Arab/Muslim Reaction to Salman Rushdie's British Honor

Arab Media today discussed with much surprise the honor Queen Elizabeth II bestowed on Satanic Verses author, Salman Rushdie. Below is an Op Ed that summarizes the general mood. As the author below suggests that people shouldn’t be silent about this, there were some informal calls for Muslims to demonstrate in front of British embassies in protest. We’ll see if those materialize in the next day or two.



Opinion
- “The Alleged Knight and the Condemnable Honor”

http://www.alwatan.com.sa/news/writerdetail.asp?issueno=2454&id=928&Rname=41

June 19, 2007

From the Saudi pro-government daily Al-Watan

Op Ed by Hammoud Abu Taleb





“…what did the controversial author Selman Rushdie offer so that the Queen of Britain Elizabeth II granted him the

Knight title on her birthday?


“This author is not a prominent symbol of British literature and doesn’t have the creative importance of the least important authors which were granted this title by Britain. On the international level, none of his work has enough value to justify this celebration. All that Rushdie has achieved is the tumult he raised at the end of the eighties with a decadent work which harmed the feelings of Muslims… and got them mad. This made him flee to Britain and acquire an infamous reputation, nothing more and nothing less. Since the offense of religion is key in this issue, we will move from the preliminary report to the sudden disastrous news that could only be described as shocking.

“According to the news, the report of the European Council commission for culture and education announced that believing that God created the earth in six days was false and was based on the rejection of the theory of genesis, evolution and natural development... It said that if the Europeans and the world did not pay attention to that it will destroy human rights, and that those who believed in it will change democracy… It added that the European Union should confront this threat which is coming from the religious extremists before it is too late.

“The issue is thus about the British Crown honoring an author who offended religion while an official commission within the European Union is seeking to undermine the words of the creator. While Elizabeth has the right to honor whoever she wants, what was stated by the commission was a disaster on all levels and an insult to all those who believe in God… under a silly pretext which is unconvincing and illogical. We are well aware that two condemnable teams affected Islam: an overly extremist one and one which is rebelling against its message and teachings.

“Even though none of them represents the real Muslim community or are accepted by it, the states of the EU received them and hosted them under the pretext of implementing the principles of human rights which guarantee the right of belief to all. Therefore, how can the beliefs and religious principles of the people be confiscated in the name of these same rights? If the states of the EU are concerned about their democracy, this should not be done through this offense and blunt insult. This statement is a serious and unprecedented turning point and we shouldn’t remain silent about it. This should be handled with reason, responsibility and wisdom.”