Islam and Free Speech

Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician and leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), has just-released a film called "Fitna" which, he says , is intended to make clear the dangers contained in the Qur'an and Islam.


There used to be a maxim in Common Law "The greater the truth the greater the libel".
Although this particular guideline is outdated, there is a sense in which the Muslim reaction to perceived slurs against Islam illustrates this dictum. Common sense would indicate that not all sections of society have the same "pain threshold" regarding what they would term as insult; the Jews, in particular, have, quite understandably, been sensitive regarding what they perceive as anti-Semitic rhetoric. And it is only reasonable that in a heterogeneous society such sensitivity should be taken into account.

In spite of the outdated legal maxim referred to above, I would consider that the truth is, indeed, an appropriate yardstick with which to measure slights and insults. Thus the sensitivity exhibited by Jews towards Holocaust denial is not, as some Muslims claim, because the Shoah is one of their Holy Cows; but rather because, irrespective of its horror and magnitude, it is a historic event whose veracity is undeniable.

It is a sad fact that the majority of Muslims, who are far from the extremists portrayed in such films as Geert Wilders' and "Submission" by the late Theo Van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, will suffer from being tarred with the fanatics' brush. But these so-called moderates too must bear some of the criticism for not speaking up against the extreme actions of their co-religionists.

If the result is to empower the moderates within Islam, then that will be all to the good.

But experience leads one to fear that the opposite will be the case.