Muslims should not seek re-ban on ‘The Satanic Verses’, says civil society group
Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy cited the example of Syed Ahmad Khan, the 19th-century reformer who resisted efforts to ban works critical of Islam.
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Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy, a civil society group, on Monday opposed demands by some Muslim organisations to reinstate a ban on author Salman Rushdie’s controversial book The Satanic Verses.
The group urged Muslims to combat ideas perceived to be offensive with reasoned critique rather than calls for suppression.
In a statement issued on Monday, the group cited the example of Syed Ahmad Khan, the 19th-century reformer who resisted efforts to ban works critical of Islam. In 1861, Khan travelled to London to study the sources used by author William Muir for a disparaging book on Prophet Muhammad. Eight years later, he published a detailed rebuttal of Muir’s claims.
The group emphasised that Khan’s advice remains relevant in today’s India, where Muslims are frequent targets of hate campaigns. Reacting with demands for bans or fatwas, the group said, risks playing into the hands of those seeking to vilify the community and inadvertently boosts the visibility of the criticised material.
“In his [Khan’s] time, he staunchly opposed Muslims who made a bonfire of books they did not like, or demanded its ban by the authorities,” the statement by Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy read. “His advice was simple. Fight words with words if the book in question is worthy of...
