I’ve been sitting on this link for a while, an Independent piece by Andy Martin on his interview of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She’s someone I’ve kept at arm’s length through the whole recent Islamophobia period – care is needed when unpicking the political correctness of anti-Islam / Islamism rhetoric and campaigns. Islam has a problem or two, but the extremes of nothing-to-do-with / all-to-do-with are equally unhelpful I find.
I rejected getting to know a little more about her back when drawing cartoons of Allah / Mohammed was the cause-célèbre. I’m all for freedom of thought and expression, and actions simply to claim that right in reaction to religious dogma, but beyond that not all expression is always appropriate or necessarily responsible. However, as ever with Andy Martin’s writing, he provides a great lead-in to her story and her thinking, with plenty of links to further philosophical avenues.
Ever topical, as I said recently, trust is one thing in short supply these days:
“I trust you,” she said, and smiled.
I appreciate that.
And the feeling is reciprocated.
Maybe that is the fundamental problem with all religions.
They don’t trust humans enough.
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[Post Note : An up to date piece on the problem of finding the middle-ground between all or nothing when it comes to Islam, from Ali Rizvi “the atheist Muslim”:
… those on the left and right of the political spectrum are unable to distinguish between “Islamic ideology and Muslim identity”, preventing honest conversations about the link between religion and terrorism.
….]