Murderous Attack on Salman Rushdie: Why are Muslims Not Condemning It?
By
Arshad Alam, New Age Islam
20 August
2022
Unreformed
Islamic Theology Lies At The Root Of The Problem
Main
Points:
1. Salman
Rushdie was brutally stabbed 33 years after the infamous Iranian fatwa.
2. The attack
is not just on Rushdie; anyone having a different understanding of Islamic
history has to deal with similar fears.
3. It is
appalling but true that large numbers of Muslims support this attack.
4. The problem
lies in unreformed Islamic theology which sanctions such violence.
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Author
Salman Rushdie/Photo: The Economic Times
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The Iranian
American 24-year-old Hadi Matar was not even born when the Grand Ayatollah
Khomeini wrote a death note for Salman Rushdie. The murder weapon was a piece
of paper popularly known as the fatwa which made the novelist a blasphemer and
hence, according to Islamic law, liable to be killed. In an instant, Khomeini
had empowered any Muslim in the world to commit murder in the name of saving
the honour of Islam. Over the years, the Iranian regime watered down the
provisions of that infamous fatwa and Sir Salman started to appear in public,
giving lectures and signing books. Little did he know that he would be stabbed
15 times for a book that he had published nearly 33 years ago. Little did the
world know that the post Khomeini Iranian regime never really withdrew the
fatwa and that Rushdie was always in danger of being attacked or executed.
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Also
Read: Salman
Rushdie's Indian Mullah Critics, Listen To the Message of Satanic Verses
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Some have
argued that the attack can be linked with Iranian regime’s new found expansion
and confidence in Iraq and Syria but it really seems far-fetched. Although it
is too early to say but it is not in the best interest of Iran to become
confrontational with the United States, given its distressing economic
situation. Thus, the attack appears to be the handiwork of a lone individual
who might have got radicalized online. It is also possible that the said
individual, Hadi Matar, would be in contact with some terrorist organization
which is interested in such high-profile targets.
One can
only wish that Rushdie is soon back to what he does best: reading and writing
and regaling audiences with his wit, humour and deep knowledge of Islamic
world. The Satanic Verses is ultimately a novel about loss and love in a
situation of migrant selfhoods. Muslims in that part of the world can easily
relate to some of the characters in the novel as they also have had similar
trajectories of settling down in a foreign land. And yet, ironically enough, it
were Muslims who became violent when the book was published, not willing to see
the empathetic pathos which flowed from the pen of Rushdie. Most Muslims never
even read the book that they were burning.
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Also
Read: The Attack on Salman Rushdie Is Symptomatic Of the
Malady of Intolerance Islam Suffers From
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Salman
Rushdie
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This attack
is not just about Rushdie. It must be seen as part of the larger assault on
anyone who is even remotely critical of Islam or even has an understanding
which is different from the mainstream. Muslim intellectuals have been the
worst sufferers of this censorship that the community has imposed upon itself,
erroneously thinking that doing so is the command of God. It belies common
sense how a God, who Muslims call as benevolent and forgiving, can call for the
execution of his own intellectuals. But such has been the hypocrisy of the
Muslims that they have gone ahead killing poets and writers with impunity while
chanting daily about the oft forgiving nature of their God.
This
silencing of critics of Islam has been happening since the birth of Islam.
Anyone who disagreed with the prophet and his Islamic teachings were otherised;
in many instances exiled or killed. The Islamic empire, following the precedent
set by pious Muslims, would mercilessly dismember al Hallaj simply for saying
that all human beings had divine essences. Abul Ala al Maari, the 10th century
Syrian philosopher considered all religious as the ‘fables of the ancients’. He
argued that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have brains
but no religion and those who do not have brains but have religion. When ISIS
rolled into Syria, one of its first acts was to behead his statue, one thousand
years after the poet philosopher was born. In this span of one thousand years,
Muslims have contributed immensely to the knowledge systems of the world, yet
there is very little that has changed in terms of its core theology. The Quran
expressly derides anyone who does not accept its message. It wishes to break
the hands of Abu Lahab, simply because he did not accept Islam. For no fault of
hers, Abu Lahab’s wife becomes one of the dwellers of hell, a burning rope tied
to her neck. Although the Quran does not ask to kill the blasphemer, it
definitely condemns the person. The work of God is done by Muslims as they have
been asked to do in various narrations of Hadith.
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Also
Read: Revisiting Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses
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Fear is one
of the important ways in which regimes control the thoughts and actions of
people. But Islam goes a step beyond that. It does this not only for Muslims
but for those who do not follow the Islamic tradition. Killing someone who says
anything ‘offensive’ about the Prophet or Islam sends a chilling message not
just to Muslims but also to non-Muslims. The latter might be critical of many
facets of Islam but would learn not speak too openly about them. It is this
fear that Islamic extremists exploit. An open society is marked by
fearlessness; the ability to have free discussion about everything under the
sun. It appears that Islam has no conception of creating a civil society, which
is only possible through rationality and non-violence.
It is a no
brainer to see how this incident will affect the image of Muslims in America.
With candidate Trump looking for another chance, the image of Muslim attempting
to murder a writer will be played on loop, trying to influence the minds of
Americans. But whose fault is this in the first place? Also, why this stoic
silence on the part of the Muslim community to condemn this murderous assault?
No Islamic organization has come out to unequivocally say that what has
happened is absolutely unacceptable. They cry Islamophobia at the drop of a hat
but perhaps it is time for these Muslim organizations to see how they have
enabled it slowly but surely.
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Also
Read: Afterthoughts On Salman Rushdie Episode
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Salman
Rushdie will not be the last to undergo this brutality. There will be others
after him. For the simple reason that Islam does not have the answers that some
seek from it. Neither is there any movement in the religion to come to grips
with some questions that modernity poses. In the absence of any intellectual
interrogation, violence and silencing remain the only options for Muslims. And
it will continue like this, till the time Islamic theology sheds its disdain of
free intellectual inquiry.
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A
regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Arshad Alam is a writer and researcher
on Islam and Muslims in South Asia.
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/murderous-attack-rushdie-muslims-condemning/d/127753
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