Fatwa

I read recently that someone renewed the Fatwa against Salmon Rushdie, the author of “Satanic Verses.”

I have not read the book.  I may not read it.  But whether any of us reads it or not, we should not be intimidated by the rantings of a cleric in Iran or elsewhere who sanctifies his beliefs with terrorism.

Years ago two of this nation's biggest bookstores decided to pull the Rushdie novel from their shelves.  In so doing they allowed a foreign religious to usurp the first amendment guarantee of the freedom of speech and expression.
 
The uncivilized call to encourage fanatics to kill the author and to put a bounty on that killing, is the real blasphemy.

The spiritual truth of Islam does not come from hatred or intolerance or killing, the sacred words of the prophet Mohammed cannot be tainted by a fictionalized character.

God, however, you call the All That Is, Allah or great spirit, does not need the blood of a British writer to defend his truth.  The Koran says, " God will not take you to task for vain words in your oaths, but he will take you to task for what your hearts have amassed."