What the heck is an “unlimited cash reward”? Is the Imam Syed Mohammed Noorur Rahman Barkati going to give the killer of Taslima Nasreen all the money in the world? Meanwhile, he demands that she be deported and threatens to set up a roadblock in front of her home.
And why all the threats and terrorizing? Because she “exposed Indian Muslims to ridicule and contempt” and defamed “Islam and the Prophet.” It doesn’t seem to occur to the Imam Syed Mohammed Noorur Rahman Barkati that he might deal more effectively with whatever threat to Islam he thinks is coming from Taslima Nasreen by refuting what she says, or at least debating her and making his case while she makes hers.
But in India as in the United States, Muslim spokesmen who take umbrage at statements by non-believers don’t seem interested in debating their opponents and taking the opportunity to demonstrate the truth of what they’re saying and the falsity of what their opposition is saying. Instead, in a manifestation of utter intellectual bankruptcy, they resort to threats. Legal threats instead of death threats here — for now at least.
An update on this story. From Rediff.com (thanks to all who sent this in):
Charging her with defaming Islam and the Prophet, an Imam in Kolkata on Friday declared “unlimited reward” on the head of Taslima Nasreen, the controversial Bangladeshi writer. Taslima was attacked in Hyderabad last week.
Speaking at a rally after the Friday prayers, Syed Mohammed Noorur Rahman Barkati, imam of the Tipu Sultan Shahi Masjid, also demanded that the writer be deported from the country in a month.
“If our demand is not met, there will be an unlimited cash reward for whosoever kills her. The United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and the Left Front government in the state will be responsible for the consequences,” he told the gathering at Esplanade, in Kolkata.
‘If you harbour Taslima and Rushdie in India, then drive away all the Muslims from this country,’ a banner at the rally said.
Alleging that Taslima had exposed Indian Muslims to ridicule and contempt, the imam threatened to organise a road block in front of the writer’s residence in Kolkata after the month of Ramzan.