From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy
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©2009 Kenan Malik (P)2010 Audible Ltd
From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy
Kenan Malik
(Author),
Lyndam Gregory
(Narrator),
Audible Studios
(Publisher)
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Product details
| Listening Length | 9 hours and 46 minutes |
|---|---|
| Author | Kenan Malik |
| Narrator | Lyndam Gregory |
| Audible.com Release Date | April 30, 2010 |
| Publisher | Audible Studios |
| Program Type | Audiobook |
| Version | Unabridged |
| Language | English |
| ASIN | B003LZK4ZC |
| Best Sellers Rank |
#276,878 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#312 in Islam (Audible Books & Originals) #2,451 in Political Science (Audible Books & Originals) #7,146 in Islam (Books) |
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Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2012
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Well written and not polemical. Very thorough and, for the most part accords with my own thoughts on these issues. Western countries have lost confidence in their own values and pander to aggressive and bullying minorities. " Fear masquarading as tolerance".
6 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2013
Verified Purchase
This text has been so enlightening, thought provoking and well written. Thank you. I encourage any Rushdie fan to read it!
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2019
[NOTE: page numbers below refer to a 266-page paperback edition.]
Author Kenan Malik wrote in the Introduction to this 2009 book, “The celebration of difference, respect for pluralism, avowal for identity politics---these have come to be regarded as the hallmarks of a progressive, anti-racist outlook and as the foundation stones of modern liberal democracies. Yet there is a much darker side to multiculturalism, as the Rushdie affair demonstrated. Multiculturalism has helped foster a more tribal nation and, within Muslim communities, has undermined progressive trends while strengthening the hand of conservative religious leaders. While it did not create militant Islam, it heled, as we shall see in this book, create for it a space within British Muslim communities that had not existed before… the wider changes that were taking place both in Britain and in other Western nations, changes that made possible not just the Rushdie affair but eventually 9/11 and 7/7 too. This book is the story of that metamorphosis. It is a guidebook to the road from fatwa to jihad.”
After the Ayatollah Khomeini issues his infamous February 13, 1989 fatwa demanding the death of Rushdie, “The fatwa helped transform the very geography of Islam. Under traditional Islamic law, a fatwa was only valid within those areas in which sharia law applied… the ayatollah had transcended the traditional frontiers of Islam and brought the whole world under his jurisdiction. At the same time, he helped relocate the confrontation between Islam and the West… For the West, Islam was now a domestic issue.” (Pg. 18-19)
He observes, “The ideas of radical Islam certainly challenge the basic tenets of Western liberal democracy, and the actions of Islamic terrorists are undoubtedly demonic. Yet the fault lines run not between civilizations but deep within Western societies themselves. Many of the ideas and arguments of Islamic radicals have, as we shall see, wide purchase within Western societies. And many of the individuals who espouse such ideas and arguments are ‘Westernized.’” (Pg. 24)
He notes that “Immediately after the fatwa, the British government withdrew all its personal from Tehran and demanded that Iranian representatives leave London. It did not, however, break off diplomatic relations… The British government’s intention was … to take a stand against the fatwa without seeming to be intransigent about it. In Tehran’s eyes it signaled only weakness. In the end it was … Tehran that… broke off all diplomatic ties, claiming that ‘in the past two centuries Britain has been in the front line of plots and treachery against Islam and Muslims.’” (Pg. 32)
He points out, “In the twenty years since the fatwa, Western politicians have continued to show greater willingness to lecture Muslims about the importance of liberty, freedom and democracy than to defend such values in practice. Indeed, the responses of Western nations first to the fatwa and subsequently to jihad have helped undermine civil liberties, erode freedom of speech and weaken democracy.” (Pg. 35)
He states, “Rather than appeal to Muslims as British citizens, and attempt to draw them into the mainstream political process, politicians and policy-makers came to see them as people whose primary loyalty was to their faith and who could be politically engaged only by Muslim ‘community leaders.’” (Pg. 76)
He recounts, “it was not the death toll that made 7/7 so chilling… It was the recognition that the bombers were not foreigners but British citizens, steeped in this country’s life and culture. Three of the four men involved… had been born and bred in the Yorkshire town of Leeds. The fourth… had lived in Britain since the age of five.” (Pg. 81)
He suggests, “There is something else that fits oddly with the attempt to pin all the blame on Western foreign policy. No Western nation draws more Islamist ire than America. Yet, since 9/11, the Great Satan had not had a hair singed. There have been devastating attacks in London, Madrid, Bali Casablanca and elsewhere. But not in the USA. More than that: American Muslims seem far less interested in Islamism than do their European counterparts… American Muslims are certainly more middle-class than those in Europe.” (Pg. 85)
