The Knighthood of Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie has been awarded knighthood for his service to literature. Though the ignorant dogmatists of Islam denounce him as a heretic and a blasphemer for writing ‘The Satanic Verses, he is one of finest writers to have come from the subcontinent. I can’t think of any other writer who is more deserving of appreciation and praise.
The National Assembly of Pakistan is condemning this recognition and has asked Britain to revoke the knighthood. They claim that it will hurt Muslim sentiment and encourage more people to commit blasphemy against the prophet. Iran is claiming that the knighthood shows Islamophobia amongst British officials. Once again the religious amongst us are crying foul because their feelings have been hurt and their religion has been insulted yet they never shy away from insulting and criticizing the non-believers and frequently calling for their executions.
In my opinion, the actions of fundamentalist Muslims such as issuing reckless fatwas, death threats, praises for terrorism, discrimination fueled by blind faith, and ignorant and ineffectual remarks by the governments of Islamic countries is at least partially responsible for the spread of Islamophobia. Like most Muslims, I was raised to think that Sulman Rushdie was some sort of a demon. It wasn’t until recently that I decided to actually read a few books written by Rushdie and realized that his writing is simply brilliant. Pakistanis and other Muslims should be proud of a writer of such caliber. The National Assembly of Pakistan is an embarrassment for the people of the country.
It’s funny that all this noise actually increases his popularity and book sales. Shalimar the Clown was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin literary award this year. I am going to buy it and start reading it this week.
This is a big problem with Muslims that they make non-issues an issue of life and death and ignore the real issues. The real problems that we are facing are authoritarianism, poverty, corruption and lack of proper education and the rule of law. Instead of addressing the real issues we vent out our anger and frustration sometimes on Danish cartoons, the speech of the Pope or the knighthood of Salman Rushdie. Everyone is entitled to his own opinions and no one forces anyone to read Satanic verses. You have correctly pointed out that all this noise actually increases the popularity of the cartoons, speech or the sale of the book.
Actually people talk a lot about freedom of expression these days but the way I see it, an absolute freedom of expression doesnot exist any where in the world as such. No doubt Muslims are a bit more touchy and dogmatic but even in the West people have their own sensibilities and sensitivities. Besides freedom of expression I’ll go a step further and say that even freedom of thought is only a dream. We are brought up in a certain society and culture. We are imbued with the cultural norms and moral values of that society. Our mind is conditioned in such a way that we have our biases and prejudices. But it is a fact that the sphere of freedom of expression in the West is much bigger and it is based on reason not authority. I mean as long as you remain within the limits of reason you can express yourself fully. But then again what is reason? We don’t have any premises or axioms to work with.
Comment by Skeptic — June 18, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
I agree. We are all ethnocentric and xenophobic though some more than others. The environment that we live in shapes and forms our beliefs, morals, and ideals and we knowingly or unknowingly use that as a filter to view and judge other cultures. Freedom of expression or freedom of thought is limited. At the same time should we be allowed to use the limitations of freedom of thought as an excuse for discrimination….Interesting point….you gave me something to obsess over for the next few days…:)
Comment by cubano — June 19, 2007 @ 12:46 pm
[…] Posted by Jack Stephens on June 24th, 2007 Cubano, of Eccentric Optimism, blogs: Like most Muslims, I was raised to think that Sulman Rushdie was some sort of a demon. It wasn’t until recently that I decided to actually read a few books written by Rushdie and realized that his writing is simply brilliant. Pakistanis and other Muslims should be proud of a writer of such caliber. The National Assembly of Pakistan is an embarrassment for the people of the country. […]
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