Islam: a "peaceful" religion or a dangerous one? For almost two years during the early 1950's I lived and worked in Dakar, Senegal for Texaco, the international oil company, now part of Chevron. (Senegal was then a French colony on the west coast of Africa; it gained its independence in 1960.) Most of that time I lived in a fourth-floor walk-up apartment directly across a narrow street from a mosque. On mornings around 5 AM I would hear the iman calling the faithful to prayer from the minaret, which was at the level of my apartment; at first I was bothered to be awakened at such an hour, but after a while I became used to it.

Each working day during the two-hour midday break, I returned to my apartment, which was just a short walk from the Texaco office, to have lunch (prepared by my houseboy) and take a siesta. But on Friday I had to be particularly careful to take off to my apartment no later than a few minutes before 12 noon. The reason: the street in front of my apartment filled up with worshipers–these men (yes, they were all men–I suppose that any women worshipers went some place else) were so jammed to each other, both on each side and behind and in front and back, that no one could possibly get through this massive sea of bodies. I enjoyed going out on the balcony of my apartment, which was directly over the worshipers, and watching the prayer service.

Prior to my experience in Dakar, I had known very little and not thought very much about Islam. But during my stay there–where 90+ percent of the native population (the black Africans, indigènes in French) were Moslems--I formed an opinion that it was a powerful force for the good. Why? I never saw a drunk indigène nor heard of anyone being on drugs, I never heard of a mugging or any kind of a personal attack, I had no fear of walking anywhere at any time of day or night. The only criminal activity that I ever heard of was petty theft (the only exception being that one of our company cars was stolen, but later recovered). I realize that my thinking was condescending inasmuch as it was based on an assumption that, without the strong influence of Islam, its faithful would have been uncivil and a dangerous population.

But some time ago I did a 180-degree turn from this opinion. I might not admire some particular religion but, at the same time, I would respect the sentiments of those who practice it–for example, I could never adhere to an authoritarian religion such as Roman Catholicism or Orthodox Judaism, but I certainly respect those who do. But now I can’t even respect Islam–at least the way it is practiced in most parts of the Islamic world. How can one respect a religion that
--placed a bounty on the head of Salman Rushdie because his novel The Satanic Verses was mildly disrespectful of Islam,
--let a number of young women die in a night-time fire in a school dormitory in Saudi Arabia because male firemen were not allowed to go in and rescue them nor could the women evacuate the building in nightgowns,
–put a college professor in Iran be on trial for her life because of making comments that were disrespectful of Islam,
–put a woman on trial for her life in Nigeria for alleged adultery,
–incites its more rabid adherents to kill "infidels" by attacking them from the air as during 9/11 or in public conveyances, as in Madrid and London, and to rampage against the recent blasphemous cartoons in Danish and other newspapers,
--forces a dreadful system of laws, the "Sharia", on countries whose populations are mostly Moslem; here there is no separation of religion and state–everyone living in those countries is subject to those laws whatever their religious beliefs.

The Sharia is extremely repressive: women must cover most of their bodies with unattractive clothing when in public, can’t drive automobiles, and are restricted in many other ways; anyone disrespectful of Islam, even in a very minor way, is subject to harsh punishment. It has religious police in public places to force compliance with those laws. I am aware that there are countries with populations largely Islamic which are relatively not so repressive, such as Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, and (I suppose) Senegal. I do respect the people there for their practice of Islam and I also respect those Moslems in the USA who are decent people. But that doesn’t leave me forgiving the brutality of the Sharia in others where it is strongly enforced.

Regarding Salman Rushdie and his The Satanic Verses, I look back on a day in 1989 when I was in London on a business trip and purchased a copy of the book. I had difficulty finding a bookstore that had it in stock but finally did find one. As I was walking with it in public–on a Saturday, when mobs of tourists come in into London on tours from the European continent and other places–I realized that the bag that I was carrying it in was translucent so that anyone could see the title and, thus, posed a danger to me. Therefore, I held it with the front cover against my body and the back cover (which had a picture of Rushdie on it) in my arm in a way that mostly obscured the picture.

As to the recent cartoons in the Danish and other newspapers, I think that the wisdom to print them, knowing the furor that would likely follow, may be debatable, but in no way can the rampaging against them be justified. During the rampages, George Will commented on the ABC Sunday morning talk show that no one can expect to go through life without at some time being offended in some way by somebody. The prime minister of Denmark stated that a few hundred thousand Moslem immigrants living in Denmark had no right to force their views on a country of about 5 million people. I fully agree with these ideas–freedom of expression within reasonable limits certainly exceeds in importance any right to not be offended by satirical treatment of one’s religion. (I would be hypocritical if I were to have any sympathy for the rampaging mobs given my satirical treatment of Christianity, and more specifically Roman Catholicism, in an earlier posting on this blog ("Encounter of Pope John Paul with Saint Peter...")).

I believe that almost nothing or nobody should be exempt from satire, especially religions. The only exception I can think of is satire of human tragedy: I believe that such treatment of victims of the Holocaust, those of the Tsunami, or of any human suffering never would be justified.

The big question is: can the freedoms of a secular and free society and the repressive concepts of fundamental Islam coexist? Samuel Huntington in his The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order doubts that it can. While there may be some reconciliation of the two concepts in the distant future, I fear for a long time there will be intense conflict between them, with the danger of a higher level of armed conflict and terrorist acts.