Soon after Muslim gunmen killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo offices, which published satirical caricatures of Muslim prophet Muhammad, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)—the “collective voice of the Muslim world” and second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations—is again renewing calls for the United Nations to criminalize “blasphemy” against Islam, or what it more ecumenically calls, the “defamation of religions.”
Yet the OIC seems to miss one grand irony: if international laws would ban cartoons, books, and films on the basis that they defame Islam, they would also, by logical extension, have to ban the entire religion of Islam itself—the only religion whose core texts actively and unequivocally defame other religions, including by name.
To understand this, consider what “defamation” means. Typical dictionary-definitions include “to blacken another’s reputation” and “false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another, as by slander or libel.” In Muslim usage, defamation simply means anything that insults or offends Islamic sensibilities.
However, to gain traction among the international community, the OIC cynically maintains that such laws should protect all religions from defamation, not just Islam (even as Muslim governments ban churches, destroy crucifixes, and burn Bibles). Disingenuous or not, the OIC’s wording suggests that any expression that “slanders” the religious sentiments of others should be banned.
What, then, do we do with Islam’s core religious texts—beginning with the Koran itself— which slanders, denigrates and blackens the reputation of other religions? Consider Christianity alone: Koran 5:73 declares that “Infidels are they who say God is one of three,” a reference to the Christian Trinity; Koran 5:72 says “Infidels are they who say God is the Christ, [Jesus] son of Mary”; and Koran 9:30 complains that “the Christians say the Christ is the son of God … may God’s curse be upon them!”
Considering that the word “infidel” (kafir) is one of Islam’s most derogatory terms, what if a Christian book or Western cartoon appeared declaring that “Infidels are they who say Muhammad is the prophet of God—may God’s curse be upon them”? If Muslims would consider that a great defamation against Islam—and they would, with the attendant rioting, murders, etc.—then by the same standard it must be admitted that the Koran defames Christians and Christianity.
Indeed, it is precisely because of this that some Russian districts are banning key Islamic scriptures—including Sahih Bukhari, which is seen as second in authority after the Koran itself. According to Apastovsk district RT prosecutors, Sahih Bukhari has been targeted because it promotes “exclusivity of one of the world’s religions,” namely Islam, or, in the words of Ruslan Galliev, senior assistant to the prosecutor of Tatarstan, it promotes “a militant Islam” which “arouses ethnic, religious enmity.”… Keep reading
jihad3tracker says
We can be sure that CAIR’s jolly fraternity boys are now hitting all speed-dial buttons on their phones — trying to find someone in The Club who is smart enough to get out of this corner.
To quote Robert Spencer : “I can’t stop laughing!”
Doglicka says
Oh no, i doubt it. It will go right over their beards and they will ask Raymond to show verses, he’ll say, but i did. Oh, but you haven’t put it in context; but i did. ‘islamophobe’. ha!
M S case says
Don’t ouotlaw blasphemy against islam OUTLAW ISLAM IT IS A CULT not a religion pass laws TO THIS EFFECT everyone CAN LAUGH NOW pass laws?????
terry says
Raymond Ibrahim,
What a beautifully articulated clear idea!
Keep it coming, Raymond.
M S case says
The moon god CULT at it again
duh_swami says
Ban the Quran as a pornographic script for a snuff film that only appeals to perverts who like the idea of audience participation.
Angemon says
Indeed. My guess is that muslim “thinkers” believe that such laws would prevent anyone from saying anything about islam.
mortimer says
ISLAMIC WRITINGS ARE HATE SPEECH
I believe sooner or later, the Islamic texts will be taken to court and banned as hate speech.
The Koran, hadiths and canonical commentaries of Islam specifically identify religious groups that should be attacked, repressed, extorted, raped, enslaved, lied to and murdered for their beliefs.
It is inevitable that lawyers will be able eventually to ban these writings. It will be impossible for Muslims to speak about them, read them or publish their own ‘hate speech’.
TH says
That is no problem for muslims because everything in Islam is dualistic. The muslim is suppoed to be merciful and just to another musllim and kill the kafir. Plues, if Allah is so totally arbitrary and he also HATES the kafir, whilst he is merciful to the muslim, their twisted minds lacking all logic see nothing unreasonable in what they propose. Have you ever watched a debate between people like Robert Spencer and -Davin Wood and mulsims? If you have you will realize that they have no logical arguments but pure fallacies like attacking the messenge (ad hominem) and the red herring among others.
gravenimage says
Yes—Islam is full of intrinsic blasphemy towards other faiths.
But them, these demands for the banning of blasphemy *only* come from touchy Muslims, and were never intended to apply to other faiths.