Criticizing Islam May Be Hazardousto Your Health
declared, "We will show loud and clear that freedom of speech is important
to us.'
Eight weeks earlier, van Gogh's filmSubmissionhad aired on Dutch TV.
The brainchild of an ex-Muslim member of the Dutch parliament, Ayaan
Hirsi Ali,Submissiondecried the mistreatment of Muslim women, featur-
ing imag es of batte red women weari ng tran spar ent robe s that expos ed
their breasts, with verses from the Qur'an written on their bodies.
Insul ting? In poor taste? That was proba bly the intent ion. Van Gogh,
the great-grandson of Vincent van Gogh's brother ("dear Theo"), was a
well-knownand controver sial gadfly on the Dutch scene; in the past, he
had attac ked Jews and Chris tian s with enou gh vehem ence to elici t for-
mal complaints, But afterSubmission,the death threats started to come.
Van Gogh, in the eyes of many Dutch Muslims, had blasphemed Islam—
an off ens e tha t bro ught the deat h pena lty. The fil mmak er was unc on-
cerned, The film itself, he said, was "the best protectionIcould have. It's
not something I worry about.'
Van Gogh was nut the first
Van Gog h's dea th sho ws tha t eve ryo ne who val ues fre edo m sho uld
worry because murder committ ed by a Muslim enrage d at "blasp hemy"
is not new. Noris it arelic of the distantpast.In 1947, Islamic radicals
murdered Iranian lawyer Ahmad Kasravi in court; Kasravi was there to
defe nd himse lf agai nstchar ges that he had attac ked Isla m. Four years
lat er, memb ers of the sam e rad ica l Mus lim gro up, Fad aya n-e Isl am,
assa ssin ated Irani an prime mini ster Haji-Ali Razma ra after agrou p of
Musl im cler ics issu ed a fatw a calli ng for his deat h. In 1992, Egypt ian
write r Faraj Foda was murde red by Musl ims enra ged at his "apo stas y"
from Islam—another offense for which traditional Islamic law prescribes
the deat h pena lty, Foda 's count ryma n, the Nobel Prize–winni ng novel-
ist Naguib Mahfouz, was stabbed in 1994 after accusations of blasphemy.