The depiction of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the manner portrayed by Jyllands-Posten , the Danish newspaper, and propagated by their European counterparts under the pretext of the freedom of speech was certainly obnoxious. And it hasn't shown any signs of abating with the satirical French weekly, Charlie Hebdo , joining the fray.

Equally ugly, if not more deplorable, was the way the Muslim community reacted to it - the boycotting of goods, various demonstrations - violent in many instances, flag burning and the torching of embassies. Knee-jerk response. More like hysteria for this is not the way to behave as Muslims - as shown by our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Historically, there were three clear instances where our beloved Prophet (pbuh) was explicitly insulted and he responded by exercising restrain to the utmost whilst instructing other Muslims to do likewise.

During the signing of the Treaty of Hudaibiah, he was taunted and humiliated by a Quraish who played and tugged at his beard. Umar, his fearless companion, sitting adjacently, was certainly not amused and would have smitten that bloke without even batting his eyelid if it were not for our beloved Prophet (pbuh) who instructed Umar to stand down.

In the second incident, the people of Taif invited our beloved Prophet (pbuh) to their land but upon his arrival, they received him instead with jeers, bricks and stones, and humiliated him. He was both emotionally and physically bruised right to the bone. He had an angel at his disposal to do his bidding, ever willing and ready. Did he wish for their destruction, their villages to be burned, their economy to be destroyed? Far from it. Again he kept his cool and merely prayed to Allah to give them a greater understanding of Islam.

Finally, there was a particular lady who, who every morning without fail, would throw faeces at our beloved Prophet (pbuh) as he was making his way to the mosque, compelling him to change his attire. One fine day, he was surprised by the absence of the flying offensive object. Curious, he enquired and learned that the lady had fallen ill. Lo and behold, he decided to pay her a visit - not to bash her up or curse her but to wish her well. Maybe this is what we should be doing to the people at Jyllands-Posten and Charlie Hebdo. Let them continue publishing it and pay them a visit when they have stopped doing it.

The character of our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is clearly beyond reproach. No amount of mud slinging, faeces throwing or dirty drawing is going to take it away from him or blemish it. It's really the character of the Muslims who are being place in front of the jury.

Equally disheartening is to witness the burning of the Danish embassies in Lebanon and Syria. These governments have clearly failed to protect the sanctity of the embassies, not as required by the Geneva Convention but by Islam itself. Therefore they must apologise for their failure to upkeep the principle of Islam and compensate the Danish to the fullest.

May the Quran and Sunnah Rasul guide us Muslims always.