He argues, “not only has Tehran failed to export its revolution, but Islamist parties have failed t win mass support… How can we explain this paradox? Terror is an expression of the impotence of Islamism; unable to win for themselves a mass following, jihadis have become impresarios of death, forced into spectacular displays of violence to gain the attention they cannot win through political means… And yet this weakness has been transformed into a strength by the political uncertainty and self-doubt that has seeped into Western societies.” (Pg. 94)
He asserts, “The multicultural bargain designed to keep the Muslim house in order helped to open the door to a new generation of Islamic radicals. Worse, the so-called community leaders were as clueless as national politicians about how to deal with such radicalism… Britain’s multicultural bargain created the space for radical Islamism, but not the means to reach it.” (Pg. 130)
He says, “Today, in liberal eyes, free speech is as likely to be seen as a threat to liberty as its shield. By its very nature, many argue, freedom of expression can damage basic freedoms. Hate speech undermines the freedom to live without fear. The giving of offence diminishes the freedom to have one’s beliefs and values recognized and respected. In a modern pluralistic society, therefore, the cost of free speech---truly free speech---is too great. One of the ironies of living in a plural society, it seems, is that the preservation of diversity requires us to leave less room for a diversity of views.” (Pg. 156)
He concludes, “Democracy, equality, the rule of law: these are not universal values but ‘ours’… in the sense that non-Westerners do not deserve, indeed would culturally resist, having these values extended to them… These two responses [the multiculturalist argument and the ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis] appear as conjoined opposites… One celebrates a lack of faith in the Enlightenment by giving up on the idea of universal values… The other turns belief in the Enlightenment into a tribal affair… and we should militantly defend our values and lifestyles… An assertive, self-confident society that possessed moral clarity about its beliefs would have little trouble dealing with the claims of fundamentalists, and indeed with the acts of terrorists… But the uncertainties and insecurities of Wester societies … have made Islamists appear more potent than they are.” (Pg. 207-208)
This book will be of great interest to those studying the development of Islamist movements in the West, and elsewhere.
Author Kenan Malik wrote in the Introduction to this 2009 book, “The celebration of difference, respect for pluralism, avowal for identity politics---these have come to be regarded as the hallmarks of a progressive, anti-racist outlook and as the foundation stones of modern liberal democracies. Yet there is a much darker side to multiculturalism, as the Rushdie affair demonstrated. Multiculturalism has helped foster a more tribal nation and, within Muslim communities, has undermined progressive trends while strengthening the hand of conservative religious leaders. While it did not create militant Islam, it heled, as we shall see in this book, create for it a space within British Muslim communities that had not existed before… the wider changes that were taking place both in Britain and in other Western nations, changes that made possible not just the Rushdie affair but eventually 9/11 and 7/7 too. This book is the story of that metamorphosis. It is a guidebook to the road from fatwa to jihad.”
After the Ayatollah Khomeini issues his infamous February 13, 1989 fatwa demanding the death of Rushdie, “The fatwa helped transform the very geography of Islam. Under traditional Islamic law, a fatwa was only valid within those areas in which sharia law applied… the ayatollah had transcended the traditional frontiers of Islam and brought the whole world under his jurisdiction. At the same time, he helped relocate the confrontation between Islam and the West… For the West, Islam was now a domestic issue.” (Pg. 18-19)
He observes, “The ideas of radical Islam certainly challenge the basic tenets of Western liberal democracy, and the actions of Islamic terrorists are undoubtedly demonic. Yet the fault lines run not between civilizations but deep within Western societies themselves. Many of the ideas and arguments of Islamic radicals have, as we shall see, wide purchase within Western societies. And many of the individuals who espouse such ideas and arguments are ‘Westernized.’” (Pg. 24)
He notes that “Immediately after the fatwa, the British government withdrew all its personal from Tehran and demanded that Iranian representatives leave London. It did not, however, break off diplomatic relations… The British government’s intention was … to take a stand against the fatwa without seeming to be intransigent about it. In Tehran’s eyes it signaled only weakness. In the end it was … Tehran that… broke off all diplomatic ties, claiming that ‘in the past two centuries Britain has been in the front line of plots and treachery against Islam and Muslims.’” (Pg. 32)
He points out, “In the twenty years since the fatwa, Western politicians have continued to show greater willingness to lecture Muslims about the importance of liberty, freedom and democracy than to defend such values in practice. Indeed, the responses of Western nations first to the fatwa and subsequently to jihad have helped undermine civil liberties, erode freedom of speech and weaken democracy.” (Pg. 35)
He states, “Rather than appeal to Muslims as British citizens, and attempt to draw them into the mainstream political process, politicians and policy-makers came to see them as people whose primary loyalty was to their faith and who could be politically engaged only by Muslim ‘community leaders.’” (Pg. 76)
