This concise history of Islamic censorship examines the turbulent question of freedom of expression in Islamic societies. The book ranges from the ancient Arabians, to Muhammad's charter offering freedom of expression to Muslims, to modern history, when control of communication shifted to the secularists. Trevor Mostyn's incisive book culminates in an analysis of the current political direction of censorship, and the control of freedom of expression.
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'An excellent book, written just before the crescendo of Middle Eastern unhappiness we are reaching now, but even more timely for it. Trevor Mostyn spares none of the foes of freedom of speech, wherever they exist.' The Tablet Trevor Mostyn's essential and unrivalled work.' Index on Censorship 'Mostyn's poignant anecdotes and reportage serve both to remind every Arab of the truth [about censorship] as it is already known, as well as adding to that knowledge.' al-Hayat
Book Description
This concise history of Islamic censorship examines the turbulent question of freedom of expression in Islamic societies. The book ranges from the ancient Arabians, to Muhammad's charter offering freedom of expression to Muslims, to modern history, when control of communication shifted to the secularists. Trevor Mostyn's incisive book culminates in an analysis of the current political direction of censorship, and the control of freedom of expression.
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Arab Islamic Censorship,
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This review is from: Censorship in Islamic Societies (Paperback)
"Censorship in Islamic Societies" by Trevor Mostryn, who taught at Algiers University before joining the Middle East Economic Digest c. 1990s. The author complains about the various `censorship' regulations in economic, political, editorial and social subjects throughout the Middle East. He argues that Muslim countries need to curtail their anti-free-speech attitudes in order to enable the `rebirth' of an intellectually uplifting Muslim mind. Written in 2001, he denounces all of the Arab dictators throughout the Middle East. But to show that he is a good Muslim, he denounces Israel for worrying too much about Islamist terrorists - although he acknowledges that "censorship is a much greater problem for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza" than in Israel (p.87). He details how various Muslim countries have either enacted formal legislation that stifles free-speech, or kowtow to religious authorities who are opposed to the intellectual questioning of Islamist doctrine. Chapter titles include: The Islamic World Confronts the Monster West; Islamic Tolerance and the Seeds of Despair; A Satanic Mess; Iran's Media Frenzy; Islam's Creative Centuries and the Age of the Courtly Poets; The Eternal Problem of Palestine; Democracy and the Sharia: Torment or Justice?; Women: Conundrum or Contradiction?: Trouble with the Mystics; Who Thinks for Islam"; Western Misperceptions of Islam: Islamophobia; the Role of al-Azhar University; Fatwas, Publish it Not: Media and Censorship; The Averted Gaze: Love and Death in Iranian Cinema; Censorship and Human Rights; Saudi Arabia; Awaiting the Imam: A Golden Age of Tolerance. Given his extensive reporting throughout the Middle East -- and once you get past the author's anti-Israel diatribes -- the author provides many insights and examples about censorship throughout the Middle East (prior to 2002). The author believes that the Islamist `extremists' need to be rejected by moderate Muslims, but he provides few details as to how that might happen. All too frequently the author is apologetic about the `shortcomings' of some Islamic custom: condemning it, but trying to smooth an ashamed Muslim by claiming that such shortcomings occurred in Western nations previously. One does not see the author as being a total free-press libertarian, after all, one has to be mindful of Muslim `sensibilities' regarding their ahadith heritage. At his book's end he does acknowledge that the Muslims' censorship problems are of their own making.
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