By Irshad Manji
Excerpts:
Tuesday's murder of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who criticized Islamic practices, reminds all of a nagging truth: More than 15 years after the government of Iran issued a death warrant against novelist Salman Rushdie, dissenting with Muslims remains a risky business.
As a Muslim reformist, I speak from experience. My book, "The Trouble with Islam," has put me on the receiving end of anger, hatred and vitriol. That's because I'm asking questions from which we Muslims can no longer hide. Why, for example, are we squandering the talents of half of God's creation, women? What's with the stubborn streak of anti-Semitism in Islam today?
Above all, how can even moderate Muslims view the Koran literally when it, like every holy text, abounds in contradiction and ambiguity? The trouble with Islam today is that literalism is going mainstream.
Muslims who take offense at these points often wind up reinforcing them in their responses to me. I regularly get death threats through my Web site. Some of my would-be assassins emphasize the virtues of martyrdom, wanting to hurl me into the "flames of hell" in exchange for 72 virgins. Others simply want to know which plane I'm next boarding, so they can hijack it. Somehow, I don't feel the urge to share my schedule.
Mata Musing:
Certainly there is no dearth of voices asking "why is peaceful Islam not speaking out against terrorists".
Perhaps the answer is as simple as outlined by Ms. Manji ... fear. Islamic extremists cut no slack for their own if they believe them to be aligned with infidels. And death threats are not for the feint of heart. Kudos to the authoress for her stand.
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