Monday, February 13, 2006
The Scariest Muslim Of All
...to Islamofascists, at least, is Irshad Manji. I read her book, The Trouble With Islam Today, upon its publication in 2003, and took comfort in the realization that there is at least one strong Muslim voice standing up for Islam by exposing both its inherent faults (its medieval attitudes toward women and demonizing of other religions to name but two examples) and its perversion by the disease of Islamofascism. She delivers her message with a combination of intellectual rigour, ringing eloquence and smash-mouth candor.
Now she has taken on the cartoon issue in The Hindustan Times:
Muslims have little integrity demanding respect for our faith if we don’t show it for others. When have we demonstrated against Saudi Arabia’s policy to prevent Christians and Jews from stepping on the soil of Mecca? They may come for rare business trips, but nothing more. As long as Rome welcomes non-Christians and Jerusalem embraces non-Jews, we Muslims have more to protest than cartoons.
None of this is to dismiss the need to take my religion seriously. Hell, Muslims even take seriously the need to be serious: Islam has a teaching against ‘excessive laughter’. I’m not joking. But does this mean that we should cry ‘blasphemy’ over less-than-flattering depictions of Prophet Muhammad? God no.
For one thing, the Quran itself points out that there will always be non-believers, and that it’s for Allah, not Muslims, to deal with them. More than that, the Quran says there is “no compulsion in religion”. This suggests that nobody should be forced to treat Islamic norms as sacred.
Fine, many Muslims will retort, but we’re talking about Prophet Muhammad — Allah’s final and, therefore, perfect messenger. However, Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet was a human being who made mistakes. It’s precisely because he wasn’t perfect that we know about the so-called ‘Satanic Verses’: a collection of passages that the Prophet reportedly included in the Quran. Only later did he realise that those verses glorified heathen idols rather than God. According to Islamic legend, he retracted the idolatrous passages, blaming them on a trick played by Satan.
When Muslims put the Prophet on a pedestal, we’re engaging in idolatry of our own. The point of monotheism is to worship one God, not one of God’s emissaries. Which is why humility requires people of faith to mock themselves — and each other — every once in a while.
...Clearly, I’m as impure a feminist as I am a Muslim. The difference is, offended feminists won’t threaten to kill me. The same can’t be said for many of my fellow Muslims.
What part of ‘no compulsion’ don’t they understand?
The same part not understood by Islamist apologists, dhimmis and the useful idiots of the left, which is what makes them all so dangerous to Western freedoms.
Now she has taken on the cartoon issue in The Hindustan Times:
Muslims have little integrity demanding respect for our faith if we don’t show it for others. When have we demonstrated against Saudi Arabia’s policy to prevent Christians and Jews from stepping on the soil of Mecca? They may come for rare business trips, but nothing more. As long as Rome welcomes non-Christians and Jerusalem embraces non-Jews, we Muslims have more to protest than cartoons.
None of this is to dismiss the need to take my religion seriously. Hell, Muslims even take seriously the need to be serious: Islam has a teaching against ‘excessive laughter’. I’m not joking. But does this mean that we should cry ‘blasphemy’ over less-than-flattering depictions of Prophet Muhammad? God no.
For one thing, the Quran itself points out that there will always be non-believers, and that it’s for Allah, not Muslims, to deal with them. More than that, the Quran says there is “no compulsion in religion”. This suggests that nobody should be forced to treat Islamic norms as sacred.
Fine, many Muslims will retort, but we’re talking about Prophet Muhammad — Allah’s final and, therefore, perfect messenger. However, Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet was a human being who made mistakes. It’s precisely because he wasn’t perfect that we know about the so-called ‘Satanic Verses’: a collection of passages that the Prophet reportedly included in the Quran. Only later did he realise that those verses glorified heathen idols rather than God. According to Islamic legend, he retracted the idolatrous passages, blaming them on a trick played by Satan.
When Muslims put the Prophet on a pedestal, we’re engaging in idolatry of our own. The point of monotheism is to worship one God, not one of God’s emissaries. Which is why humility requires people of faith to mock themselves — and each other — every once in a while.
...Clearly, I’m as impure a feminist as I am a Muslim. The difference is, offended feminists won’t threaten to kill me. The same can’t be said for many of my fellow Muslims.
What part of ‘no compulsion’ don’t they understand?
The same part not understood by Islamist apologists, dhimmis and the useful idiots of the left, which is what makes them all so dangerous to Western freedoms.
