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From: sadeghi@oxy.edu (Behnam Sadeghi)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: Biblical corruption - where is the evidence?
Message-ID: <7715@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 5 Feb 90 20:32:44 GMT
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Approved: sadeghi@oxy.edu


 bakken@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Bakken) Writes:

>I think we all can have misconceptions from time to time, and one of the
>really good things about the net is that it is a place where these
>misconceptions may be challenged and corrected.  But in this particular
>case I don't think I have a misconception.  While I can't claim direct
>statistical knowledge of how Muslims react to someone challenging Qur'anic
>validity, I do believe that in general Muslims definitely react more
>strongly than followers of other religions when someone insults or
>challenges their religion.  The recent events that contrast this were
>the releases of "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Satanic Verses".
>There were Muslims all over calling for the death of Rushdie.	And not just
>uneducated peasants in a third world country.	I was listening to a talk
>show here about the book and a Muslim woman called in and said that he
>should die (her english was pretty good, so I assume she had been exposed
>to western tolerance some, no matter where she originally came from).
>And I read that Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) also called for Rushdie's
>death from London (he has done some of my favorite songs, including
>"Morning Has Broken".	His death call made me sad since his great
>sensitivity, as evidenced by his songs, didn't translate into tolernace).

	   The American media did much to create the impression that
	   you have by giving a amazing amount of coverage to those
	   Moslems who did agree with the late Imam Khomeini's
	   decree and ignoring all others.  Let me give you some
	   examples.  In Shi'i Islam the highest religious rank is
	   "ayatollah ozma" (Grand Ayatollah).	At the time of the
	   Rushdie Hoopla there were six ayatollah ozmas.  Imam
	   Khomeini was the only ayatollah ozma who gave the decree.
	   When some of the other ayatollah ozmas were interviewed, they
	   said that since they hadn't read the book they had nothing
	   to say about it.  The only ayatollah ozma who said
	   anything that could be interpreted as supporting Imam
	   Khomeini was Montazeri.  He praised Imam Khomeini's "firm
	   stance" against the West, but never explicitly supported
	   the death decree.

	   The fact is that many supporters of Imam Khomeini
	   disagreed with the decree.  For example, the Moslem
	   Students Association at UCLA 's periodical had expressed
	   support for the Islamic Revolution of Iran and Imam
	   Khomeini during the 10th anniversary of Revolution, only a
	   short while before the Rushdie affair.  But during the
	   Rushdie affair they expressed disagreement with the
	   decree.

>Contrast this with the "Last Temptation of Christ".  I think it was
>at least as offensive to Christians as Rushdie's work was to Muslims
>(indeed, I think it was more offensive, at least much more lengthy and
>graphic, from what I've been told).  Christians were calling for
>movie theaters not to show the movie as a matter of good taste, but
>few if any even questioned the right of the film to be produced.
>The director became a celebrity of sorts with the media and was on a
>lot of talk shows.  Do you think Rushdie was invited to tell his side
>of the story in any Muslim countries (not that the US is a Christian
>country)?

	   I haven't seen the movie myself, but I have read several
	   reviews about it.  I understand that:

	   1) It did _not_ portray Jesus Christ as an impostor and a
	      liar.
	   2) It expressed the view that Jesus, like all other human
	      beings, was subject to temptation into sin: BUT,
	      according to the film, JESUS OVERCAME THE TEMPTATION.
	   3) It didn't use abusive language (such as calling St.
	      Mary --God forgive me-- a prostitute, or calling the
	      Christ's closests companions such as Paul, Mark, etc.
	      such epithets as "bum" or "monsterous"

	   I could understand how Christians could feel offended by
	   the film and sympathize with them.  But I don't think the
	   film was as offending as Rushdie's book.

	   Another point is that no Christian was murdered during the
	   protests over the movie.  However, many Moslems were killed
	   in India and Pakistan.  Imam Khomeini's statement came
	   _only_ after these deaths, although the book had already
	   been out for months.

>Dave Bakken				 Internet:  bakken@cs.arizona.edu
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