The stabbing itself is saddening, shocking and sickening. But what’s even worse are all the supporters. We know bad people exist; stabbings happen all the time. But to see all these religious people saying he deserved it because he wrote a book that ‘insulted’ and caused ‘offense’ to Islam is disgusting and terrifying.
Why is it that when it comes to Islam, the ‘punishment’ for talking out against it is death? Why is the need to control us to stay within the religion so strong? Could it be that this is because the religion itself demands this? If so, how does this cycle of hate against apostates ever end?
I don’t have the answers. The fact this attack on Salman Rushdie happened not in an Islamic state, but in New York, adds realistic fear amongst the ex-Muslim community. I am sadly not surprised by the attack. If anything, I am impressed he managed to keep himself safe for so long. His book is 30 years old! The fact that people don’t let go, they don’t move on, someone who wasn’t even born when the book was released was so offended by it that he stabbed the writer 10 times. Isn’t that crazy?
People often say there are xyz number of Muslims in the world. They use this to argue that so many people cannot believe in something if it isn’t true… certainly, this has been the argument people have used with me. The thing is, these numbers are not accurate. There are just many people who are having to pretend to be Muslims in the world, because of the lack of tolerance from a lot of other religious people.
For me, now more than ever, its important to talk out about this. Because if we don’t, if all ex-Muslims become silent, they win. They get what they want. They silence us into ‘submission’ and give the impression that no one ever has, ever can or ever should question Islam. This is the opposite of what should happen. We should question everything, not blindly believe in what people tell us. Only by questioning it can we bring about change and help people to become more accepting of people like us.
My thoughts are with Salman Rushdie and his family, I hope he can recover from the physical and emotional trauma this attack has bought on him.