Knighthood for Rushdie Provokes Temper of Pakistani Scholars
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Moslem scholars had their collective feelings seriously hurt by the nomination of Salmon Rushdie to the knighthood for his lifetime production of novels
"We will give 10 million rupees ($195,900) to anyone who beheads Rushdie," Islamabad traders' association leader Ajmal Baluch told around 200 people in one of the Pakistani capital's main bazaars.
The crowd chanted: "Cut off the head of Salman Rushdie!"
Earlier the Pakistani Ulema Council, a private body that claims to be the biggest of its kind in the country with 2000 scholars, said it had given al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden its "highest title for a Muslim warrior".
"We are pleased to award the title of Saifullah [Sword of Allah] to Osama bin Laden after the British Government's decision to bestow the title of 'Sir' on blasphemer Rushdie," council chairman Maulana Tahir Ashrafi told AFP.
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Salmon Rushdie is a former Moslem who wrote a work of fiction some twenty years ago concerning the life of Mohammad, just as many novels have been written about Jesus in the West:
__________________________________________
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
Before it was an exceedingly controversial movie, the vision of a Jesus who declined to be crucified and who married and raised a family — the whole catastrophe, as Kazantzakis' famous creation Zorba said — was first a highly imaginative novel, just as controversial.
The Man Who Died by D.H. Lawrence
Reviving from his execution, Jesus no longer cares about his mission, except that he feels he overstressed the giving of love. Taking love is necessary, too, as Lawrence demonstrates in Jesus' love affair with a priestess of Isis. This parable-like novella is Lawrence's last major fiction.
The Gospel according to the Son by Norman Mailer
For once, Mailer lets the tale overshadow him as the teller by turning narrative duties over to a well-realized historical figure — Jesus himself, who offers his autobiography to offset the exaggerations of Mark and the misrepresentations of Matthew, Luke, and John.
__________________________________________
While controversial, none of these novels provoked Christians to call for the assassination of their authors. There were no murders, riots, or resolutions by national governments. Nor did any Christian leader suggest that a moral response to the writing of a book would be the murder of the author.
For the 2000 members of the Pakistani Ulema Council, planning and inspiring the murder of thousands of innocent people all over the world makes Osama Bin Laden the moral superior to Salmon Rushdie, who wrote a series of literary novels over his lifetime, one of which may have exhibited non orthodox views concerning the alleged prophet Mohammad.
Is there any better example of the moral confusion that besets modern Islam?
These differences are important to my mind. Contrary to J.D.'s fears, I am not suggesting that those in the West should respond in kind to the threats of Islamic "scholars." But it is important to be aware of, and take seriously the significant differences between Islam and other religions. All religions are not alike. To claims that they are because you subscribe to some politically correct Multicultural Dogma is a mistake.
bobcat
Moslem scholars had their collective feelings seriously hurt by the nomination of Salmon Rushdie to the knighthood for his lifetime production of novels
"We will give 10 million rupees ($195,900) to anyone who beheads Rushdie," Islamabad traders' association leader Ajmal Baluch told around 200 people in one of the Pakistani capital's main bazaars.
The crowd chanted: "Cut off the head of Salman Rushdie!"
Earlier the Pakistani Ulema Council, a private body that claims to be the biggest of its kind in the country with 2000 scholars, said it had given al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden its "highest title for a Muslim warrior".
"We are pleased to award the title of Saifullah [Sword of Allah] to Osama bin Laden after the British Government's decision to bestow the title of 'Sir' on blasphemer Rushdie," council chairman Maulana Tahir Ashrafi told AFP.
_____________________________
Salmon Rushdie is a former Moslem who wrote a work of fiction some twenty years ago concerning the life of Mohammad, just as many novels have been written about Jesus in the West:
__________________________________________
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
Before it was an exceedingly controversial movie, the vision of a Jesus who declined to be crucified and who married and raised a family — the whole catastrophe, as Kazantzakis' famous creation Zorba said — was first a highly imaginative novel, just as controversial.
The Man Who Died by D.H. Lawrence
Reviving from his execution, Jesus no longer cares about his mission, except that he feels he overstressed the giving of love. Taking love is necessary, too, as Lawrence demonstrates in Jesus' love affair with a priestess of Isis. This parable-like novella is Lawrence's last major fiction.
The Gospel according to the Son by Norman Mailer
For once, Mailer lets the tale overshadow him as the teller by turning narrative duties over to a well-realized historical figure — Jesus himself, who offers his autobiography to offset the exaggerations of Mark and the misrepresentations of Matthew, Luke, and John.
__________________________________________
While controversial, none of these novels provoked Christians to call for the assassination of their authors. There were no murders, riots, or resolutions by national governments. Nor did any Christian leader suggest that a moral response to the writing of a book would be the murder of the author.
For the 2000 members of the Pakistani Ulema Council, planning and inspiring the murder of thousands of innocent people all over the world makes Osama Bin Laden the moral superior to Salmon Rushdie, who wrote a series of literary novels over his lifetime, one of which may have exhibited non orthodox views concerning the alleged prophet Mohammad.
Is there any better example of the moral confusion that besets modern Islam?
These differences are important to my mind. Contrary to J.D.'s fears, I am not suggesting that those in the West should respond in kind to the threats of Islamic "scholars." But it is important to be aware of, and take seriously the significant differences between Islam and other religions. All religions are not alike. To claims that they are because you subscribe to some politically correct Multicultural Dogma is a mistake.
bobcat
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