http://www.stanfordreview.org/Archive/Volume_XXXVII/Issue_4/News/news2.shtml
Presidential Lecturer Discusses Western Critique of Islam On October 10, the Presidential Lecture Series-an annual sequence of speeches, panels, and discussions-kicked-off with "Thinking about Blasphemy and Secular Criticism," a talk by anthropologist Talal Asad. Asad is a Distinguished Professor at City University of New York and part of a new school of anthropologists who look not only at populations, but how those populations are studied and viewed in the rest of the world. The lecture was attended by about 150 people and a follow-up discussion the next day drew about 25. A recurring argument throughout Asad's talk was the assertion that blasphemy is a wholly Western conception used to critique Islam. Arabs, Asad said, rarely use the direct translation of blasphemy. Instead, they use a word which, translated into English, means "insult," implying that Arabs view the offense in a secular, not religious, way. Asad said, and many in the audience agreed with him, that the charge of blasphemy is a tool the West uses to interpret Islam. "I particularly like [that Asad showed] blasphemy as a topic from the West to pass judgment on Islamic culture," said Elif Babul, a graduate student who attended the lecture and discussion. Asad used the Danish cartoon affair as an example of this point. Earlier this year, Muslims throughout the world objected to the publication of twelve cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad; such depictions are banned in Islam. In one particularly inflammatory cartoon, Muhammad was shown wearing a bomb as a turban. While the worldwide Muslim reaction included various forms of protest, Muslims in the Middle East rioted, burning two embassies and two consulates. Al-Jazeera reported as many as 180 dead in the violence. Many in the Western media defended the Danish paper, saying that a newspaper should not censor itself and thereby restrict its own freedom of speech. During the talk, Asad said that the Western media tried to paint the riots as part of the War on Terror by framing "an entire population as a danger." According to Asad, the West, not the Muslim protestors, used the word "blasphemy" to describe the reasons for the uproar. To Muslims, the cartoons were not blasphemous, just an insult to their religion. Asad, however, did not address how the Western media is supposed to differentiate between offense caused by blasphemy or by insult. Nor did he address the ways in which the Western media should respond differently to each type of rioting. In short, Asad provided little information about how such cultural misunderstandings are to be overcome. Asad contrasted the Danish cartoon episode with a little known affair in which another European newspaper printed an anti-Semitic depiction of the Star of David. There was condemnation from European media and, unlike the Danish situation, the cover was not reprinted. Asad did not mention that in the brief protest over the anti-Semitic newspaper no embassies were burned. The two events, Asad said, spoke to modern insensitivity in which different religions are held to different standards. He did not say whether the divergent responses to the two situations contributed to this double standard, nor whether more subdued, less violent reactions on the part of Muslim protestors might erase that standard. Another issue that came up during the question-and-answer segment was Pope Benedict's recent remark that religion should not be spread by violence. Pope Benedict quoted a 14th century emperor who remarked that Muslims were spreading their faith with the sword. In response to this accusation of aggression, more rioting took place in the Middle East, during which the Pope was burned in effigy and a Catholic nun in Somalia was murdered. Asad commented that Benedict could not have made the inflammatory remarks accidentally. Benedict "could only have political motives; what they were I don't know," Asad said. There was a definite liberal slant to the lecture and discussion. Asad mentioned at the beginning of his lecture that anthropologists must be able to "distance themselves from their own culture" in order to be accurate. Yet many of his points seemed slanted from cultural and political biases. During the question about Pope Benedict XVI, for example, Asad started off his answer by referring to him as Cardinal Ratzinger-the Pope's name and title before his election to the papacy. Then, the audience member who asked the question said, "You mean Inquisitor Ratzinger," a reference to the medieval persecutions of non-Catholics, involving public burnings, torture, and executions. Asad and much of the audience laughed at the reference. Asad also mentioned the War on Terror twice and said that it was an effort to make the entire Muslim population appear as a threat to Western ideals. While making this charge of over-generalization, Asad ironically ignored the fact that the War on Terror focuses on the slim portion of the Muslim population whose extremist views threaten liberty throughout the world. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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