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Freedom Liberty and Free Speech

Introduction

Salman Rushdie is a popular author and a creative writer of British Indian origin whose

publications have gained him attention and placed him at the center of controversies over the

years. His famed for the novel, The Satanic Verses which stirred different emotions among the

Muslims worldwide in 1988 up to date (Slaughter & Marty, 155). The novel was met with a lot

of aggression from the Muslims who accused Salman of profanity as they felt offended by the

content of Salman’s novel since it lacked respect for their beliefs and their deity. Ruhollah

Khomeini who was a revolutionist issued a Fatwa in 1989 which ordered Muslims to kill Salman

and this stirred protests and riots among Muslims in the western countries and worldwide.

The Muslims led by their faith and beliefs countered Salman’s novel by engaging in terror

activities such as extra judicial killings and bombings. Salman was placed under protective

custody of the British government and this led to a wreck in the relationship between Iran and

Britain as they couldn’t come to an amicable solution regarding the Salman Controversy. In 1998
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in attempt to salvage peace and diplomacy between Iran and the British government, president

Mohammad Khatami issued a statement that Iran would no longer support or hinder the

assassination attempts on Salman’s life (Slaughter & Marty, 156). This statement split Muslims

from the western countries on the basis culture and as such depicted greatly the freedom of

expression which is considered one of the fundamental values exercised by the westerners. This

value demands that no individual should face death threats as a result of their freedom to speech,

contrary to the popular Muslim belief that no individual should affront or defame the Islamic

religion and their belief in their deity (Slaughter & Marty, 158). This paper therefore aims to

illustrate how freedom of expression and religious liberty are important elements of human rights

and the role they play in politics and literature

Censorship and religious liberty

The modern western societies have overtime advocated for freedom of expression and freedom

of religion among other core values of the society aimed at promoting peaceful co-existence and

corporation (Levy & Leonard, 22). These two freedoms therefore exist in conjunction with each

other where the freedom of religion can only exist as long as people are allowed to freely express

themselves. Rushdie in his Satanic Verses expresses religion as a delusion which can threaten

our freedom: Muslims in the Middle East have a set of rules that forbid against defamation of the

Islamic religion and its practices and thus the notion of freedom of expression is unfamiliar to

such Muslims (Levy & Leonard, 24). This is evident when Rushdie publishes his book and

Ruhollah Khomeini, an Iranian revolutionist issues a Fatwa in in which he orders Muslims to kill

Rushdie and there are strongly driven by the devotion to their faith to achieve this purpose.
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Rushdie is a strong proponent of religious derision and by so doing he aims to empower

individuals with the freedom of expressing their thoughts without the fear of having to atone for

their actions. For instance, during the Charlie Hebdo shooting, he outrightly defended the

satirical newspaper claiming that this mockery has been a strong tool for the opponency against

oppression and even though we ought to respect religion, it is equivalently subject to open

criticism (Levy & Leonard, 26).

Rushdie is also a strong exponent of religious admonition which he has championed for since the

19th century. During this time, he advocated for rectification in the Islamic religion and as such

he stated that the Muslims need to accept amendments in their set of beliefs and change their

ideologies on how their treat matters related to their religion and thus should be open minded and

susceptible to change. Rushdie also outlined how religion can be used to advocate for contention

and enmity (Gauthier & Timothy, 35). Muslims viewed the American and British support of the

Rushdie’s book as a means of waging war against the Muslim religion and the Islamic society at

large because they believed that Rushdie have defamed their religion and needed to be liable for

his crimes by death, contrary to westerners values where an individual should not be prosecuted

for airing out their opinion.

Rushdie criticism of culture and as such he urges that it’s the role and right of everyone to

question the narrative that has been put in place by the society and communities we live in

without fear of whether we will lose our freedom of expression because it is only through

questioning of such stories that change is born, regimes are changed and growth is attained

(Gauthier & Timothy, 35). He further alludes that the Muslims for a very long time have been
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unable to take a fresh look at the basis of Islamic religion and such they devote to their faith

without question.

Censorship is therefore not a commendable practice because by so doing it views art derogatory

and unacceptable. Artist should therefore be able to practice their art without having to look over

their shoulder whether the law will persecute them for their ideology (Fischer & Michael, 110).

Art in its nature is therefore meant to question authority, unravel moral beliefs and assumption

and solve mysteries as Rushdie attempts to explain in his novel and religious liberty should not

be used as a provocative tool to limit against practice of art and freedom of expression

How religious liberty and censorship bridges politics and literature

Rushdie’s novel portrayed that religion can result in political and social strife which is depicted

clearly when The Iranian and British Government are unable to come to a diplomatic agreement

concerning the Rushdie controversy and as such, they fell out politically. This happened after the

Muslims retaliated following the publication of the novel, The Satanic Verses and their

fundamentalism has ever since been viewed as a political threat as it advocates for violence. The

Iranian Government might also have perceived this novel as a plot against the Islamic society

(Fischer & Michael, 118).

Rushdie’s novel also portrayed religion as an important element in promoting Unity. This is seen

when the Islamic society are joint by a common belief in their faith after a fatwa was issued on

Rushdie’s life with the claims that he had blasphemed the Muslim religion. The Christian

counterpart on the other hand united in defense of Rushdie since their set of beliefs did not align

with that of the Muslims that demanded death as means of retribution (Fischer & Michael, 120).
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Rushdie’s novel also portrayed religion as having played a major contributing to the freedom of

expression as can be seen when almost the entire world stands up to defend Rushdie and speak

against the adverse Islamic counter measures. The artists, writers and even journalists have felt a

sense of security in being able to express their ideas without holding back because they believe

on the societal moral values to play jury between the good and bad (Jansen, Sue & Brian, 10).

This has seen advance development in the literature industry as more publications have been

produced over years and even bodies sworn to protect and defend these artists have emerged.

Conclusion

. In conclusion, I can state that we are only free when are confident of our freedom without

having to worry about the consequences of the choices that we make as a result of the freedom

we are entitled to. Salman Rushdie through his magical realism, literature artwork and thematic

subjected over the years influenced the religious liberty by addressing fallacy associated with

religion and has such played an important role in emancipating the masses. Therefore, religious

liberty and censorship are indeed important bridges in politics and literature.
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Work cited

Fischer, Michael MJ. "Bombay Talkies, the Word and the World: Salman Rushdie's Satanic

Verses." Cultural Anthropology (2016): 107-159.

Gauthier, Timothy. Narrative Desire and Historical Reparations: AS Byatt, Ian McEwan, and

Salman Rushdie. Routledge, (2017).

Jansen, Sue Curry, and Brian Martin. "Making censorship backfire." Counterpoise 7.3 (2017): 5-

15.

Levy, Leonard Williams. Blasphemy: Verbal offense against the sacred, from Moses to Salman

Rushdie. UNC Press Books, (2015).

Slaughter, Marty M. "The Salman Rushdie affair: Apostasy, honor, and freedom of

speech." Virginia Law Review (2015): 153-204.