Free speech and Islam

In an article entitled "Endangered Salman" (Hudson Institute, July 2, 2007), Paul Marshall addresses the issue of free speech, which, he suggests, is under assault from London to Cairo:

On June 16, Queen Elizabeth announced in the annual birthday honors list that author Salman Rushdie, previously accused of "insulting Islam," would be knighted. At the same time, five Egyptian Muslims, also accused of "insulting Islam," languished in the jails and interrogation rooms of Egyptian State Security.

The Queen's announcement caused violent protests in many countries and renewed death threats, and received extensive media coverage. The imprisonment elicited little protest or coverage. Both events teach important lessons, but the latter is politically more significant.

The reaction to the protests over the knighthood reveals an erosion of confidence in the West. Back in 1989, when Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, issued his fatwa declaring that all Muslims had a duty to kill Rushdie, the writer was defended and feted. Politicians vied to appear with him and shake his hand. When I passed through Amsterdam airport, the bookstores had every possible display space filled with copies of Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Free people declared that freedom of speech would not be surrendered in the face of threat and violence.

This time around, there were sporadic articles in Rushdie's defense, but no governments or politicians rushed to his side offering outspoken support. Many more now seem to regard him as a bit of an embarrassment, someone who makes unnecessary trouble, just like the writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, those Danish cartoonists, and maybe the pope. Why do these people persist in provoking Muslims? There is a palpable loss of nerve in the defense of freedom.

Equally worrying is that the way the "insulting Islam" story has been framed--freedom of speech versus insulting a religion--misses the crucial political question: Can there be open debate about Islam, especially among Muslims? ...

Well worth reading.

Of related interest:

• "Islam's Global War against Christianity" (American Thinker, July 6, 2007)
  
  
• "The Vatican Blasts Islam, The Church and Islam: 'La Civiltà Cattolica' Breaks the Ceasefire" (Islam Review, Sandro Magister).

[Hat tip to E.E. for the Paul Marshall article, and to J.W. for the American Thinker and Islam Review links.]