www.newsandletters.org
|
|
NEWS & LETTERS, December 2002
Our Life and Times
Nigerian rampage
The retrogressive nature of our era is shown in the fact
that the most dramatic opposition to the Miss World contest in Nigeria this year
came not from feminists, but from religious fanatics opposed to any display of
the female body. This occurred in Kaduna, Nigeria. Some Muslim residents of
that city, fired up by their imams, went on a rampage, burning three Christian
churches and killing dozens of non-Muslim civilians. By the time Christian mobs
had retaliated by burning a mosque and killing Muslim civilians, the total death
toll was 200, with thousands more wounded or driven from their homes. What was the great offense that caused such carnage? Isioma
Daniel, a fashion reporter from predominantly Christian southern Nigeria, had
written an article ridiculing Muslim claims that the Miss World contest was an
affront to their religion. Referring to Muhammad's several wives, she suggested
that, were he around today, he might have picked one from among the contestants.
This "insult" to the Prophet was what sparked the
rioting. After the smoke cleared, far from apologizing for the violence, a group
of Muslim clerics went on to pronounce a "fatwa." They called upon
Muslims to kill Daniel, whom they termed a "blasphemer" and
"another Salman Rushdie." She has had to flee the country. The noted writer Salman Rushdie, for many years under a similar fatwa from Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, responded: "A couple of months ago I said that I detested the sloganization of my name by Islamists around the world. I'm beginning to rethink that position. Maybe it's not so bad to be a Rushdie among other 'Rushdies'.... If the moderate voices of Islam cannot or will not insist on the modernization of their culture--and of their faith as well--then it may be these so-called 'Rushdies' have to do it for them" (NEW YORK TIMES, Nov. 27). |
|
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search Published by News and Letters Committees |
