Some pearls of wisdom from the Poster Boy for Death Fatwas in Spiegel Online, with thanks to all who sent this in:
Yes. Terror is glamour — not only, but also. I am firmly convinced that there’s something like a fascination with death among suicide bombers. Many are influenced by the misdirected image of a kind of magic that is inherent in these insane acts. The suicide bomber’s imagination leads him to believe in a brilliant act of heroism, when in fact he is simply blowing himself up pointlessly and taking other peoples lives. There’s one thing you mustn’t forget here: the victims terrorized by radical Muslims are mostly other Muslims.
There’s “something like a fascination with death among suicide bombers”? Gee, Salman, really? The jihadists have been telling us things like “The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death” for years, and you’re just discovering that?
And the “victims terrorized by radical Muslims are mostly other Muslims”? Do tell, Salman. Why not explain to Spiegel, if you can, about the phenomenon of takfir, that is, the declaring of other Muslims unbelievers? Once they are considered unbelievers, you see, they are according to the traditional canons of Islamic jurisprudence eligible to be warred against along with other unbelievers. What are the implications of that for unbelievers in general? Why instead did you suggest that jihad terrorism is some big intramural dispute which sometimes unfortunately catches non-Muslims in its crossfire?
And a little later:
Fundamentalists of all faiths are the fundamental evil of our time.
This tosh of course pops up everywhere, but frequency of repetition doesn’t make it true. Salman Rushdie might profitably reflect on why Christian fundamentalists have never pronounced any death fatawa on him or anyone else.