystalized with the Arab Revolutions in 2011 as they became an art of resistance thanks to the use of the internet and new social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. From a religious perspective, Arab and Muslim cartoonists have criticized significant aspects of Islam. Cartoons represent social and political criticism, but religion has been analysed as a crucial aspect of society. In this context, the objectives of this research are: (1) to give a brief overview of the development of Arab political cartoons; (2) to analyse how cartooning became a form of communication in the Arab world; and (3) to observe the impact of cartoons on Arab societies as they deal with any social issues, including religion. Consequently, a qualitative methodology has been developed while a historical and contextual method has been developed to establish a process of analysis and synthesis. Moreover, an ethnographic visual method has been used to observe and analyse the sample of selected cartoons articulating a leitmotif of humour which focuses on society and religion. On balance, the results of this research suggest that cartoons are an extremely powerful tool to analyse social problems. As a matter of fact, religion should not be a problem on the grounds that there is no prohibition in the Qur’an to prohibit any representation of critics with regard to religion. Hence, Islam might well be considered a social aspect which should be questioned and analysed as it us a social behaviour that that influences many aspects of the daily lives in the Arab and Muslim world.