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Since he was knighted last week by Queen Elisabeth, the death threat against Salman Rushdie was reinstated.
In 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a Fatwa death warrant against Rushdie, who then went into hiding for 9 years.
The Fatwa was retracted in 1998, but it had already taken a life, in 1991 a Japanese translator of The Satanic Verses was killed, and in 1993 a Norwegian publisher of Rushdie's was knifed down.
After the Fatwa was retracted Rushdie came out of hiding, but now Iran has been lashing out at Britain for knighting Rushdie, and has made it clear the Fatwa was never retracted.
So now what, he should go back into hiding?
What's your take on this?
I personally feel this is ridiculous, it's a freakin' book!
If the Catholic church had done this to Dan Brown because of The Da Vinci Code everyone would be outraged, but since it's Muslims doing this people sort of shrug it off.
It would be horrible if the man had to go back into hiding, I'm not a fan, I've only once tried to read one of his books.
I didn't like it much, so I put it aside, but he is a human being, and if he were killed over writing a fictional little story, that would be awful.
This man has insult the prophet for the last time! GAH.
I think it's insane, but getting Islam plenty more newspaper inches. Few of them good, but I suppose that isn't the point?
Many retarded people have written letters to the editor of my local newspaper, each and every one seeming to completely miss the fact that the knighthood was for service to literature. Of which his are considerable. Either that or they have blatantly denied it. OMG TEH QUEEN JUST DID THIZ TO PISS OFF ISLAM BECAUSE SHE HATES IT.
__________________ Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.
I escaped somehow. Let's go
actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter
i don't honestly think a whole lot of people care, at least here in the US. rushdie isn't exactly one whose name i see pop up frequently.
i think it's stupid though. i vaguely remember the satanic verses being a good book. i need to reread it though.
iran's goverment is sort of whacko anyhow. i don't hold what they say/issue in very high regard.
thanks for reminding me of how retarded you are.
a whole lot of people do care, at least here in the uk (not to mention the concerns of plenty of leading authors and politicians in several other european countries, including france and germany), and throughout the arabic islamic world, and on the subcontinent (and he has a few famous fans in south america, too)... but what was your point anyway? did you read the original post?
"I think it's stupid". [sarc]well done. thanks for that valuable and insightful contribution, jon.[/sarc]
"iran's government is sort of whacko anyhow". [sarc]ditto, jon.[/sarc] backing syrian islamic jihad (etc) is sorta whacko, huh, dudes? yeah, I guess I kinda, like, agree, man.
nazir ahmed, the first british muslim to be ennobled and enter the house of lords said
"This man not only provoked violence around the world because of his writings, but there were many people who were killed around the world. Forgiving and forgetting is one thing, but honouring the man who has blood on his hands."
so those muslims being mentalist killers is rushdie's fault, and this guy's in our legislature
__________________ they made soup out of my research turtles.
If the Catholic church had done this to Dan Brown because of The Da Vinci Code everyone would be outraged, but since it's Muslims doing this people sort of shrug it off.
Its a double standard. You can see it on this board as well.
Many retarded people have written letters to the editor of my local newspaper, each and every one seeming to completely miss the fact that the knighthood was for service to literature. Of which his are considerable. Either that or they have blatantly denied it. OMG TEH QUEEN JUST DID THIZ TO PISS OFF ISLAM BECAUSE SHE HATES IT.
Teh Queen is satan. Stone her and Rushdie!! Allah commands it!!!
If the Catholic church had done this to Dan Brown because of The Da Vinci Code everyone would be outraged, but since it's Muslims doing this people sort of shrug it off.
speak for yourself and your "oh noes, political correctness has gone too far" brigade. I expect utter madness from religious fanatics of all faiths. No, that doesn't make it right, but why is it that people always say shit like this when the issue is getting plenty of coverage, attention and outrage? (As it seems EVERY issue that involves Muslims does.) It's even made it to US media which is no small feat considering our media mostly covers all paris hilton and/or missing white woman of the week, all the time. It's like you people have to manufacture some kind of outrage over "political correctness gone mad". As if there isn't enough to be outraged about already. It reminds me of when retarded bush supporters blame US citizens who don't "support the troops/Bush" for the failure of the war in Iraq.
OMG, I'm emboldening the terrorists by saying this!
Growing up in Vancouver, I attended an Islamic school every Saturday. There, I learned that Jews cannot be trusted because they worship “moolah, not Allah,” meaning money, not God. According to my teacher, every last Jew is consumed with business.
But looking around my neighbourhood, I noticed that most of the new business signs featured Asian languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Punjabi and plenty of Urdu. Not Hebrew. Urdu, which is spoken throughout Pakistan.
That reality check made me ask: What if my religious school is not educating me? What if it is indoctrinating me?
I am reminded of this question thanks to the news that Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses and ten other works of fiction, will be knighted by the Queen of England. On Monday, Pakistan’s religious affairs minister said that in light of how Rushdie has blasphemed Islam with provocative literature, it is understandable why angry Muslims would commit suicide bombings over his knighthood.
Members of Parliament, as well as the Pakistani government, amplified the condemnation of Britain, feeding cries of offense to Muslim sensibilities from Europe to Asia.
