A Muslim view on the whole Rushdie thing
Posted at 00:44:16
on Sun, June 24th 2007 by graham
in:
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news
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salman rushdie
Irshad Manji, a self-titled "Muslim Refusenik" gives her reaction to the whole furore that has exploded over the decision to make Salman Rushdie a Knight of the realm over at the Religion News Blog.
Salman Rushdie is not the problem. Muslims are:
Above all, I am offended that so many other Muslims are not offended enough to demonstrate widely against God’s self-appointed ambassadors. We complain to the world that Islam is being exploited by fundamentalists, yet when reckoning with the opportunity to resist their clamour en masse, we fall curiously silent. In a battle between flaming fundamentalists and mute moderates, who do you think is going to win?
I am not saying that standing up to intimidation is easy. This past spring, the Muslim world made it that much more difficult. A 56-member council of Islamic countries pushed the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution against the “defamation of religion”. Pakistan led the charge. Focused on Islam rather than on faith in general, the resolution allows repressive regimes to squelch freedom of conscience further – and to do so in the guise of international law.
