A Question Of Priorities

Labour peer Lord Ahmad, Iranian ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz, MCB secretary-general Muhammad Abdul Bari and professional grievance-holder Anjem Choudary are among millions of muslims complaining about the award of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie because of his offence against islam.

So what has Sir Salman done? There's plenty to choose from. Did he start the civil wars that are tearing Iraq and Afghanistan to pieces and slaughtering their people? Did he spark the Hamas uprising that is destroying the hopes for a Palestinian state? Did he encourage the disastrous policies that are crippling the Iranian economy? Did he devise the education system that stunts the intellect of so many children in islamic countries? Was he responsible for the headscarf bans in France, Germany and Turkey? Was he the driving force behind the burning of mosques in Holland?

No.

A fictional character, in one of his novels, thought something bad about the prophet Muhammad in a dream.

Shaukat, Muhammad, Anjem and both Ahmads: Islam has problems far more serious than a couple of lines in a not very good book; one of these is the widespread perception of it as an intolerant and violent religion. Get a grip on reality, you pig-ignorant, spiteful, bigoted, superstitious medieval bastards.