In a recent video posted on Facebook, a taxi driver for ADT in Leicester appears to refuse service to a guide dog owner citing his religion as the reason. The driver then pulls away, leaving the disabled man stranded when he protests at being told he will have to wait for another car.
Joining me on this week’s #GSPodcast is Journalist and Author Asra Nomani(@AsraNomani). I’ll be asking how Islam allows for Asra’s liberal interpretation as well as discussing the reform movement. We delve into the current state of digital journalism and Asra’s infamous confrontation with Nathan Lean. Also, we’ll hear about the ‘honor brigade’ and #MyMuslimReform.
I recently set my sights on Max Fisher over at VOX for stoking religious and racial tensions with his piece on three murdered ‘Muslims’. Not to mention his completely unfounded claims that Craig Hicks ‘expressed a paranoid hatred of religion’. Where did he express this? When?
Since publication, it turns out that one of the three murdered Muslims was actually a Christian and the police have also ruled out the possibility of a hate crime. I’ve yet to hear a response from Max Fisher or VOX about this, or learn of a correction being made to the false information they are currently spreading.
Even as a staunch critic of Islam, I think it’s irresponsible and foolish to assume everything a Muslim does is because they are a Muslim. Likewise, I would hope that others are also able to understand that not everything that happens to a Muslim is because they are a Muslim either. I’d rather wait on the facts than blow a trumpet in a concerto of uniformed noise.
This week on Taking The Myth, Stephen Knight and A Scotsman Abroad discuss the big topics. We talk about: Episode 77 of The #GSPodcast, The Catholic Church refusing to make reporting abusers mandatory, Sam Harris Vs. Maryam Namazie on The Waking Up Podcast and Salman Rushdie’s fatwa. Also, Nathan Lean is definitely a coward, but is he a Muslim? And of course, The ASLAN Awards and more!
Nathan Lean is an American author who has been dining out on the popularity afforded to the meaningless term ‘Islamophobia’ for several years now after releasing his book ‘The Islamophobia Industry’.
Lean essentially caricatures the discussion on Islamism as ‘Muslims Vs. Racists’ at every opportunity. There’s one massively inconvenient obstacle to his narrative however: non-white Muslim reformers and ex-Muslims. They too have noticed that not all is well within the Muslim world and that there are a number of things in Islamic orthodoxy that are deserving of criticism and challenge.
These courageous voices risk everything in defence of liberal principles. Rather than engage with the arguments of reformers, Nathan Lean opts for smear campaigns and derogatory labelling instead – once referring to Maajid Nawaz as a ‘Muslim Validator’ and ‘Lapdog’.
Asra Nomani is a Muslim reformer and staunch liberal. She took it upon herself to publically hold Lean to account for his behaviour, which you can watch below:
Remarkably, Nathan Lean isn’t particularly keen to answer questions about the things he’s said and done. One thing struck me as particularly interesting though. Is Nathan Lean a Muslim?
This has never occurred to me before as I don’t tend to care about peoples’ personal beliefs. However, this question is entirely justifiable given Nathan enjoys the presumption of impartiality from his readers, both professionally and publicly when he writes about Islam. Will Nathan declare his interests?
Stephen Knight is host of The #GSPodcast. You can listen to The Godless Spellchecker Podcast here, and support it by becoming a patron here.