Islamist Intolerance

Courtesy of MEMRI, Iraqi reformist 'Abd Al-Khaliq Hussein speaks out against the brutality of Islamist intolerance and censorship. His comments are especially apropos on today's 18th anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie:

"Political Islamists raise a huge hubbub, saying that Islam is a religion of tolerance, but at the same time they threaten to decapitate anyone who directs the least bit of criticism at them - even if it is just a question, or a doubt concerning religious thought, or the writing of an article, or the publishing of a book… to the point where fatwas are issued that make it licit to kill the asker of the question or the writer [of the article].

"For this reason, the Islamic countries are considered the greatest crematorium for books and the greatest slaughterhouse for freethinkers in history, and we see that the majority of freethinkers in Arab and Islamic countries are either expatriates or have chosen to keep silent in order to remain safe.

"A few months ago, Pope Benedict XVI cited, in a lecture before academics at a German university, what a 14th century emperor had said about the Muslims' reliance on the sword in spreading Islam, and that it was better to employ the mind and persuasion instead of force in spreading a religion. [In saying this, the Pope] angered the political Islamists and Islamic sheikhs, who demanded that he kneel down and apologize! As usual, they resorted to instigating riots in the streets, and there were attacks on Christians in Islamic countries… and churches were burned"…

(Emphasis added-DD)


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