Observanda: Islam - The Intolerant Truth

Observanda: Islam - The Intolerant Truth

Tigers got a post up on a Robert Spencer article at Front Pagemag.com.

Spencer writes:

The government of Pakistan has banned my book The Truth About Muhammad, confiscating all copies and translations. Why? Because it contains “objectionable material” about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Said Shahid Ahmed, counselor of community affairs at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington: “The book is very, very damaging — let me tell you.”

Objectionable material? Damaging? I confess it: they’re right. There is plenty of objectionable material in this book. Here’s a small sampling:

1. The Truth About Muhammad details the triple choice that Muhammad directed his followers to offer to non-Muslims: conversion to Islam, subjugation without equality of rights with Muslims under the rule of Islamic law, or war. Did I fabricate this? No, it can be found in, among many other places, Sahih Muslim, a collection of hadith – traditions of Muhammad and the early Muslims – that Muslims generally consider reliable. In it, Muhammad says:

Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah….When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them….If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya [a special tax levied on non-Muslims]. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim 4294)

I don't suppose there is really any news here. Of course, Spencer's book has been banned. That's no surprise. Pakistan, though is surprising in other ways. For instance, here's a New York Times Jan 2, 2006 article, When She Speaks, He’s Breaking All of Islam’s Taboos about a 28-year old Karachi drag queen with a hit television show.

It is hard to judge how successful Mr. Saleem’s show is — there is no form of Nielsen ratings here. And there are clearly people who find the show revolting.

But by many measures, it is a success. Television critics have been generally supportive, and the show, which has been on a year and a half, has a prime-time slot despite its name, “Late Night Show With Begum Nawazish Ali.” Mr. Saleem said it was named for its racy content, usually shown late, but he said the network scheduled it earlier hoping for a hit that would bring in more advertising revenue.

Urbanites, meanwhile, seem not to be able to get enough of the once-a-week show, which is rerun twice each week. They have showered praise on Mr. Saleem’s portrayal of a middle-aged widow who, in glamorous saris and glittery diamonds, invites to her drawing room politicians, movie stars and rights advocates from Pakistan and India.

With fluttering eyelids and glossy lips, Begum Nawazish Ali (Begum means Lady or Mrs. in Urdu) flirts with male guests using suggestive banter and sexual innuendo. With female guests, she is something of a tease, challenging them about who looks better. Questions are pointed and piercing. Politics, democracy and saucy gossip are enmeshed in her conversation.

Mr. Saleem sees the show’s acceptance and commercial success as a testimony to the tolerance and moderation of Pakistan, a country often seen by the outside world as teetering on the edges of militancy and extremism.

Colorful and witty, Mr. Saleem is open about his own sexuality and sprinkles his conversation with gender-bending phrases. “My life fluctuates between two extremes,” he says. “I always say this: I am a man and I am a woman. It is two gender extremes, and I am constantly trying to balance it.”

He is unabashed at the criticism that his show often borders on raunchiness. “Sitting senators have sent requests to be on the show,” he says.

Mr. Saleem has also been willing to take on tough political subjects. He is openly critical of the army’s role in ruling Pakistan, for instance.

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This is what devout, fundamentalist Muslims see and are so afraid of. This is the modernity that has been thrust upon them with the advent of the television and satellite. They see the western decadence and have vowed to stop it or die trying.

There are ever widening faultlines in Muslim society and the west must find a way of turning the cultural changes to our advantage. We may not be happy with the result but we have no choice. The Islamists are waging an ultimately futile war against modernity. Given enough time, the post modern world will prevail over Islam just as it has over Christianity in Europe. In the meantime, the nuclear threat we perceived before we invaded Iraq is still the single most dangerous threat facing our country. Maybe not this year or next but eventually, if left unchecked, someone will get one or several nuclear devices and the decadent capitals of the world will be ground zero. The problem for the west is how to extract the cancer of Islamenoma without killing the patient or igniting a world war.