Answering The Anti-Jihadist

The Anti-Jihadist (AJ) wrote: First of all, RPK fails to mention in his own article which verses of the Quran supposedly guarantee ‘freedom of speech.’ Perhaps we’re supposed to just take his word for it, then? And what does RPK mean when he says ‘freedom of speech’, anyway? Does he mean that Islam or its founder can be criticised? It stands to reason that Mohammed, were he alive, would certainly disagree with RPK’s notions; Mohammed had critics of his movement (the poet Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf, among others) assasinated on his personal orders, during his own lifetime [1]. In other words, Muslims have a word for ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘criticism of Islam’, and that word is blasphemy.

AJ is absolutely right, we shouldn’t expect him to believe anything about the Quran without proof. The thing is Quran is replete with evidence that freedom of speech is a given. Let us begin with the analysis.

1. Quran tells us in 4/58 to judge equitibility among humankind (no religion is mentioned here at all, its simply ‘bayna an-naas’, between humankind). Therefore, if Muslim wishes to preach Islam and say things blasphemous to other religions such as Jesus isn’t the son of God  (offensive to some Christians) and  God doesn’t take human form (offensive to some Hindus), then we must be prepared to accept criticisms ourselves which we often think of as blasphemies.

2. Quran 16/125 tells us to ‘debate them with wisdom and with what is most beautiful’ . Why does it not tell us there to physically attack the debater when they say things offensive to Islam? Again the manner of debate is shown to be peaceful even though we disagree or are criticised.

3. Quran 15/6 says that those who reject will call the Prophet a ‘majnoon’ (one posessed of jinn like qualities, a madman, a tryrant, a destructor), yet the response in 15/8 does not tell the Prophet to institute blasphemy laws. Once again, even though the Prophet himself was right there, he did not institute any punishment.

4. Quran 25/5-6 tells us that people say the Prophet himself were the author of the stories. Once again the answer is an intellectual one, never one to call the believers to cause any kind of aggression.

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