Short answer
The hurt is about who is mocked, not about humour. The Prophet (ﷺ) joked himself. He used to ask a small boy, "O Abu 'Umair, what did the little bird do?", to tease him. But Islam asks a Muslim to love the Prophet (ﷺ) more than his own father, his children and all people. So a cartoon mocking him feels like an insult to a man's mother. A Muslim may not mock Jesus, Moses or Abraham either, because they are prophets of Islam too. Many Christians protested in the same way against the film Life of Brian in 1979. The Qur'an tells Muslims not to take revenge on those who mock. They are to walk away and answer the ignorant with "Peace". Classical Islamic law gave any penalty to a lawful court in a Muslim state alone. No individual may punish anyone for it, and Muslims keep the law of whatever country they live in (17:34).
Full explanation
The Prophet (ﷺ) laughed and joked
Muslims have no quarrel with laughter. The Prophet (ﷺ) joked with the little brother of Anas, a Companion who served him. He asked the boy, "O Abu 'Umair, what did the little bird do?" The objection to the cartoons is not to jokes. It is to making a figure of ridicule out of someone a Muslim loves.
Anas ibn Malik reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) was so at ease with them that he would joke with Anas's little brother, asking him, "O Abu 'Umair, what did the little bird do?"
Why the insult goes so deep
The Prophet (ﷺ) spoke of faith. No one has it, he said, until he loves the Prophet (ﷺ) above his father, his children and all people. So for a Muslim, a cartoon mocking the Prophet (ﷺ) is different. It is not like a joke about a politician or a football team. It is closer to someone insulting his mother in the street, and then calling him a fanatic for minding.
Anas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said none of them has faith until he loves the Prophet more than his father, his children and all people.
Muslims may not mock any prophet
The rule is not one-sided. A Muslim who insults any prophet of God (﷾), Jesus included, has left Islam. That is between him and Allah (﷾), and no Muslim may harm him for it. Muslims believe in every messenger of God (﷾) and make no distinction between them. So Jesus, Moses and Abraham are honoured just as the Prophet (ﷺ) is. Muslims are also told not to revile what other people worship, and not to laugh at one another. A Muslim who asks others not to mock the Prophet (ﷺ) is asking what his own religion already requires of him.
“The Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers. "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His messengers." And they say: "We hear, and we obey: (We seek) Thy forgiveness, our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys."”
“Revile not ye those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah in their ignorance. Thus have We made alluring to each people its own doings. In the end will they return to their Lord, and We shall then tell them the truth of all that they did.”
“O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be that the (latter are better than the (former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong.”
Christians felt the same about Life of Brian
When Monty Python's Life of Brian came out in 1979, many Christians protested that it mocked Christ. Many picketed it, and a bishop argued against it with two of its makers on BBC television. Muslims share that feeling about Jesus, and they share it about the Prophet (ﷺ).
A BBC2 discussion programme broadcast on 9 November 1979, in which John Cleese and Michael Palin of Monty Python defended their film Life of Brian against the Christian objections of Mervyn Stockwood, Bishop of Southwark, and the writer Malcolm Muggeridge.
What the Qur'an tells Muslims to do
The Qur'an does not tell a Muslim to take revenge on those who mock. It tells him to leave their company until they change the subject. It tells him to answer the ignorant with "Peace", and to push back evil with something better. It tells the Prophet (ﷺ) that messengers before him were mocked too, and that God (﷾) is enough for him against those who scoff. When men cursed the Prophet (ﷺ) to his face, he answered them briefly and told Aisha, his wife, to be gentle, not harsh. Classical Islamic law does count insulting the Prophet (ﷺ) among the gravest crimes, and most classical jurists (scholars of Islamic law) made death its penalty. But that belongs only to a lawful court in a Muslim state, after a proper trial. It never belongs to an individual, and no Muslim may take the law into his own hands. Wherever a Muslim lives, he keeps the law of that country (17:34). Where such cartoons are lawful, he may object, look away and answer with patience, but he may harm no one.
“When thou seest men engaged in vain discourse about Our signs, turn away from them unless they turn to a different theme. If Satan ever makes thee forget, then after recollection, sit not thou in the company of those who do wrong.”
