Bosch Fawstin

Bosch Fawstin (born July 31, 1970) is an American cartoonist and anti-Islam activist who is known for drawing the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born a Muslim, his parents came from Albania. Fawstin left the religion and now describes himself as a "radical critic of Islam". He won a controversial Muhammad cartoon contest in 2015 that saw the Curtis Culwell Center attack take place.

Early and personal life

Fawstin was born and raised in the Bronx, New York City by Albanian Muslim parents. He says he "phased out of Islam" in his mid-teens when he "began to think about morality in a serious way ndsaw the contrast between Islamic values and American values", and that the September 11 attacks later was a turning point for him. He has also cited the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy as a strong influence of his views in "defense of free speech". After leaving Islam, he has identified as an atheist, and embraced Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. He began taking night classes at the School of Visual Arts when he was 25 in order to pursue a career of making comic books.

Career

His first graphic novel, ''Table for One'', was nominated for a Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award in 2004 and an Eisner Award - Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition in 2005, and was endorsed by Alex Toth, a cartoonist greatly admired by Fawstin. The story takes place in one night in an Italian restaurant, Fawstin having a background working in the restaurant trade himself.

Fawstin first began drawing Muhammad after the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy in 2006, then after Molly Norris was forced into hiding for announcing the " Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" in 2010, again after the offices of ''Charlie Hebdo'' were firebombed in 2011, and following the ''Charlie Hebdo'' massacre in 2015, which led to the 2015 Muhammad cartoon contest.

In 2015, he won a controversial contest hosted by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, advertised as the "First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest" featuring drawings of Muhammad. The event saw the Curtis Culwell Center attack by two armed Islamist terrorists take place, claimed as the first attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the United States. Both attackers were killed by SWAT officers. Fawstin stated that he had received death threats for his cartoons before then, but denied reports in ''The Wall Street Journal'' that he went into hiding following the attack.

Fawstin also published the semi-biographical ''The Infidel, featuring Pigman'', a three-part comic book that is part of a graphic novel. The plot "revolves around twin brothers who react to 9/11 in opposite ways: One dives deeper into his Islamic roots; the other, a Muslim apostate, creates 'an ex-Muslim counter-jihad superhero comic book.' It is a story within a story: As the superhero, Pigman, battles his jihadist nemesis, the conflict between the twins escalates." He was interviewed on ''The Daily Show'' in 2011 regarding his criticism of comic book character Nightrunner, while also featuring his own comic.

Fawstin has also been identified as a blogger of the counter-jihad movement, and as a frequent contributor to '' FrontPage Magazine''. He was listed as an anti-Muslim "active hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2016 and 2017.

He appeared in two documentary films about free speech in 2016 and 2017—''Silenced: Our War on Free Speech'' produced by Mike Cernovich, and ''Can’t We Talk About This'' directed by Pamela Geller. In 2018, he was announced as the judge of a Muhammad cartoon contest to be hosted by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. The contest was eventually cancelled over safety concerns, but held the next year.

He published the two-volume ''Peaceful Death Threats'' in 2019, which compiled some of the thousands of death threats he has received from Muslims.

In 2020, he illustrated a Danish book about the Quran titled ''De skyggefulde haver'' by Kåre Bluitgen, as it was no longer possible to find any cartoonist willing to draw Muhammad in Denmark. The book was billed as the "first illustrated Quran in the world".

Fawstin stated to have drawn Muhammad over three hundred times by 2020.

As of 2025, he was part of Comicsgate, and was crowdfunding ''PIGMAN #1'', a remaster of his two first original ''The Infidel, featuring Pigman'' comics.

Works

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawstin, Bosch
1970 births
Living people
21st-century American illustrators
21st-century American male artists
21st-century atheists
Activists from New York City
American atheists
American bloggers
American comics artists
American counter-jihad activists
American critics of Islam
American former Muslims
American free speech activists
American graphic novelists
American male bloggers
American people of Albanian descent
American political artists
Artists from the Bronx
Former Muslim critics of Islam
FrontPage Magazine people
Muhammad cartoonists
Objectivists
School of Visual Arts alumni