CONTACT US   SUBSCRIBE   PREMIUM   ADVERTISING

75F Hi 78F
Lo 68F

Recent Blog Posts

Reader comment on:
The Bertrand Russell of Islam

Submitted by Anthony Steyning, Dec 18, 2007 09:24

I congratulate Mr Weiss for bringing Mr Warraq's writing to our atention. It would have been stunning if Mr Warraq were an Arab. For despite Averroes, the absence of Aristotlean objectivity, truth and unequivocal logic is what still shapes the Islamic world, representing the root cause of its tragic backwardness. No use blaming others and endemic lying nothing more than a form of cowardice: over there nobody ever accountable, for anything...

As for Messrs Said and Ramadan, I never understood the admiration for these complexed, somber, crooked skaters. The Holiday on Ice crowd perhaps a better forum for them. On a good day!

Anthony Steyning


Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.

Other reader comments on this article

Comment By Date

Let me respond first by noting that Said's influential book is indeed deeply flawed, and in Terry Eagleton's apt phrasing,... [MORE]

Shashi Thandra 

Dec 19, 2007 02:50

To quote: "...question of how one avoids ethnocentrism without also collapsing into a toothless cultural relativism that remains mute to... [MORE]

Jerzy Kaltenberg 

Dec 22, 2007 05:14

To argue against you, Mr. Kaltenberg, I hope you won't mind that I quote you quoting me.
"...The argument... [MORE]

Shashi Thandra 

Dec 22, 2007 14:48

heheh -- first you admit that Said is deeply flawed. But then you claim that post-colonial theory which was invented... [MORE]

Mohsen 

Dec 22, 2007 22:59

How is thinking about violence, both epistemic and bodily, a utopian project? And what is the teleology of this project,... [MORE]

Shashi Thandra 

Dec 23, 2007 13:48

You say, "Producing a false picture is precisely "how" the imperial project was accomplished." I thought it was, rather, because,... [MORE]

georgesdelatour 

Dec 23, 2007 18:28

There are several important arguments you bring forward and I would like to address them in the order you make... [MORE]

Shashi Thandra 

Dec 24, 2007 18:59

There are several important arguments you bring forward and I would like to address them in the order you make... [MORE]

Shashi Thandra 

Dec 24, 2007 22:17

personally i've always had difficulty with the distinction, east and west. where does west become east exactly? when did this... [MORE]

rob windsor 

Dec 18, 2007 18:30

Minor quibble, but please note that Asoka was not a Mughal emperor. I doubt if Warraq could have made such... [MORE]

omar ali 

Dec 18, 2007 14:41

The review does not say that Ashoka was a Mughal emperor. Strictly speaking he was not Indian. He was Mauryan. [MORE]

Jim Bonner 

Dec 18, 2007 23:13

""'Orientalism,'" Mr. Warraq writes, "taught an entire generation of Arabs the art of self-pity … encouraged the Islamic fundamentalist generation... [MORE]

Michael Manion 

Dec 18, 2007 12:17

If you knew anything about the Islamic 'Bertrand Russel' by the name of Ibn Warraq, he traces Muslim self-defeatism and... [MORE]

Hamid 

Dec 21, 2007 08:31

Edward Said's comments of course need critiques, so I enjoyed reading this article. Leaving aside my personal opinions, which were... [MORE]

Luther Obrock 

Dec 18, 2007 11:06

I congratulate Mr Weiss for bringing Mr Warraq's writing to our atention. It would have been stunning if Mr Warraq...

Anthony Steyning 

Dec 18, 2007 09:24

The mention of Ashoka as a Mughal emperor gave me a small heart attack. He was a Mauryan emperor, who... [MORE]

Arun Vasudev 

Dec 18, 2007 08:32

Mr. Warraq is correct in many ways. He reveals the truth that Edward Said was an intellectually dishonest analyst of... [MORE]

Roberta E. Dzubow 

Dec 13, 2007 13:10

In my own work I both critique and make use of Said and his thoughts about colonialism.

I cheer at the... [MORE]

Suzanne Oliver 

Dec 18, 2007 10:57

Aren't there non-Western, that is, Asian, victims of Islam? How are Muslims who convert to other religions treated by the... [MORE]

Tony 

Feb 18, 2008 19:12

Nicely written article by someone who knows something (Weiss) reviewing a book by one of the bravest intellectuals alive (Ibn... [MORE]

mhw 

Dec 13, 2007 08:52

Not accurate or focused!

More later.

[MORE]

Allen Tobias 

Dec 12, 2007 21:41

Comment on The Bertrand Russell of Islam

    Before submitting your comment, please provide a valid email address to complete the verification process.

    Fall Education
    A New York Sun Advertorial Section

    NEW YORK ›

    A Surge of Support for the Sun Voiced by Leaders in the City

    19 Columbia Freshmen Jump to the Ivy League From the Armed Forces

    2 Arrested for Running Prostitution Ring

    Community Organizers 'Appalled' by Their Portrayal

    City Teacher Charged With Section 8 Fraud

    More School Construction Is Urged for Manhattan

    NATIONAL ›

    Detroit Mayor To Step Down: 'I Lied Under Oath'

    Tropical Storm Hanna Set To Soak East Coast

    Palin Speech Draws More Than 40 Million Viewers

    Abortion Rights Group Sees 'Discrepancy' in Palin Stance

    Bush To Announce Troop Levels in Iraq Next Week

    Abramoff Sentenced to Four Years in Corruption Scandal

    ARTS+ ›

    This Old House: Godfrey Cheshire's Family History

    Alan Ball Is Looking for Trouble

    Latinbeart 2008: The Heart of Latin America Is Strong

    'Mister Foe': The Boy Who Cried Mother

    'Everybody Wants To Be Italian': Love Is Never Saying ... Anything

    'August Evening': A Repressed Family in the Land of the Free