Not in the name of my religion

August 10, 2007 11:24 PM

Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi writer who was manhandled on Thursday, has been threatened with an issue of a Fatwa today, by the followers of the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) party, while other muslims have come to her defence.
posted by hadjiboy (17 comments total)

"Even in the model American democracy, a few are intolerant."

Yes, that is indeed hard to believe. /sarcasm
posted by Brocktoon at 11:38 PM on August 10, 2007

out of curiosity, can just anyone issue a fatwa? Like, if some guy cuts me off on the road, can I issue a fatwa for his license plate number?
posted by shmegegge at 11:46 PM on August 10, 2007

shmegegge: Pretty much. Many of the traditional scholars have criteria for accepting a fatwa of someone (which is why outside of the Wahabbis most of the fatwas issued in Saudi Arabia are laughed at). But there is no 'ijaza, or authorization, for someone to issue fatwas. It's just something people do. It should be reserved for questions that aren't easily clarified by looking at what's already on the books, but unfortunately the practice is politicized.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:50 PM on August 10, 2007

man, have I got some fatwas to issue :)
posted by pjern at 12:19 AM on August 11, 2007

man, have I got some MeFitwas to issue :P
posted by Poolio at 12:30 AM on August 11, 2007

I find it astonishing that sects of people, in the 21st century, find that the first answer to "I don't agree with what this person writes", is "Now, this person must die".

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's just Muslims who do it, (Paging the insane Phelps family? Lunatics to the white courtesy phone.) I just wish that people would stop suggesting/believing/recommending that intellectual disagreements be resolved by murder.
posted by dejah420 at 12:59 AM on August 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

Good on the journalists at the scene of the assault for protecting her, and TAM for speaking out. Found a bit of news footage on the incident here.
posted by Abiezer at 1:15 AM on August 11, 2007

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought a fatwâ was just a theological/legal opinion under Shari'a. At least according to the fatwâ "Defending The Transgressed By
Censuring The Reckless Against The Killing Of Civilians" previously mentioned by BinGregory.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:38 AM on August 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oh, and fundamentalists suck.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:39 AM on August 11, 2007

"Our protest is against Taslima Nasrin because of her writings ridiculing Islam,"

Someone needs to make a Islamic version of this

The “fatwa” had been issued way back in 1994 by a radical Islamic group in Bangladesh protesting her alleged blasphemy. — PTI

PFFT
posted by Gnostic Novelist at 1:43 AM on August 11, 2007

"Our protest is against Taslima Nasrin because of her writings ridiculing Islam,"

Oh come on, you people, don't you realize that you are really asking for it?

What kind of religion/culture is this anyway where everytime someone dares to criticize you, you act like a bunch of drama queens? Can't you just grow up and stop acting like pathetic whinos?
posted by sour cream at 1:55 AM on August 11, 2007

Thanks for the video link Abiezer!
posted by hadjiboy at 2:16 AM on August 11, 2007

On John Safran vs. God, John gets a fatwa placed on a rival presenter by a 'Senior Judge of the UK Shariah Court'.
posted by JonB at 4:57 AM on August 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

dejah420: "Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's just Muslims who do it, (Paging the insane Phelps family? Lunatics to the white courtesy phone."

To be fair, the Phelps may be insane - in fact I'm almost certain they are - but they have never committed any acts of violence. If anything, they are a real test of our ability to deal with offensive speech.
posted by aubin at 5:32 AM on August 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

Scroll down to Things Cheaply Had (well, read them all but that's my favorite Nasrin poem) here.
posted by joannemerriam at 5:36 AM on August 11, 2007

Someone needs to make a Islamic version of this


Gnostic Novelist: It's been done, kinda sorta.

A more pointedly in-your-face thing than Piss Christ was, I guess: Serrano's image was, for me, more about the juxtaposition of an interesting technique for diffusing light with the crassness of the title and medium. Jyllands-Posten just wanted to heave a dead cat through somebody's window, figuratively speaking.)

Getting back on topic: I haven't read the Qur'an yet, but I've heard/read it averred from time to time that the Prophet, bless 'im, didn't advocate making women seventeenth-class citizens any more than Christ did. (Leaving that irritating St. Paul in abeyance...hmpf.) If that's true, it's not Islam per se that's at the root of this craziness; it's screwy women-hating cultures that happen to know G*d through on particular prophet of His.
posted by pax digita at 5:55 AM on August 11, 2007

if there's gonna be a jihad, let's get the damn thing over with already. i'm sick and tired of hearing about these people.
posted by bruce at 8:57 AM on August 11, 2007