Sunday, June 22, 2008

VS Naipaul, Winner of 2001 Nobel Prize For Literature Is Also Harshly Critical Of Islam


This morning, Always on Watch posted on Ian McEwan (the author of the novel Atonement, upon which the Academy Award winning movie was based) and his harsh criticisms of Islam.



The novelist VS Naipaul has caused an outcry by comparing the "calamitous effect" of Islam on the world with colonialism. Sir Vidia, born in Trinidad of Indian parentage, who travelled extensively in the Muslim world for his books Among the Believers and Beyond Belief, launched his attack after a reading of his new book, Half a Life, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Islam, he claimed, had both enslaved and attempted to wipe out other cultures.

"It has had a calamitous effect on converted peoples. To be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to stamp on it, you have to say 'my ancestral culture does not exist, it doesn't matter'."

Sir Vidia claimed what he called "this abolition of the self demanded by Muslims was worse than the similar colonial abolition of identity. It is much, much worse in fact... You cannot just say you came out of nothing."

He argued that Pakistan was the living proof of the damage Islam could wreak.

"The story of Pakistan is a terror story actually. It started with a poet who thought that Muslims were so highly evolved that they should have a special place in India for themselves. "This wish to sift countries of unnecessary and irrelevant populations is terrible and this is exactly what happened in Pakistan."


What is it with British authors? Salman Rushdie, VS Naipaul, Martin Amis, and now Ian McEwan all seem to have big huge brass balls, when it comes to speaking the truth about Islam.

Thank God.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pastorius,

Yes your right, we should thank God. Now all we need is an independent film directors with the and loads of cash and the guts of one of these guys!

By the way, I'm Damien, but for some reason, I can't log into my google account, so I am writing this as an "Anonymous user." So if you are going to address me on this, refer to me as Damien, please.

Pastorius said...

Hi Damien,

Imagine what would happen if someone made a movie of one of Naipaul's books.

Pastorius said...

Now that I think about it, someone ought to just make a movie about Mohammed's real life.

Anonymous said...

"Now that I think about it, someone ought to just make a movie about Mohammed's real life."

... and be jailed for child-pornography?

Pastorius said...

Maybe the guys who made Team America could make the movie with puppets.

Anonymous said...

Pastorius,

Why not just make a movie that portrays our Jihadist enemies the way they really are.

Damien

Pastorius said...

Now, there's a thought.

Damien said...

Pastorius,

Wasn't Salmon Rushdie's, the "Satanic
Verses" a novel? What if some independent film director had the guts, and bought the rights to Rushdie's Book and made it into an uncensored movie? Would you want to see that?

Pastorius said...

Have you ever read any of that book? As I recall, it's a bit of a silly fantasy type thing. But, what do I know?

I think Mohammed's life would actually be a good movie, especially if it was told from the perspective of Ali Sina's psychobiography that we posted about yesterday.

What do you think of that?

Damien said...

Pastorius,

I never read it, but I thought it would be wonderful, just because it would make Jihad monsters mad. Plus, think of the symbolism. It would say that despite the death threats, they couldn't shut up one of their critics.

Always On Watch said...

An accurate movie about MTP would be a wonderful development.

But considering what's presently going on with Geert Wilders, what production company will get involved?

Also, wasn't there supposed to be an online video about MTP and the fellow backed out?

Anyway, the more trouble the likes of which popular authors such as Naipul and McKewan have, the better chance that previously uninterested people will take notice of the push for silencing voices.

Pastorius said...

An online video about MTP is a good idea.

Damien said...

What is MTP?

Anonymous said...

Mo the prophet?

heroyalwhyness said...

There IS a film about the life of Muhammad, produced and directed by Moustapha Akkad (died last week). . .originally titled "Mohammad, Messenger of God". . .however, his film is available online as "The Message"
Youtube has the entire film, "The Message" here (2 hours 55 minutes 07)

Posted on youtube 11/11/07 with the note:
Please ignore the first 20 seconds and don't ask!

As a side . . .I learned about this film and it's director in a thread over at GoV titled Islam, The Koran, and “The Mostapha Akkad Paradox”

Pastorius said...

HRW,
If I am not mistaken, that is the Mohammed film which never actually shows Mohammed himself. It only shows the people around him, as if it was told strictly from his viewpoint.

They did this to avoid idolatry. However, assuming that one can portray the Prophets viewpoint is idolatry itself.

heroyalwhyness said...

You are correct Pastorius. In accordance with Muslim beliefs, Muhammad could not be depicted on-screen nor his voice be heard. This rule extended to his [sic]seven wives, his daughters and his sons-in-law. This left Muhammad's uncle Hamza (Anthony Quinn) and his adopted son Zayid (Damien Thomas) as the central characters.

"Finally, when the film was scheduled to premier in the U.S., another Muslim extremist group staged a siege against the Washington D.C. chapter of the B'nai B'rith under the mistaken belief that Anthony Quinn played Mohammed in the film, threatening to blow up the building and its inhabitants unless the film's opening was cancelled. The standoff was resolved without explosion or injuries, though the film's American box office prospects never recovered from the unfortunate controversy." Akkad’s painful experiences with his “brothers in Islam” did not end with the B’nai B’rith tragedy of Washington D.C. Saudi Arabia launched a fierce struggle against Akkad to ban the release of the Arabic version in the Muslim countries.
Then, on November 11, 2005 while attending the wedding reception of his daughter Rima, held at the Hyatt Hotel in Amman-Jordan, Akkad, his daughter, and 58 other guests died in an inferno unleashed by three suicide bombers who walked into the hall and detonated the explosives strapped to their bodies. The mastermind of the operation was Abu Musab Al Zarkawi.

I mis-spoke above, Akkad died months ago . . .I just learned of it last week.

About those wives, there were more than seven:
1.Khadija Bint Khuwailid
2.Sawda Bint Zam`a
3.A´isha Bint Abu Bakr
4.Hafsa Bint `Umar
5.Zainab Bint Khuzaima
6.Ummu Salama
7.Zainab Bint Jahsh
8.Juwairiyya Bint al-Harith
9.Safiyya Bint Huyay
10. Ummu Habiba
11. Maimuna Bint al-Harith


. . .not to mention the assortment of concubines /female slaves, possessions of ol' Mo's right hand or Rayhana, one of the spoils of war from the tribe of the Banu Qurayza.

So much for accuracy in that movie!