THE WORD OF GOD

totally fabricated. He has misconstrued the events that are described in Chapter 53, Verse 19 of the Quran. He has relied on those words as being part of the Quran which are in fact, not; they are misreported by some non-believers. Also, he has referred to the existence of harems and the Prophet having many wives as the existence of brothels. In Islam it is accepted practice to have more than one wife, he could have referred to the fact as polygamy or even harems, but to call them brothels is wrong and offensive. It has a negative connotation which the other words do not have. Do you think that it was right of Muslims to take issue with Mr. Rushdie’s appearance, even by video conference? Islamic law does not recognize violent protest; the word itself does not exist. In terms of democracy, the protesters may have been right; but not in terms of Islam. I do think Salman Rushdie abused his right to expression in the book, but Islam recognizes the right to disseminate your ideas; if one expresses one’s ideas in a completely peaceful manner. Islam does not require that the author should take into consideration the sentiments of his audience, but Salman Rushdie has misquoted history, which he has no right to do. Muslims needed to protest peacefully, counter argument with argument. How the government handled the issue? Do you think the Muslim community has been given a fair hearing in all this? I do not blame the government of India. Those who say that there is discrimination against how Muslim protests are dealt with and how protests by other communities are dealt with are wrong. There is no discrimination against Muslims. Please send your questions to askmaulana@thespiritofislam.org