British author exercises free speech regarding the Koran
Bookworm on Aug 24 2009 at 10:29 am | Filed under: Islam
What we hope is that Sebastian Faulks enjoys a long and healthy life despite having stated his very strong opinion about the Koran:
Best-selling novelist Sebastian Faulks has risked incurring the wrath of Muslims by dismissing the Koran as just ‘the depressive rantings of a schizophrenic’ with ‘no ethical dimension’.
The author of Birdsong and Engleby also claimed that, compared to the Bible, the Islamic holy scripture is ‘barren’.
Faulks, who turned to the Koran while researching his latest novel, said: ‘It’s a depressing book. It really is. It’s just the rantings of a schizophrenic. It’s very one-dimensional, and people talk about the beauty of the Arabic and so on, but the English translation I read was, from a literary point of view, very disappointing.
‘There is also the barrenness of the message,’ he told The Sunday Times. ‘I mean, there are some bits about diet, you know, the equivalent of the Old Testament, which is also crazy.
‘But the great thing about the Old Testament is that it does have these incredible stories. Of the 100 greatest stories ever told, 99 are probably in the Old Testament and the other is in Homer.
‘With the Koran there are no stories. And it has no ethical dimension like the New Testament, no new plan for life. It says ‘the Jews and the Christians were along the right tracks, but actually, they were wrong and I’m right, and if you don’t believe me, tough — you’ll burn for ever’. That’s basically the message of the book.’
I’m much struck by his point about the lack of a story in the Koran. It’s absolutely true that part of the Bible’s continuing relevance lies in the story-line it presents, whether the history of the Jewish people in the Old Testament, or the Rashoman-like presentation of Christ’s life and teachings in the New Testament. The Koran is just Mohammed’s “me me me” — which isn’t helped by the fact that he doesn’t come across as a very nice “me” but, rather a violent, vindictive, self-centered “me.”
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8 Responses to “British author exercises free speech regarding the Koran”
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Yep!
The Bible, whether or not you accept it as fact or fiction, is a history of a people and a faith. Each chapter leading to the next.
All I see in the Koran is ranting and raving.
Faulks, of course, will now be derided as a hater. That’s Civilization today.
2 thoughts.
Many years ago I knew an Arab-American attorney. It was at the time the fatwa against Salman Rushdie was declared. As I had been volunteering with this lawyer on a political asylum case I thought he would be appalled. He wasn’t. He was casual. “Well, the book is really insulting of Islam.” I pressed him and he reluctantly agreed that Rushdie shouldn’t be condemned to death for his thoughts. I learned a lot from this guy and it has helped explain much to me about Middle East affairs. (One day I’ll write about his explanation for justifiable lying under oath). Anyway, he was contemporary, “cool”, and American born, so you can only imagine the thoughts of the non-contemporary, old-world Islamist types in London to this dude. Takes guts these days to exercise your freedom of speech when it criticized Islam or Moslems.
On the flip side, the Swedish newspaper, Aftenbladet, ran a hard-hitting “expose” about how Israeli soldiers “harvested” the organs of dead Palestinians. No sources, just lies. (The Europeans have demonized the IDF so much they would easily believe such a horrible slander). Even though this is truly a modern-day blood-libel against Israel and Jews, overtly anti-semitic, the Swedish government bravely refuses to refute or condemn the article citing “freedom of the press.” After months of rioting against the Danes for their Mohammed cartoons, the Swedes show their moral courage by taking a stand and making up stories about Israeli Jews in the interest of press “freedom”. Sick, cynical and shameful.
The Scots release a mass murder to “show their decency” and the Swedes publish blood libels about Jews. These people deserve their declining birth rates.
If only something worse wasn’t filling the vacuum.
Poor guy. He has already written an apology for offending Moslems- in the Telegraph (UK).
Islam reminds me of some of those weight loss commercials where you can eat everything you want and still get skinny. There is nothing so evil that isn’t allowed so long as Big Mo did it once. Rape, murder and rob? No problem. You can do it all and still go to heaven. It is not so much about the book, which as is pointed out, is nothing….. at best a bad copy of the Bible. No, it is about killing infidels, raping their women, stealing what can be carried and burning the rest…. in the name of God.
I meant to add “a religion of convenience.”
Below a link covering antisemitism in Sweden Oct. 2003.
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2003/oct/28/20031028-083517-4718r/
Lulu…justifiable lying under oath as in ‘taqqiyah’.
Rather makes a trial by jury (of infidels) moot.