Who Will Hang The Knight Sir Salman Rushdie?
Mag June 19th, 2007
Salman Rushdie, the famed author was knighted by her majesty the Queen Elizabeth on June 16, 2007. The knighthood was met with sharp criticism and opposition from Muslims in UK and around the world in countries like Iran and Pakistan because of their hate-hate relationship against Sir Salman Rushdie. Islamic extremists placed a bounty of £80,000 on his head as is expected of them. A group of Pakistani ministers also went as far as to justify the acts of suicide bombers saying giving knighthood to someone like Salman Rushdie is a cause for terrorism. His fault? He wrote a book The Satanic Verses 18 years ago which supposedly insulted the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Salman Rushdie, the author of Midnight’s Children who was granted Knighthood
I know it is not very politically correct in a secular country to speak against a religion but Sir. Salman Rushdie did something he paid for manifold, by being hunted and being on run for years. He got the knighthood for his contributions to literature because of Midnight’s Children , Haroun and the Sea of Stories and such literary works. If he was knighted for The Satanic Verses it might be somehow justified for an opposition in the form of peaceful protests but terrorism? Suicide bombings? How does it justify to kill people who have nothing to do with it just because an author made defamatory comments against a religion and that in a book penned two decades ago? Is it worth that people get violently killed for the name of a prophet? I can’t understand this and I hope someone can explain me how could humans kill innocent people for thing as small as someone slandering a prophet.
A few years ago we had a bestseller book Da Vinci Code which was very offensive against Christians in general and Opus Dei Catholics in particular. It was followed with a movie on the same book which became a hit. We sure didn’t have the Pope or even a Cardinal passing a million pound bounty on Dan Brown and no one blew themselves up in a public place for it. It is because sane people living in secular nations know that it is a free world where people like me and you have choices. Choices to say what you want, choices to do what you want and choices to go where you want as long as you do not harm others. The people who are besmirched in the Da Vinci Code or Satanic Verses are long gone and their followers stay till today. But while the followers of one religion did not make a fuss about a book, the followers of another make a big fuss about it. Is it because one party is not very sure about the strength of their religion?
Why would people of a certain belief get so violent about offensive remarks that they are ready to kill for it? It is surprising when another group of people with another set of beliefs does not go berserk in the same situation. I think it has more to do with the strength of beliefs. Believing Christians are not worried that their religion will disappear overnight because of Da Vinci Code becoming a hit/bestseller. But maybe the Muslims who make such a fuss are not so sure when it comes to their own religion. Maybe they know their religion is possibly weak and a small strike like The Satanic Verses can destroy it. If we let religiously narrow minded people like this have their way, our freedom of expression and right to life will be in danger. This will turn into a war where every religion tries to have its way, we will have violences in the likes of the Crusades, the Holocausts and the Inquisitions.
We cannot eliminate religion altogether because of the strength of people’s beliefs and sense of emotional connection people have with the religions. But we can at least ensure that practising religion is done not at the cost of someone’s right to live and other fundamental human rights like freedom of expression and speech.
- Maggie
(Special thanks to Aby for formatting, editing and designing the post and also for giving a catchy title)
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- Comments(10)
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” Why would people of a certain belief get so violent about offensive remarks that they are ready to kill for it? ”
people of a certain belief, Christians - bible = false, made up
people of a certain belief, Muslims - quran = truth, stuff that can not be made up
do you understand?
and please, movies r no good. especially di vinc code which is a load of crap.
If it is their belief that stuff cannot be made up, then how does it explain their violence at an opposition or a contradictory view? I think it has a lot to do with intolerance bred from security and the fear that throwing mud at their religion would hit a soft point that it sticks. I wouldn’t bother going into the Bible or Quran….both are religious books and I am no fan of religion.
As for Da Vinci Code, I think what Mag meant is that the movie did not invoke reaction from the Christians as a similar Islam themed movie might have done. All we had were protests, perhaps that is because Christians knew it would bring unwanted attention to the movie in relation to Jesus or maybe they just had more important things to bother.
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Glad to see this site.
These people get so violent because they believe they are the only people with the right to live. That makes them sub-human, because they are on a crusade to anihilate mankind for a pure Muslim world. Islam is not a religion of peace; Muhammad never said “Love thy Neighbor,” he said “Kill all the infidels–non-Muslims.”
God tells Christians to go to war against these killers of humanity and stop them because no one has the right ot exterminate mankind. Islam believes in extermination; that makes them equal to Hitler, Stalin and Mao. People will say Christianity is a religion of hate because of the Crusades; these people forget Islam started those wars 300 years prior to any Christian ever took arms to Crusade. For 3oo years, Islam obliterated Europe, mass murdering millions of European Jews and Christians in order to eradicate non-Muslims and take over the world. 300 years of Popes declared no war under any circumastance until finally 300 years later, the church realized it is against God to let people destroy humanity; thus it is right and just to defend mankind against its destroyers, stopping the brutes from making man extinct. The Crusades were just, but not enough Muslims died. If the Crusaders had done their job right, they would have killed every last one of those evil bastards and th eworld would not be going through what it is today.
Its never to late to do a good deed. The billion strong indians are up for it
I don’t think Salman Rushdie should have been knighted. Not because of any political or religious controversy, but simply because he isn’t a good writer. I doubt the Queen has read any of his books either… the knighthood shortlist has become so bureaucratic she probably doesn’t even know who’s on it until they show up for the ceremony.
“these people forget Islam started those wars 300 years prior to any Christian ever took arms to Crusade. For 3oo years, Islam obliterated Europe, mass murdering millions of European Jews and Christians in order to eradicate non-Muslims and take over the world”
Really? Sounds pretty significant.
“Muhammad never said “Love thy Neighbor,” he said “Kill all the infidels–non-Muslims.”
I r shocked. I’ve been reading it all wrong, then.
On the topic of the thread, I don’t really care what Rushdie wrote or whether he was knighted, and I’m very much sure aside from some Taliban or Al-Qaeda fanboy, no one else does either.
I have to leave for work now, I’m just gonna copy-paste what I wrote over at some other thread I don’t remember.
Religious “conservatives” measure a minuscule minority of any religion where the vast majority keeps to their own lives and assigns not much thought for anything otherwise.
@ lisaRichards
‘For 3oo years, Islam obliterated Europe, mass murdering millions of European Jews and Christians in order to eradicate non-Muslims and take over the world’
I have heard lies but yours is the ‘mother’ of all lies. Are you a evangelical christian or a zionist?. Historical facts seem to be lost in your warped mind.
@ lisa Richards
I can not understand which history you have been reading as your totally confused with your facts with deep hatred toward Islam. Its making me think why your coming up with lies and own version of historic events. Please read our own history first before critcising others with distorted facts infact lies.