Islamic Fundamentalism Quotes

“In the pragmatist, streetwise climate of advanced postmodern capitalism, with its scepticism of big pictures and grand narratives, its hard-nosed disenchantment with the metaphysical, 'life' is one among a whole series of discredited totalities. We are invited to think small rather than big – ironically, at just the point when some of those out to destroy Western civilization are doing exactly the opposite. In the conflict between Western capitalism and radical Islam, a paucity of belief squares up to an excess of it. The West finds itself faced with a full-blooded metaphysical onslaught at just the historical point that it has, so to speak, philosophically disarmed. As far as belief goes, postmodernism prefers to travel light: it has beliefs, to be sure, but it does not have faith.”
― Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life

“Hitchens saw that the attack on the Satanic Verses was not an isolated occurrence, that across the Muslim world, writers and journalists and artists were being accused of the same crimes: blasphemy, heresy, apostasy, and their modern-day associates, 'insult' and 'offence'. And he intuited that beyond this intellectual assault lay the possibility of an attack on a broader front. He quoted Heine to me: 'Where they burn books, they will afterwards burn people.' hitchens referred to me as an 'uppity wog' before.”
― Salman Rushdie, Languages of Truth: Essays 2003-2020

“I decided long ago that I didn't need the advice of Catholic priests or Wahhabi mullahs on that subject. The child-abuse scandals in the Catholic church, and the authoritarian and even murderous crimes carried out by Wahhabi Islam's most powerful patrons, the Saudi ruling family, would convince me that the ideologies which they adhere to are not the best resources from which to develop and ethical world view.”
― Salman Rushdie, Languages of Truth: Essays 2003-2020

“The one nice aspect of Hindustan is that it is a large country with lots of gold and mone-Babur in the Baburnama”
― Salman Rushdie, Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002

“Babur was more than ordinarily ruthless. He pursued to the limit the concept of Jihad- a total war for the annihilation of his adversaries as prescribed by Islam of which he was a practitioner. He was a product of his age and environment, and that is exactly how we must see him. Whitewashing his blood-soaked record to turn him into a figure of chivalry and prince charming is an exercise in juvenile fantasy. Babur saw ruthlessness as a virtue, and terror as a useful tactical tool. In this he was a true descendant of Timur and Chengiz Khan- both of whom were his ancestors. Guru Nanak's eyewitness account gives a better picture of Babur and his methods than almost any modern history book. The same holds true for the Baburnama: it is a primary source of great importance that goes to demolish romantic tales about him.- NS Rajaram quoted in Rushdie's book.”
― NS Rajaram

“During the short-lived Madurai Sultanate( 1334-1378), there were reports of extreme hardship in the society, Ibn Batuta, an Algerian Arab explorer, documented campaigns against 'idolaters' involving impaling the entire male population and slitting the throats of women and children.”
― Aravindan Neelakandan, A Dharmic Social History of India