Peter Suedfeld
SAFS.CA: REVIEW OF FLEMMING ROSE, THE TYRANNY OF SILENCE
“…It is not clear how much of the outrage can be attributed to the mere fact of printing drawings of
Mohammed and how much to perceived insults in the cartoons. Rose analyzes the competing
Muslim positions on depictions of Mohammed. These range from acceptance such depictions
appear in Muslim art to neutrality concerning non Muslims’ activities in this regard, to the fury
of the “grievance fundamentalists” (in Rose’s apt phrase), whose position is that no one
anywhere can be allowed to contravene the strictest interpretation of any Islamic tenet or even
custom. It was this segment of Muslims that produces the murderers, would be murderers,
bombers, and rioters who violently assault any critic of any aspect of Islamic pr
actice. The cases of Theo van Gogh, Salman Rushdie, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali are only the best
known instances of people living in Europe whose words have brought them death or a life under constant threat…”
Read the review
Read more about SAFS
Mohammed and how much to perceived insults in the cartoons. Rose analyzes the competing
Muslim positions on depictions of Mohammed. These range from acceptance such depictions
appear in Muslim art to neutrality concerning non Muslims’ activities in this regard, to the fury
of the “grievance fundamentalists” (in Rose’s apt phrase), whose position is that no one
anywhere can be allowed to contravene the strictest interpretation of any Islamic tenet or even
custom. It was this segment of Muslims that produces the murderers, would be murderers,
bombers, and rioters who violently assault any critic of any aspect of Islamic pr
actice. The cases of Theo van Gogh, Salman Rushdie, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali are only the best
known instances of people living in Europe whose words have brought them death or a life under constant threat…”
Read the review
Read more about SAFS