Islamic Harmony vs. Freedoms

On September 27th the home of Martin Rynja, which is also the headquarters for Gibson Square’s publishing house, was firebombed. It didn’t make the major headlines and yet it should have for this was a terrorist attack against a company who stood up to Islamic threats. This weekend I received an email berating me for an article I had written about a radical Islamic group. Although a bit creepy, the email was not threatening and yet I mention it because the two incidents are somewhat related.

In August I wrote an article berating Random House: http://pcfugitive.blogspot.com/2008/08/islamic-blackmail-wins-again.html for submitting to Islamic blackmail. If you recall, this blog was about a new book by Sherry Jones on a wife of Mohammad called “The Jewel of Medina”. Random House was to publish it until they were told that it might be offensive to Muslims and could cause violence. I thought Random House was wrong to then back down and give in to this blackmail. I feel that we always need to stand up for our freedoms no matter the threats.

However, I was wrong when I wrote that Random House would not let any other company publish this book. They did sell the publishing rights to Gibson Square Publishers who was willing to publish “The Jewel of Medina” even knowing about the threats. But these threats were not idle for, as previously mentioned, their headquarters were bombed the end of September. Luckily it was only a small bomb which was inserted in the mail slot and no one was injured. In fact, according to the NY Times “The police were already on the scene as the result of what they described as “a preplanned intelligence-led operation,”. The London police have already arrested three men so that’s one for the good guys!

Did this terrorist attack stop the publisher, Mr. Rynja, from publishing this book? No. Although he is taking precautions and is currently in hiding he actually sped up the printing process. Instead of the October 30th date they sent the books to the US for an October 15th publishing date. I am so pleased that the book is actually published as I had been very upset with Random House when they backed down to the threat of possible violence. It just felt so wrong to me. I believed that the radical Islam’s had won and it only takes a few decisions like this for us to slowly begin to lose our freedoms. We need to stand up against bullies of all shapes and sizes and preserve our freedoms no matter the costs. Gibson Square Publishing needs to be applauded for their actions.

In the beginning of this blog I also mentioned an email I received on Saturday. After I wrote my blog about Random House I followed it with an article (http://pcfugitive.blogspot.com/2008/08/messenger-of-allah.html) on a radical Islamic group called Messenger of Allah Unites who wanted to “criminalize any act deemed to be insulting to Islam” In addition to the passing of their UN resolution denouncing defamation of religions, the scariest part is that they want to subpoena and try anyone accused of blasphemy or inciting hatred against their religion.

I was appalled to think that this Jordan based group could reach out to anyone anywhere that they thought were anti Muslims or whom they simply disliked. Ironically it turns out I am one of those people. The email I received on Saturday was to tell me that someone had left a comment on this old article. The comment was:

“The most intelligent thing to do is to recognize that Prophet Mohammad is too important for Muslims and should not be degraded in the guise of ‘freedom of
speech’. You do this for anti-semetic propaganda. So, why not anti-Mohammad.”

Remember, Muslims usually don't have an issue with a scholarly criticism of Mohammad or even a non-scholarly criticism of Islam and Muslims. But, Prophet Mohammad is dear to every Muslim no matter how religious or non-religious he/she might be. And, the day people like you recognize it, you'll actually start promoting harmony instead of hatred in this world.”

In a way I sympathize with him. It isn’t easy to see a beloved and revered religious figure degraded. For decades, Christians have had to deal with blasphemous books or pictures of Jesus, Mary and other Christian symbols. It is disturbing and yet that is the price you have to pay to ensure our freedoms. And yes, it is hypocritical to be told that flying the Confederate flag or using the N word or speaking against gays is considered “hate speech” but attacks on any religion is allowed. This isn’t right but in today’s world of political correctness where some are more equal than others I doubt if it can be changed.

As for my article, I never denigrated the Muslim religion at all, I was only criticizing those who wanted to prosecute and censure anyone they deemed was anti Muslim. The commenter mentioned promoting harmony and yet the only way to obtain perfect harmony is to silence anyone who disagrees with you. This means threatening book publishers and even commenting on an obscure article written months ago by an amateur blogger. But we can’t let them silence us. For we believe in a free world with freedom of religion as well as freedom of speech. And with these freedoms come discord and the right to disagree as we all will have our own opinions. It may not be perfect but I’ll take our messy freedoms over perfect harmony any day.