Islam
Sir Salman Rushdie
I’d like to take a moment to applaud the UK for knighting Salman Rushdie, one of the most brilliant artists of our time. I’d also like to denounce the outpouring of hate and igorance from Pakistan and other places. According to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam, “Salman Rushdie has tried to insult and malign Muslims through his writings….” As
Islam and the pope — update
I remarked on the pope/Islam controversy when it first erupted in September. At the time, a friend directed me to this commentary by a scholar of Byzantine texts. I’m linking to it now that the pope’s trip to Turkey has rekindled the discussion: Contrary to many treatises of anti-Muslim polemics, which we find in Western Christendom as well as in
Holy lands
Following up my post of Oct. 21, here is an arresting comment about militant Islam and the notion of holy land. Noah Feldman’s NY Times Mag piece on nuclear arms and the Muslim world includes reflections on bin Laden’s mentor Abdullah Azzam — specifically his treatise “Defense of Muslim Lands”: In it, Azzam argued that not a single hand span
Islam and the pope
It’s not often that I find myself in a Catholic church. But this past weekend I happened to hear a priest deliver a noxious homily, one that sheds light on the current controversy involving the pope’s remarks on Islam. In this homily, a priest and a Buddhist monk are trekking through the Himalayas in search of a remote monastery. Along