He recounts, “it was not the death toll that made 7/7 so chilling… It was the recognition that the bombers were not foreigners but British citizens, steeped in this country’s life and culture. Three of the four men involved… had been born and bred in the Yorkshire town of Leeds. The fourth… had lived in Britain since the age of five.” (Pg. 81)
He suggests, “There is something else that fits oddly with the attempt to pin all the blame on Western foreign policy. No Western nation draws more Islamist ire than America. Yet, since 9/11, the Great Satan had not had a hair singed. There have been devastating attacks in London, Madrid, Bali Casablanca and elsewhere. But not in the USA. More than that: American Muslims seem far less interested in Islamism than do their European counterparts… American Muslims are certainly more middle-class than those in Europe.” (Pg. 85)
He argues, “not only has Tehran failed to export its revolution, but Islamist parties have failed t win mass support… How can we explain this paradox? Terror is an expression of the impotence of Islamism; unable to win for themselves a mass following, jihadis have become impresarios of death, forced into spectacular displays of violence to gain the attention they cannot win through political means… And yet this weakness has been transformed into a strength by the political uncertainty and self-doubt that has seeped into Western societies.” (Pg. 94)
He asserts, “The multicultural bargain designed to keep the Muslim house in order helped to open the door to a new generation of Islamic radicals. Worse, the so-called community leaders were as clueless as national politicians about how to deal with such radicalism… Britain’s multicultural bargain created the space for radical Islamism, but not the means to reach it.” (Pg. 130)
He says, “Today, in liberal eyes, free speech is as likely to be seen as a threat to liberty as its shield. By its very nature, many argue, freedom of expression can damage basic freedoms. Hate speech undermines the freedom to live without fear. The giving of offence diminishes the freedom to have one’s beliefs and values recognized and respected. In a modern pluralistic society, therefore, the cost of free speech---truly free speech---is too great. One of the ironies of living in a plural society, it seems, is that the preservation of diversity requires us to leave less room for a diversity of views.” (Pg. 156)
He concludes, “Democracy, equality, the rule of law: these are not universal values but ‘ours’… in the sense that non-Westerners do not deserve, indeed would culturally resist, having these values extended to them… These two responses [the multiculturalist argument and the ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis] appear as conjoined opposites… One celebrates a lack of faith in the Enlightenment by giving up on the idea of universal values… The other turns belief in the Enlightenment into a tribal affair… and we should militantly defend our values and lifestyles… An assertive, self-confident society that possessed moral clarity about its beliefs would have little trouble dealing with the claims of fundamentalists, and indeed with the acts of terrorists… But the uncertainties and insecurities of Wester societies … have made Islamists appear more potent than they are.” (Pg. 207-208)
This book will be of great interest to those studying the development of Islamist movements in the West, and elsewhere.
Top reviews from other countries
Constant Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
Re-wired my thinking after reading this book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 11, 2019Verified Purchase
This is the first time I have read a relatively definitive account of how we got to where we are (especially in Britain). This is explored beyond our borders and I found some of the arguments applicable across subjects. This is not just about 'us and them' and identity politics and false representatives stepping forward to speak for groups. It is a process, a spectrum of experience that is felt by any relationship defined by power (haves and have-nots), religion (who interprets), and respect (generational, societal, and individual). A great 3-D chess game if the consequences weren't so dire if/when we get it wrong.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
An informative and interesting book on why we are where we are post Rushdie
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2013Verified Purchase
Having been brought up in Bradford in the 1970s and having lived for a while in the predominantly "Asian" area of Manningham in the 80s I often wondered why the Bradford I knew and loved had changed into the Bradford (or the perceived Bradford) of today.
This book explains all. If you ever wanted to know how we got to where we are then this is the book to read. A really interesting and informative read. To be recommended.
This book explains all. If you ever wanted to know how we got to where we are then this is the book to read. A really interesting and informative read. To be recommended.
6 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Positively one of the most important books you must read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2019Verified Purchase
There's so much knowledge and insight in this book. How governments have got so much wrong...people too. A vital learning curve about free speech, race relations and racial tension.
andreas marcusson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well worth a read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2019Verified Purchase
Great very interesting book full of facts and insights. I take one star of becuse it's very focused on the British situation and I was hoping for a more international perspective.
Lifelong learning freelancer
4.0 out of 5 stars
lovely read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2020Verified Purchase
inspiring...
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