Welcome friends!
I wonder if we could talk a little bit this time about a rather awkward issue that I think is threatening to become something of an elephant in the room of Western public discourse. Yes, I’m sorry to bring it up, but this time out I thought I might say a few words about the relationship between murder and Islam. What got me thinking about this issue was a recent story I read in the papers about OFCOM, the UK regulatory agency responsible for media and communications, fining an Islamic TV channel, Noor TV, the equivalent of about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars for inciting violence during one of their television broadcasts. Yes, it turns out the presenter for this particular program, some bloke with the rather impressive moniker Allama Muhummad Farooq Nizami, told his viewers that it was perfectly acceptable and even the duty of Muslims to kill people who disrespect the Prophet Mohammed. Yes indeed. According to Mr. Nizami’s understanding of the issue it wasn’t even close. He explained on TV that “there is no disagreement about this” and “there is absolutely no doubt about it that the punishment for the person who shows disrespect for the Prophet is death.” As if to illustrate his point he then went on to laud the Indian bodyguard who murdered Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer in 2011 because Mr. Taseer had been advocating amending the country’s blasphemy law to allow for a modicum of free speech on religious matters. So why did the owners of the program in question, Al Ehya Digital TV operating out of Birmingham England, employ such an extremist hot head to serve as host for this program? (You weren’t expecting Birmingham, were you? Oh, you were?) Was the management of Al Ehya Digital TV on the murder bandwagon as well? No, no. According to their account Mr. Nizami’s comments were “totally unforeseen and could not be anticipated.” Apparently they thought he was just your average run of the mill Muslim for the five years he had been working there until one fine day he started spouting off about murdering people. Scary. Oh, and by the way, in case you thought this was a one off, I suppose I should mention OFCOM had previously levied a similarly sized fine against a different local TV channel, DM Digital operating out of Manchester England and calling itself on its website “one of the largest Asian television networks in the UK.” (I bet you weren’t expecting ... oh never mind.) Yes, this fine was for a different broadcast in which someone else, in this case a person described by the BBC article as an “Islamic scholar,” similarly explained on air that Muslims had a duty to kill people who insulted Mohammed. Oh my gosh. Seems we’ve got people advocating murder all over the place these days, don’t we? Did you know? Well, it got me thinking once again about the thorny issue of the relationship of religion and the liberal ethos and more specifically about the problem of Islam and the West... Sorry but only selected archived (previous year) posts are currently available full text on this website. All posts including this one are available in my annual anthology ebook series available at the Amazon Kindle Bookstore for a nominal fee. Hey, we all need to make a buck somehow, right? If you find my timeless jewels of wisdom amusing or perhaps even amusingly irritating throw me a bone now and then. Thank you my friends!
