Muslims, please decide whether you are or are not violent, barbaric thugs.
Thursday, June 21st, 2007Apparently, Salman Rushdie’s knighthood has sparked off violent protests in Pakistan, and I, for one, am not surprised. And that is a problem, people.
“The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body, he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the ’sir’ title,” ul-Haq said.
In the eastern city of Multan, hard-line Muslim students burned effigies of Queen Elizabeth II and Rushdie. About 100 students carrying banners condemning the author also chanted, “Kill him! Kill him!”
I don’t get it. Do you have any conception of what this looks like from the outside? Because this is what it looks like:
Western World: Muslims are violent, barbaric thugs!
Muslims: How dare you call us violent, barbaric thugs! LET’S ACT LIKE VIOLENT, BARBARIC THUGS!
(repeat indefinitely)
But I do (theoretically) have it on good authority that Islam is a religion of peace, and terrorism is not supported or condoned by Islam, etc., and I’m even willing to believe that that’s the majority opinion among you guys. (Why not? I seem to be feeling an ironically large amount of faith in humanity today.) But, unfortunately, a large and vocal contingent of you has not gotten on board with this idea, and they’re making the rest of you look really, really bad.
What’s going on here? Is this like what happens with liberal/moderate Christians where they see lunatics like Jerry Falwell (rot in hell, plskthx) and Fred Phelps on TV and don’t do anything except wring their hands and say “Well, gosh, I’m not sure if I agree with all that, but he’s thumping that Bible pretty hard, he must be a better Christian than I am, so I’ll just sit here and wring my hands and let him speak for all of us.” ?
People, please. Tell the morons to shut the fuck up, because I can’t believe they’re any less annoying over there than they are over here. I’m tired of hearing from them, and you’re tired of everyone mistaking them for you, right? Right?
Meanwhile:
Lawmakers in Pakistan’s lower house of parliament on Monday passed a resolution proposed by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sher Afgan Khan Niazi who branded Rushdie — who was born in India into a Muslim family — a “blasphemer.”
“The ’sir’ title from Britain for blasphemer Salman Rushdie has hurt the sentiments of the Muslims across the world. Every religion should be respected. I demand the British government immediately withdraw the title as it is creating religious hatred,” Niazi told the National Assembly.
My goodness. Whatever Rushdie did, it must have been really, really bad, right? It must have been something completely and utterly heinous and offensive to any reasonable person. Great Oracle Wikipedia, what did Rushdie do? (I just realized I typoed him as “Rushie” twice. I may have to start calling him that.)
The publication of The Satanic Verses in September 1988 caused immediate controversy in the Islamic world because of what was perceived as an irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad. The title refers to a Muslim tradition that is related in the book. According to it, Muhammad (Mahound in the book) added verses (sura) to the Qur’an accepting three goddesses that used to be worshipped in Mecca as divine beings. According to the legend, Muhammad later revoked the verses, saying the devil tempted him to utter these lines to appease the Meccans (hence the Satanic verses). However, the narrator reveals to the reader that these disputed verses were actually from the mouth of the Archangel Gibreel. The book was banned in many countries with large Muslim communities.
I don’t think people like Niazi actually understand whereof they speak when they talk about “respecting all religions”, if merely professing an idea that contradicts your religion is worthy of the death penalty and treating a person who does so as if they, you know, have the right to live and to be recognized for their accomplishments is vitally disrespectful and cause for “religious hatred”. I’m sorry, but respecting all religions means being free to reject yours. That’s the way it works.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really want to read The Satanic Verses now.
5 Responses to “Muslims, please decide whether you are or are not violent, barbaric thugs.”
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JB says:
June 22nd, 2007 at 7:10 amThis article indicates that some extremists in Britain are now claiming, “This knighthood is just another example of Tony Blair and his government’s attempts to secularize Muslims and reward apostates.” I don’t know if the person who said this is at all aware as to how a huge amount of venerated Western literature has mocked or criticised traditional religious views. One would hope that Muslims would welcome Islam being treated like other monotheistic religions and subjected to the same level of academic and literary criticism and speculation. While Blair’s government has done some pretty daft things, I don’t think that giving an honour to a great writer who criticises traditionalists from his own religious background is anything to be condemned.
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goinggone99 says:
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:33 pmSh!t like this is why I chose a long time ago to not involve myself in religion. Period.
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(Yes, I know I haven’t responded yet to the Slacker meme. What can I say? I’m a slacker.)
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Barefoot Bum–
So I was the dim bulb who started the Slacker meme, and it died a quick and painless death shortly thereafter because I had no idea what I was doing. So don’t worry about the Slacker meme.
June 21st, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I do find it amazing the way religious extremists go largely unchallenged by people of their own faiths. Why don’t more “believers” distance themselves from these crazy people? I don’t get it. Your right, it leads to people thinking they’re all crazy extremists. But then there’s so much I just don’t get about religion generally and religious zealotry in particular.