Criticizing Islam

Moslems from Pakistan to Morocco are still ferociously protesting a Newsweek report about the Koran being violated. Meanwhile, yet another innocent (Japanese) person was viciously murdered in the name of Islam in Iraq, without a single act of protest. What’s wrong with us Moslems?



If I were to name the single even that made the biggest mark on my life, I would choose watching Margaret Hassan cry. That lovable aid worker who spent her whole life in miserable conditions to make sure Iraqi children lived a better life, was humiliated on T.V, forced to abandon her ever-smiley and graceful face, to plead for her life before a stunned world. Her captors proudly flaunted banners with Koranic scriptures as a background to her weeping.

This is when I decided that something is very wrong with the state of my religion today. I no longer cared about the endless stories my parents told me about the compassion of prophet Mohammad, I no longer cared about the stories of greatness in our past. I stopped believing all the arguments about those killers not being “real” Moslems but Jews who want to spoil Islam’s image. All I could think of was the report that they found Margaret’s body thrown in the middle of the desert as if she were a worthless dog.

As a regular reader of “western” media and commentary, I always stumble into the question: “Why don’t moderate Moslems speak out?”.

In the Moslem world, speaking out against the Islamic establishment is, simply put, unsafe. Some people do it because they’re very powerful, Like King Abdullah of Jordan who admiringly announced: “Islam is hijacked by the extremists”, or president Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan who regularly denounces terrorism. But even these people aren’t safe from over-zealous clerics.

Some Moslems speak out because their intellectual convictions over-ride their safety concerns, (Salman Rushdie, Irshad Manji, Ayaan Hirsi Ali). Their arguments, unfortunately, are a bit extreme and fail to convert mainstream Moslems. But Irshad's website is worth taking a look at.

Hard-core Muslims can get very touchy when you “insult” their religion. I don’t know why. It’s just the way it is. If, hypothetically, the people who flushed the Koran down the toilets were placed in the middle of an Afghanistan demonstration, they will be lynched without second thoughts. But that’s not the worrying part of the story. What’s more worrying is that mainstream Moslems who would hear of the lynching will simply shrug their shoulders and say: “well, they asked for it, they deserve it”.Apathy of the masses is the real ill, and it should be addressed.

Criticizing Islam is very delicate business. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen. Islam, in its current form, is very far from perfect. Its torch is being carried by people who think that memorizing the Koran is the paragon of knowledge (heck I even met some imams who don’t speak Arabic who have memorized the Koran without understanding a word). Five years ago, I personally walked out from a mosque in the middle of a Friday sermon and never came back because the imam asked us to throw our TVs out of the windows.

Another problem with Islam is that clerics think that they own their fellow Moslems.
I’m not talking here about people who hit other people with sticks to cover their exposed parts or go to prayers. I’m talking about clubs in the gulf countries that are designed for foreigners to have fun. Because they serve alcohol, Moslems like myself are not allowed in. So, if I was going in with a fellow Lebanese called Jean, he would be admitted in, but I wouldn’t because my name is Mustapha. So much for personal freedom.

When criticizing Islam, Subtlety is a must (just ask Theo Van Gogh or Pim Fortuin), and there are lots of messages that can reach across to the moderate masses without inflaming the gang-ho clerics. This is where the media and politicians play an important role.

For example, Moslems should be made to see that they are protesting against misguided Americans who insulted the Koran, much more than they are protesting against Moslems who are killing fellow Moslems in Iraq. THAT is a point worth pondering.

Until then, bloggers like myself who are writing anonymously from Africa, in English, will do their best to try to make a difference. But, I must say, that’s a tall order.