As a Muslim, you better believe I am offended – by these absurd reactions.
I am offended that it is not the first time honours from the West have met with vitriol and violence. In 1979, Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam became the first Muslim to win the Nobel Prize in science. He began his acceptance speech with a verse from the Quran.
Salam’s country ought to have celebrated him. Instead, rioters tried to prevent him from re-entering the country. Parliament even declared him a “non-Muslim” because he belonged to a religious minority. His name continues to be controversial, invoked by state authorities in hushed tones.
I am offended that every year, there are more women killed in Pakistan for allegedly violating their family’s honour than there are detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Muslims have rightly denounced the mistreatment of Guantanamo prisoners. But where is our outrage over the murder of many more Muslims at the hands of our own?
I am offended that in April, mullahs at an extreme mosque in Pakistan issued a fatwa against hugging. The country’s female tourism minister had embraced – or, depending on the account you follow, accepted a congratulatory pat from – her skydiving instructor after she successfully jumped in a French fundraiser for the victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Clerics announced her act of touching another man to be “a great sin.” They demanded she be fired.
I am offended by their fatwa proclaiming that women should stay at home and remain covered at all times. I am offended that they have bullied music store owners and video vendors into closing shop. I am offended that the government tiptoes around their craziness because these clerics threaten suicide attacks if confronted.
I am offended that on Sunday, at least 35 Muslims in Kabul were blown to bits by other Muslims and on Tuesday, 87 more in Baghdad by Islamic “insurgents”, with no official statement from Pakistan to deplore these assaults on fellow believers. I am offended that amid the internecine carnage, a professed atheist named Salman Rushdie tops the to-do list.
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.
On occasion, though, the people of Pakistan show that they do not have to be muzzled by clerics and politicians. Last year, civil society groups vocally challenged a set of anti-female laws, three decades old and supposedly based on the Quran. Their religiously respectful approach prompted even mullahs to hint that these laws are man-made, not God-given.
This month, too, Pakistanis forced their government to lift restrictions on the press. No wonder my own book, translated into Urdu and posted on my website, is being downloaded in droves. Religious authorities will not let it be sold in the markets. But they cannot stop Pakistanis – or other Muslims – from satiating a genuine hunger for ideas.
In that spirit, it is high time to “ban” hypocrisy under the banner of Islam. Salman Rushdie is not the problem. Muslims are.
After all, the very first bounty on Rushdie's head was worth £1 million. It increased to £1.25 million; then higher. The chief benefactor, Iran's government, claimed to have profitably invested the principal. Hence the rising value of the reward. Looks like Jews are not the only people handy at business.
speak for yourself and your "oh noes, political correctness has gone too far" brigade. I expect utter madness from religious fanatics of all faiths. No, that doesn't make it right, but why is it that people always say shit like this when the issue is getting plenty of coverage, attention and outrage? (As it seems EVERY issue that involves Muslims does.) It's even made it to US media which is no small feat considering our media mostly covers all paris hilton and/or missing white woman of the week, all the time. It's like you people have to manufacture some kind of outrage over "political correctness gone mad". As if there isn't enough to be outraged about already. It reminds me of when retarded bush supporters blame US citizens who don't "support the troops/Bush" for the failure of the war in Iraq.
OMG, I'm emboldening the terrorists by saying this!
a whole lot of people do care, at least here in the uk (not to mention the concerns of plenty of leading authors and politicians in several other european countries, including france and germany), and throughout the arabic islamic world, and on the subcontinent (and he has a few famous fans in south america, too)... but what was your point anyway? did you read the original post?
"I think it's stupid". [sarc]well done. thanks for that valuable and insightful contribution, jon.[/sarc]
"iran's government is sort of whacko anyhow". [sarc]ditto, jon.[/sarc] backing syrian islamic jihad (etc) is sorta whacko, huh, dudes? yeah, I guess I kinda, like, agree, man.
prime example of why i don't post in this forum. i don't see how my response was any worse than the thread starter's.
did you read my post? did you catch the "here in the us" part, or were you too busy attacking me for absolutely more reason? HERE IN THE US. how much clearer shall i make that? and there you are going on a tirade about france and germany and the UK.
one more time: HERE IN THE US.
and yes, i read the original post. VioletPrue asked for "your take" on this. if i wanted to write a two thousand word essay on the politics of iran, i wouldn't be looking to kittyradio.
i have no clue who you are, so kindly refrain from using (part of) my real name, even if you can't spell it correctly.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoloresHaze
I did not miss the point, I just had a moment where Marilyn's tragedy overwhelmed me. Such a pure creature, she was just light gone too soon.
did you read my post? did you catch the "here in the us" part
yes, I did catch the "at least here in the us" part, thicko. what's your point? how many people in the u.s. care about something is hardly a reliable criterion for how many people in the world care about a certain thing (although all of my american friends seem to, so "speak for yourself") or how important a thing is. it's not important unless "a whole lot of people" do care "in the u.s."?
p.s. google "johnathan" (3,080,000 results) - "Did you mean: jonathan" (121,000,000 results)
