CAIRO - After a week of violent protests over an online video demeaning the Prophet Muhammad, the American news media has conducted a searching psychoanalysis of the Muslim mind to ask why such an offense should trigger such wrath. Essayists have generalized about resentments dating back to the 8th century, an anachronistic discomfort with modernity, or the excesses of Islamist politics, among other familiar themes.
On Monday, some Muslims online began to turn the tables, poking fun at the whole inquiry. Seizing on Newsweek's invitation to discuss its provocative cover story under the Twitter hashtag #MuslimRage, thousands of Muslim users of the social network mocked the premise by listing a few of the real and imagined irritants that make them mad.
Want to discuss our latest cover? Let's hear it with the hashtag: #MuslimRage.
- Newsweek (@Newsweek) 17 Sep 12
You lose your nephew at the airport but you can't yell his name because it's JIHAD. #muslimrage
- Hijabi Girl (@HijabiGrlPrblms) 17 Sep 12
#MuslimRage When you behead an infidel but your iPhone did not record properly so you don't get the credit you deserve.
- Liars Never Win (@liars_never_win) 17 Sep 12
BURN ALL WESTERN LITERATURE….onto a zip drive so I can listen to it while driving. #MuslimRage
- Qasim Rashid (@MuslimIQ) 17 Sep 12
Shawarma with no garlic sauce? #MuslimRage
- Omar (@AllWeAskFor) 17 Sep 12
Some t raded inside jokes about the incongruities of living in a Westernized world.
There's no prayer room in this nightclub! #muslimrage
- AssedBaig (@AssedBaig) 17 Sep 12
“What do you mean you don't serve chocolate milk at this pub?!†#muslimrage
- Imad Mesdoua (@ImadMesdoua) 17 Sep 12
alcohol is haram bro, but weed is alright #MuslimRage
- Mohammed Ghalib Khan (@GhalibMK) 17 Sep 12
Jokes about the hijab, or Muslim headscarf, formed a genre of their own.
I'm having such a good hair day. No one even knows. #MuslimRage
- Hend (@LibyaLiberty) 17 Sep 12
When you have no hijab to go with your cute outfit you just bought #MuslimRage #waitwut
- Mohammed Memon (@Memonite) 17 Sep 12
Wearing Hijab made by CHRISTIAN Dior. #MuslimRage
- Sami Tabib (@Uaepodiatry) 17 Sep 12
Others expressed more earnest frustrations.
Hearing Americans state publicly that they're afraid that @BarackObama is an Arab. #MuslimRage
- Russ Green (@russ_jokes) 17 Sep 12
When people fear Shariah taking over the US constitution & same people have never read the US constitution #ConstitutionDay225 #MuslimRage
- Zahir R (@theZroc) 17 Sep 12
Some took aim at the distortion of religious life under Arab autocracies.
Friday sermon is full with political propaganda by the ruling political party. #MuslimRage
- Ammar Gazali (@ammargazali) 17 Sep 12
The British-Egyptian journalist and blogger Sarah Carr wondered what other hashtags Newsweek might hav e considered.
Suspect that #psychoturbanedfourwivedbarbarianmohamedians was 2nd on Newsweek's list as a potential hashtag after #muslimrage
- المشير أبو كار (@Sarahcarr) 17 Sep 12
A blogger under the name Arab_Fury reveled in it all.
Muslims just hijacked @Newsweek's hashtag. Pun intended. #MuslimRage
- Arab Fury (@Arab_Fury) 17 Sep 12
