at times they do but more than that I think these writers simply reflect the thoughts of the modern educated muslim who can question the interpretations of islam.

Yes, their writings are blasphemous and against the feelings of a large population. If people have personal views that are unlikely to be accepted by a large population then they should not be allowed to circulate them. Those who understand the word are not much affected, but many may make an introduction to a particular culture by means of their writing and form an opinion. As it goes, the first impression is the most lasting. Secondly, they are a fuel for firing up sentiments in even the most docile, i like such people because they are useful to me.

Whoever has tried to question has been tagged as blasphemous writers…does that mean Islam cannot stand ppl who question its credibility?

Milton was a strict Puritan. Yet he advocated the freedom to choose between texts in his famed Areopagitica. The Holy Quran starts with the word IQRA, which means to read, to know...there is sin in the world...like that there are sinful words in the world...why should that impact any faith? If one hates a book, let it not be read...it is weakness to think that God’s voice can in any way be stained by human words. Moreover, whenever somebody is hounded for blasphemy, the sales of the books go up.
Instead of focussing on what humans are writing let Muslims read the Word of God. Jugde not etc...if u get the drift of what i am saying...

YES, they do...but I don’t agree that they can be tagged as ’blasphemous’ just for voicing their opinions...

Most of such writers, only present a mirror to their community and age, which is important indeed! Just for this sake, their work cannot be tagged as ’Blasphemous’.

Most of such writers usually face the wrath of the people concerned, but if they can impact the thoughts of the community in any way, that is great indeed...however, it should be taken care that those who write don’t jump on to conclusions but let the reader speculate and come to a conclusion themselves...

Questioning is not an issue, it’s all about one’s ideas, thoughts that are subject-matter of debate here. Of course, their written work is highly blasphemous. Not very old story, just a couple of months back, when she was attacked by activists of Majlis Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM) in Hyderabad at the time of launching of Telugu translated version of her new book ‘Shodh’, is recent example. No doubt, this could be a political stunt, but she has been wandering here n there in search of shelter, why?

Blasphemous is a term, I think, coined for those who have no sense of what is good or bad in religion. And the writers who write against any religion are not worth blaming, as everyone has the right to express his/her thoughts. Question here, of course, is of faith, and if it can easily be shaken, then who is to blame – the writer or the skeptic? This is where the crux of the matter lies. So, blasphemous is not the person who provokes, but the one who alters. Finally, I fell on the road not because the peel of banana was there, but because I put my foot on it? And again, the question is who to blame?

Maybe a little, but such books are necessary. One can hope that it will teach the unthinking orthodoxy in Islam to ponder over their state of affairs. Then perhaps will come the spirit of accommodation in the religion, which has been usurped by the Wahabbis today.

Altering Islamic thought??? That is impossible to happen so long as the muslims depend on the book for all solutions. For all one knows they may be looking for solutions in the book for IT related problems too...
Islamic thought will never alter writings or not. They are so thick headed that they are not willing to re-think on the relevance of their practices in modern contexts... with advancement in science and technologies, they have moved from camel carts to modern cars but in their heads they still remain camel jockeys in flappy pyjamas... and brains in their knees... not in their heads...

No, but nobody has clarified that whose Islamic thought are we talking about here. Even if it is public at large then still answer is no.

We should never forget that we are living in a world where there are more than countable religions. Everybody has permission to have his/her thinking about spirituality.

And it is an irony that Islam has been taken as a particular example when we are talking in a general ’secular’ manner. If we are not, then I should like to bring into kind notice that M.F. Hussain, a muslim painter, had to leave his homeland, India, in fear of his life cause he painted a painting,which was not acceptable to a particular community and that was not Islamic. Even today the ’democratic’ leaders of our country has not tried to ratify their mistake.

And the argument is specious that all authors who have questioned tenants of Islam have been persecuted. Come on, in this world there is good amount of literature available questioning even the presence of god, have they all been persecuted? Please don’t tell me that you believe questioning god and islam is totally different matter.

Giving examples that a particular book caused furor is like seeing with a telescope just two feet away; you don’t see anything.
Da Vincci Code was not taken down easily by many Christians, a book on Shivaji was not taken down easily by many Maharastrians, a scientfic fact proving that Ram Sethu is a creation of fiction never went down , it only caused furor and great trouble for general public, few of whom also died because road blocks took away from them the right to medicine.

Islamic thought does not change and doesn’t have to. It has been noble all through and the criticism is basically against the practices and not the ‘word’. Religious tents suffer infamy because of miscommunication and not because of their inherent defects. Human understanding of the noble word has always been deficient. So, blasphemous writers do not affect the ‘Islamic thought’, what they might manage to affect is ‘Islamists’ thinking’ by inspiring a reaction. Tolerance is the foremost tenet of all religions including Islam. Blasphemy does not reach religion or God but it does reach and hurt the religious. So, it affects them. So, Islamic thought so long as it remains Islamic is beyond change or damage.

The followers of Islam have learned violence and Massacre from the very one for which they are showing so much respect today. If Islam is their faith then why they fear any questions about it. FAITH.....means a state of complete doubtlessness.

The very thing they did with Taslima proves what they were following all through their lives.

Yes they..do impact their doubtfully faith ..

Otherwise so much bloodshed would not have been there. But why? A human is trying to protect God. Whats the need. Don’t these fools understand that he doesn’t need human security guards.

Islam didn’t itself come to punish these writers, but human. even a step ahead from truth.

an apple is apple. If anyone says its orange then whats the difference. All the qualities remains the same.Let the truth go through verification. why fear.

It’s not about protecting Islam, but the long preached words that people are following with all their senses closed. Now, if someone questions that and poses a threat to prove it useless then how could anyone accept that they were fools and had no courage or intellect to do similar thing, which now these so called ’Blasphemous’ writers are doing. So better not to let their words come out. otherwise everybody will have to accept that they were fools. a painful truth.So much painful that the aggression is there as a big defense.Kill them. throw them away. that means they have some gust in their words.

Islam clerics are very hard to any rational opinions, and sometimes people do take advantage of this fundamentalist thinking, for eg. Rushdie’s “Moor’s last sigh” was far better literature than his best seller Satanic verses, but nevertheless not many people even know the name leave alone reading the book.

Same was the case with Danish cartoonists. Those cartoons were far from being funny and were actually insulting. I am sure there are more famous now than any cartoon ever published in New Yorker till date.

Now back to the question, ‘blasphemous’ writers DOES impact Islamic thought. Fundamentalists gets more aggressive and find new reasons to shout and protest.

And further publicists gets more attention from people who have Islam-o-phobia.