Category Archives Slavery

Jane Austen and Slavery by Ibn Warraq From New English Review, July 2007. Edward Said’s most egregious misreading of a literary work concerns Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park [1814]. Even before mangling Austen, Edward Said was responsible for having created an atmosphere of hostility and prejudice against the West and Western culture—from painting to literature. In […]

Democracy in a Cartoon
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Democracy in a Cartoon Der Spiegel On Line.February 03, 2006 [ http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,398853,00.html ] [On the Danish Cartoons Controversy] The great British philosopher John Stuart Mill [1806-1873] wrote in On Liberty, “Strange it is that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free discussion, but object to their being ‘pushed to an extreme’; not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case.” The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a mocking light raise the classic question of freedom of expression. Are we in the West
How To Argue With A Muslim: “Out Of Context” by Ibn Warraq
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How To Argue With A Muslim: “Out Of Context” by Ibn Warraq It is quite common to hear two arguments from Muslims and apologists of Islam, the language argument, and that old standby of crooked, lying politicians, “you have quoted out of context.” Let us look at the language argument first. You are asked aggressively, ‘do you know Arabic?’ Then you are told triumphantly, ‘You have to read it in the original Arabic to understand it fully’. Christians, even Western freethinkers and atheists are usually reduced to sullen silence with these Muslim tactics; they indeed become rather coy and self-defensive
Islam, Middle East and Fascism by Ibn Warraq
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Islam, Middle East and Fascism by Ibn Warraq From New English Review. In a speech that he gave at Columbia University, Umberto Eco spelled out fourteen features that he considered were typical of Eternal Fascism (which he also calls Ur-Fascism ); adding however this explanatory detail: ” These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.” Umberto Eco: [1] The Cult of Tradition. “Truth has already
Virgins ? What Virgins? Ibn Warraq
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Virgins ? What Virgins? Ibn Warraq After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Richard Dawkins urged me to take a more active role in discussions of Islam. He suggested that I submit articles to the London Guardian since he had already contacted his friend Annalena McAfee, editor of The Guardian’s literary supplement. The present article was my second for the Guardian, and appeared on January 12, 2002. It attracted the attention of freelance journalist and author Alexander Stille, who telephoned me several times, and to whom I gave out the contact information of the scholars discussed in my article.