[Telegraph] Honour 'justifies' suicide attack on Rushdie

I never heard of him till the Ayatollah wanted to kill him. Maybe he was considered famous in some circles, but he didnt get famous to the general public till the fatwah or whatever you want to call it

 

All I know that Rusdie is married to a total babe!

 

How was that true of Christianity over the past centuries? Did the doctrine suddenly change or did the people/followers change their perspective/understanding of the religion?

That's a pretty silly statement to make although it's along the lines of much of your 'ideas' about anything other than Buddhism (and even then you cheer on a war in another thread; I thought you were for 'non-violence'?). One of the most most central concepts in Islam is 'ijtihad', which is largely defined by self-improvement through self-reflection. Of course, I don't expect you to know much about that...

That's a pretty 'black and white' statement, pun intended...

Whose 'beliefs' in particular are you addressing? The Shi'ias, Sunnis, Ismailis, Sufis, or the countless other groups with their own interpretation of Islam? How can you even say "they can never be wrong" if Muslims themselves don't agree on much of anything other than radical monotheism? Ever heard of the concept of 'jama'iah'?

Historically, the Muslim world was FAR less 'violent' and far more accepting than the formerly Christian world. Don't be fooled by the modern Western world, that would be secularism, and even then secularist nations have proven quite murderous over the past century alone, lest we forget. So history says otherwise. But if you care to back up your statement with historical facts that prove some inherent 'violence' in Islam that is absent in other worldly religions, I would be interested.

As for the 'violence becomes inevitable' part, that is a bunch of BS because you're attributing that entirely to some 'inherent violence' in the religion instead of geopolitical and social factors that play FAR more of a role than a bunch of people just itching to kill one another.

You're proving to be quite the Orientalist...

 

He's a renowned novelist as Sam said, but it's pretty silly to ignore the fact that much of his success was due to the controversy and reaction to his work by some Muslims, which makes those reactions all the more silly in retrospect, they merely fueled his success even more.

 

of all the books rushdie has written, satanic verses was a piece of crap.

that being said for a minister of musharaf's supposed tolerant and pro western government to spew that crap is disgusting. that fool needs to be sacked. its one thing to have diplomatic objections and recall ambassadors but to propose suicide attacks is beyond belief. moron.

 

I missed the part where Egypt is colonizing or neo-colonizing half of the world. Not even ancient Egypt had much success in that department .

And in case you missed it, the "death to America" crowd isn't limited to Muslims or the Muslim-majority world. There are southern neighbors of ours that aren't too fond of us or our policies either.

But you're right, must be Islam...

 

But he was already an acclaimed and highly regarded author (Midnight's Children, published in 1981 was his first big mainsteam book) beforehand.

The fact that his profile was increased in the non-literary, non-book-buying public is pretty inconsequential to him.

So what if a bunch of people in Peoria know who he was in the 1990's cause the Ayatollah put out a fatwah? - did they run out and start analyzing "The Ground Beneath her Feet"? Did he start doing TV commercials endorsing products? Of course not.

It might have caused a spike in sales of TSV - but he was already a best seller before then - and I doubt it has offset the hassles that he deals with since then.

Tiger it appears that you're trying to pigeonhole and caricature Rushdie into a money grubing opportunist based your own biases.

 

Well, saying America is colonizing the world is a completely separate debate ok.

Who is chanting "Death to America" - where? South America? Which protests?

 

lol, that sets a dangerous precedent. if youre going to sack every person in the Pakistani government that promotes/supports/justifies terrorism, then who would be left to govern?

 

I have to agree with Sam Fisher.

I am sure Rushdie would trade his popularity with the non-literate to not have to spend a good portion of his life in hiding.

I always wondered what sort of authority a fatwah requires, and why the ones that are issued aren't more often issued for real problems, like HIV or poverty or illiteracy or inequity.

Killing a fiction writer isn't going to do much to change the world.

 

I understand that, I am not arguing otherwise...

Not to his pocketbook

No, but it sold him more books...

It might not be worth the hassle for him, no. But it probably did help him sell more books to millions of casual readers who otherwise wouldn't read his book.

No, I am just saying it helped raise his profile, I am not sure how that equates to calling him a "money grubbing opportunist". And even if he was, I wouldn't call him out for it; he has every right to make a living.

 

Knighting a controversial figure such as Rushdie serves only one purpose well, that is, to provoke. In a sense, this is no different from awarding Nobel Peace Prizes to individuals like Dalai Lama and Yasser Arafat.

 

Well...that is what this implies:

Rushdie didn't write anything based on what sells - he's an artist, and he was one back then.

He wrote stuff based on what he felt and his experiences like all great novelists. I mean you can say he stuck with writing about magic realism and indian experiences because it "sold" in Midnights Children - but thr reason why it "sold" was that it was great art - the production of which tends to be most (great) artists goal.

 

LOL, wnes sorry but the Chinese invasion and colonization of Tibet is not at all relevant to this thread. Perhaps the invasion and colonization of East Turkestan is more relevant.

 

do share other quotes from ministers of the current administration that have vocally supported terrorism?

 

a fatwa is a legal opinion of a scholar. secondly fatwas, in general, are not obligatory.

however since there is no clergy in sunni islam, its hard to determine who qualifies as a scholar. many times its just a person with a following, not necessarily a person who has academic credentials.

regarding your examples, poverty, literacy and hiv aren't issues where there needs to be a religious legal opinion. these are social policy issues that perhaps involve morality but not juristic pronouncements per se.

 

He was an artist before then, yes, but he's continued down the same path of criticism directed towards Islam in a number of op-eds and tv interviews, including one almost immediately following 9/11 pretty much supporting the idea of tying Islam and terrorism in the 'war on terror'.

For better or worse, he is and will continue to be known as an 'anti-Islam' author and his biggest claim to fame will always be that 'fatwa' issued against him. Rushdie/fatwa...Rushdie/fatwa...the religion stuff is pretty much always the topic of any interview or roundtable discussion I've seen him involved in.

Well, 'great art' is a matter of taste, but I do give him his credit. I understand your argument, but I would say that it's probably a mix of both (as in making 'great' art while getting handsomely rewarded for it). I think Bill Gates was a genius and loved his job as well, but he probably expected to make a lot of money out of it.

All I can say is most people in his field (published authors) want to communicate their ideas but also want to make a lot of money doing it, or they wouldn't put in that kind of effort and dedication it takes to write a book; it goes with the territory.

But I am not a mind-reader and can't claim to know either way. It's my opinion.

 

SOme Serious speculation and conjecture going on there. You think Lama got the peace prize just to piss of the Chinese? Wow. And Arafat to piss of Israel? And Rushdie to piss of Muslims?

Those Norwegians are really nasty folks huh?

 

Hey Tiger, guess you don't want to answer my question huh? Couldn't find anyone else that yells "death to America?"