Salman Rushdie’s knighthood and ‘Muslims worldwide’

Posted on June 23rd, 2007 by Jackie Danicki

I seem to disagree with Christopher Hitchens about as often as I agree with him, but he is spot-on here, saying (at 7:40) that if defending freedom of expression is not a worthwhile cause, what on earth would be? He is also correct (go to the last 57 seconds for this bit in particular) in calling out the offensiveness of believeing that all Muslims are represented by the most extreme amongst them - and that we should pander to those extremists:

This clip via Brian Micklethwait, who says:

Once you start talking about Muhammad as someone who can be criticised, there goes Islam. So how on earth do you persuade people to abandon Islam? It would be a start to establish that they can, without being murdered.

Filed under: Life

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2 Responses to “Salman Rushdie’s knighthood and ‘Muslims worldwide’”

  1. lucy, on June 24th, 2007 at 7:50 am Said:

    I’ve read (mostly feminist) Muslim arguments that say he can be criticised. He’s a prophet, not a divine being. Muslims aren’t really ‘mohammadeans’ as was previously thought.

  2. Jackie Danicki, on June 24th, 2007 at 9:16 am Said:

    Lucy, I think the point is that ‘feminist’ Muslims and others like them are but a fringe element, and more Muslims need to know - and teach their kids - to criticize. But this is seen by most as blasphemous (as I have been told by Muslims) and not real Islam.

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