Figure 1.--. |
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Religious discussion in the Islamic world has increased in intensity in recet years. Discussions can be settled by men with guns. Discent in the Islamic world can be a very dangerous matter. This includes adherents of the two major Islamic traditions: Shites and Sunnis. In several countries in the Islamic world minorities are the subject of terror attacks just as are other religions including Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Zoroastrians. This is in sharp contrast to the tollerant traditions of historic Islam. Writers especially writers addressing religion are also the subject of intimidation and attacks. Clerics in Iran have issued fatawas or licenses to kill. The best known author so attacked is Salman Rushdie, primarily because of his novel Satanic Verses. More recently a young Canadian authoress, Irshad Manji, has created a sensation in the Islamic world because of her non-fiction book, The Touble with Islam: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change. She has addressed many issues dealing with women, but her book is not limited to women's issues.
Religious discussion in the Islamic world has increased in intensity in recet years. Discussions can be settled by men with guns. Discent in the Islamic world can be a very dangerous matter. This includes adherents of the two major Islamic traditions: Shites and Sunnis. In several countries in the Islamic world minorities are the subject of terror attacks just as are other religions including Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Zoroastrians. This is in sharp contrast to the tollerant traditions of historic Islam.
Writers especially writers addressing religion are also the subject of intimidation and attacks. Clerics in Iran have issued fatwas or licenses to kill. Authors angering Islamic clerics have included both those writing fiction and non-fiction.
The best known author so attacked is Salman Rushdie, primarily because of his novel Satanic Verses.
More recently a young Canadian authoress, Irshad Manji, has created a sensation in the Islamic world because of her non-fiction book, The Touble with Islam: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change. She has addressed many issues dealing with women, but her book is not limited to women's issues. Manji is of Indian dissent and whose family had to flee Uganda when the Indian community was targeted by dictator Idi Amin. Manji recalls receiving a clipping from a Chritian friend about a Nigerian girl who ws raped and then sentenced by an Islamic court to 180 lashes for having sex out of wedlock. The friend asked how she reconsilded such treatment as well as female genital mutilation with adherence to Islam. Manji grew in a family where her father demanded obedience and used violence to compel compliance--once chasing her around the home with a knife. She began asking questions about Islam as a child. She was expelled from her Islamic school at age 14. She had asked a teacher for proof that Muhammad had commanded his army to kill all Jews. Manji explains that she does not reject Islam, but writes that it is "on thin ice" with her. She loves Canada because it is a country in which people are allowed to think freely. She calls herself a "Muslim Refuseni". She exolains, "It simply means I refuse to join an army of automatons in the name of Allah." Manji asks some very important questions. She says these are not questions she originated. They are questions that many in the Islamic world ask themselves, but do not dare speak outloud--a daming fact in itself. Some of her questions are as follows. "Why are we being held hostage by what's happening between the Palestinians and the Israelis? What's with the the stubborn streak of anti-Semitism in Islam? Who is the real colonizer of Muslims--America or Arabia?Why are we squanderingthe talents of women, fully half of God's creation?" [Manji]
Bangladesh journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury has fearlessly promoted religious freedom and peace with Israel. This has brought arrest and torture. Choudhury is convinced that Muslims, Jews, and Christians, all three cloesly related religions, can live in peace. He believes that this can be achieved if individuals are allowed to live their own faith freely and accepts the right of others to freely practice their faith as well. He thus thinks that Muslim states should recognize the right of Israel to exist. He sees his role as a modern Muslim from Bangledesh (a traditionally moderate Muslim country), can play a role in reconciling the three religions. He writes, "Humans, who have a good heart, are close, regardless of which God they pray to". Despite Bangladesh's moderate Isalmic traditions, fundamentalist Islamics are gaining influence in this despeately poor country. The participate in government and thus Choudhury faces maby dangers. He has openly expoused what are described as pro-Israel views in his newspaper Weekly Blitz. He has also published a series of investigative reports revealing the existance of terrorist camps--Al-Qaida camps. These camps are involved in a range of activities, including training suicide bombers. As a result of these articles, he has been charged with incitement of the masses, high treason, and blasphemy. The judge in the case is Shamsul Alam, a jurist wuth ties to the Islamists. The charges carry penalties of up to 30 years in prison and even the death penalty. He has been totured in prison and held in solitry confinement in steemy cell without ventilation. He has been assaulted by hoodlums associaed with politicans. The police refuse to persue the case. He limps as aresult of the attack and his face is permanently swollen. He was denied medical treatment in prison and is now permanently blind in one eye. The European Union Parliament and U.S. House of Reppresentatives have both demanded the trumped up trial be stopped. The American PEN club honored Choudhury's commitment with its "Freedom to Write" prize (2005). The American Jewish committee awarded him a "Medal for moral courage" (2006).
Manji, Irshad. The Touble with Islam: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change.
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