“Already has He sent you Word in the Book, that when ye hear the signs of Allah held in defiance and ridicule, ye are not to sit with them unless they turn to a different theme: if ye did, ye would be like them. For Allah will collect the hypocrites and those who defy faith - all in Hell:-”
“And the servants of (Allah) Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, "Peace!";”
“Nor can goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (Evil) with what is better: Then will he between whom and thee was hatred become as it were thy friend and intimate!”
“Mocked were (many) messengers before thee; but their scoffers were hemmed in by the thing that they mocked.”
“Therefore expound openly what thou art commanded, and turn away from those who join false gods with Allah. For sufficient are We unto thee against those who scoff,-”
“And have patience with what they say, and leave them with noble (dignity).”
Aisha reports that some men greeted the Prophet (ﷺ) with "death be upon you" in place of "peace be upon you". She cursed them back. The Prophet told her to be calm, to be gentle and to avoid harshness and foul words. He had answered them only with "and upon you".
Ibn Qudamah, a Hanbali jurist, holds that, as a rule, no one may carry out a fixed penalty (hadd) except the ruler (imam) or the one he appoints to act for him. The only exception he allows is an old ruling on a master and his own slave, which has no application today.
“Come not nigh to the orphan's property except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength; and fulfil (every) engagement, for (every) engagement will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning).”
What critics say, and the answer
Sahih al-Bukhari 4037 — Kitab al-Maghazi (Military Expeditions), hadith 4037
Jabir ibn Abdullah reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) asked who would deal with Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, who had harmed Allah and His Messenger, and Muhammad ibn Maslama volunteered.
Cited for
Critics say the Prophet (ﷺ) had Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf killed for mocking him.
The response
The hadith gives the reason as the harm he did to God (﷾) and His Messenger (ﷺ). Ibn Ishaq, an early biographer of the Prophet (ﷺ), records what that harm was. Ka'b was not killed for disagreeing. He was a chief in Medina. After the battle of Badr, Quraysh, the ruling tribe of Mecca, were at war with the Muslims. Ka'b went to Mecca, mourned their dead in his poems and stirred them up to fight the Prophet (ﷺ) again. He was killed as a wartime enemy, on the order of the head of state, not by a private person.
Where it lands — Ka'b was an enemy in wartime, dealt with by the head of state, so no private Muslim may copy it.
Qur'an 6:108 — Surat al-An'am (The Cattle), verse 108
“Revile not ye those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah in their ignorance. Thus have We made alluring to each people its own doings. In the end will they return to their Lord, and We shall then tell them the truth of all that they did.”
Cited for
Critics say free speech means anyone may mock any religion, and believers must simply put up with it.
The response
Muslims ask others only for the respect they must show themselves. They may not mock Jesus, Moses or Abraham, and the Qur'an forbids them to revile what others worship or to ridicule one another. When mocked, they are told to answer the ignorant with "Peace" and to push back evil with something better. Where the law allows such cartoons, a Muslim keeps the law of that country. He lives under its protection, and the Qur'an tells believers to fulfil their obligations. He may object, look away and answer with patience, but he may not punish anyone. Many Christians made the same objection to Life of Brian in 1979.
Where it lands — Muslims hold themselves to the same respect they ask for, and their answer to mockery is patience.
Perspectives
The Islamic perspective
Muslims love the Prophet (ﷺ) more than their own families, so mocking him wounds them deeply. They must honour every prophet, Jesus included. They are commanded to answer mockery with patience, dignity and a better word, not with revenge.
The Prophet (ﷺ) joked and teased the people around him, so Islam has no objection to humour as such.
The Prophet (ﷺ) spoke of faith. No one has it, he said, until he loves the Prophet (ﷺ) above his father, his children and all people.
Muslims believe in every messenger without distinction, so they may not mock Jesus, Moses or Abraham either.
The Qur'an forbids Muslims to revile what others worship and to ridicule one another.
The Qur'an tells Muslims to leave those who mock God's (﷾) signs and to answer the ignorant with "Peace".
The Qur'an tells the Prophet (ﷺ) to bear the mockers' words with patience. It says God (﷾) is enough for him against them.
When men cursed the Prophet (ﷺ) to his face, he answered briefly and told Aisha to be gentle, not harsh.
No individual may carry out an Islamic penalty; that belongs only to the ruler or a court he appoints.
In 1979 many Christians protested that Life of Brian mocked Christ. That is the same objection Muslims make to cartoons of the Prophet (ﷺ).