Canada and Other Matters of Opinion by Rex Murphy Read Free Book Online Page B

the original cartoons. And they were inserted by those who first wanted to fomentoutrage, and who acted subsequently as spokespersons for the “Muslim community.”
    There was manipulation of the data, as the scientists say, interference with the actual occasion for the event. Parts of this crisis were in this sense a fraud. Why this point is not emphasized escapes me. Almost equally puzzling is why—with the original cartoons easily accessible on the Internet—they have not universally been judged as being, by the standards of modern caricature, as infinitely innocuous and bland. Certainly, not riot or fatwa material.
THE CASE OF SALMAN RUSHDIE IS FRESH AGAIN | February 24, 2006
    Everyone will recall that when Salman Rushdie published
The Satanic Verses
, which contained what has been described as an irreverent depiction of the Prophet Mohammed, he became the object of a death sentence.
    No less a figure than the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa requiring Mr. Rushdie’s execution, and the execution of all who had been involved in publishing the book, and called upon all “zealous Muslims” to pursue this grim end. This was not just a piece of token bluster on the Ayatollah’s part. Itmight be useful to recall the language of the edict: “In the name of God Almighty. There is only one God, to whom we shall all return. I would like to inform all intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled
The Satanic Verses
, which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran, as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, have been sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they find them, so that no one will dare insult the Islamic sanctities. Whoever is killed on this path will be regarded as a martyr, God willing. In addition, anyone who has access to the author of the book, but does not possess the power to execute him, should refer him to the people so that he may be punished for his actions.” It may also be useful to remember that, although Mr. Rushdie went into hiding and was under armed guard for years and has (so far) survived, others were not so fortunate. There were riotous protests in India, Pakistan and Egypt that caused several deaths, and Mr. Rushdie’s Norwegian publisher, William Nygaard, barely survived an assassination attempt.
    Nothing in the modern culture of the West prepares us to comprehend the notion that a person can and should be sentenced to death for what that person writes, or that treats the publication of a novel, however poorly written, as, in itself, a capital crime.
    Everything written, if it has anything in it, will offend someone, and if the mere taking of offence were to amountto a licence to kill the offender, well, the world would be sadly underpopulated of novelists, columnists, bloggers and the writers of editorials.
    The publication of twelve cartoons in a Danish newspaper has triggered an even greater firestorm in portions of the Muslim world. There have been bomb threats against the newspaper; on Thursday, in Gaza, masked gunmen threatened to kidnap European citizens and to target European offices; protesters in Pakistan took to chanting “Death to France” and “Death to Denmark,” and, on an official level, there have been calls from several governments in the Arab world to shut down the “offending” newspaper and fire its editor.
    The connection with the Rushdie case is clear. Whole swaths—not all, be it noted—of the Muslim world believe that if their religious sensibilities are offended, they have both the right and the duty to threaten violence and death to those they choose to regard as offenders. They demand retraction and apology and trail their demands with threats of kidnapping and death.
    Furthermore, they insist that their values and their codes apply outside their own religion and their own countries. The