{"id":1611,"date":"2002-09-20T01:05:10","date_gmt":"2002-09-20T06:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1611"},"modified":"2002-09-20T01:05:10","modified_gmt":"2002-09-20T06:05:10","slug":"french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/","title":{"rendered":": French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

For a country that gave us Jean-Paul Sartre, the Moulin Rouge, and the head of Marie Antoinette, criticizing a religion might not seem like much of an offence. But comments made this month by French novelist Michel Houellebecq have resulted in a scene many Europeans are likening to the worst of Middle Eastern dictatorships \u2013 a possible prison sentence<\/a> for insulting Islam. The furor began when the prize-winning author said he thought Islam was \u201cthe stupidest religion<\/a>\u201d and called the Qur\u2019an, as well as the holy books of Christianity and Judaism, \u201ctexts of hate.\u201d France\u2019s Human Rights League joined four Muslim groups on Tuesday (the Paris and Lyon mosques, the World Islamic League, and the National Federation of Muslims in France) to file the lawsuit, saying Houellebecq\u2019s comments amounted to \u201cIslamophobia.\u201d Dalil Boubakeur, of the Paris Mosque, adds: \u201cFreedom of expression stops where it can do harm\u2026I believe my community is humiliated, my religion is insulted, I ask for justice.\u201d Houllebecq, who won the Impac literary prize<\/a> for \u201cAtomised\u201d (which the New York Times nonetheless called \u201coddly juvenile\u201d), disagreed. \u201cI do not see how criticizing a religion in an acerbic manner involves them as people,\u201d he said. Houellebecq has found support in many of France\u2019s far-right political parties, members of which were kicked out<\/a> of courtrooms for wearing anti-Islamic t-shirts and other disruptions. Losing this case may mean up to a year in jail and a 51,000 dollar (er\u2026 Euro) fine.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.\u00a0 He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Michel Houellebecq let it be known that he thought Islam was “the stupidest religion,” he thought being a Frenchman in France would protect him. He was wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":531,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"\n: French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Michel Houellebecq let it be known that he thought Islam was "the stupidest religion," he thought being a Frenchman in France would protect him. He was wrong.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\": French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Michel Houellebecq let it be known that he thought Islam was "the stupidest religion," he thought being a Frenchman in France would protect him. He was wrong.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-09-20T06:05:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/houellebecq_a.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/\",\"name\":\": French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2002-09-20T06:05:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2002-09-20T06:05:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\"},\"description\":\"When Michel Houellebecq let it be known that he thought Islam was \\\"the stupidest religion,\\\" he thought being a Frenchman in France would protect him. He was wrong.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\": French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\",\"name\":\"zahedamanullah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"zahedamanullah\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/zahedamanullah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":": French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments","description":"When Michel Houellebecq let it be known that he thought Islam was \"the stupidest religion,\" he thought being a Frenchman in France would protect him. He was wrong.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":": French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments","og_description":"When Michel Houellebecq let it be known that he thought Islam was \"the stupidest religion,\" he thought being a Frenchman in France would protect him. He was wrong.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2002-09-20T06:05:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/houellebecq_a.jpg"}],"author":"zahedamanullah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"zahedamanullah","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/","name":": French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2002-09-20T06:05:10+00:00","dateModified":"2002-09-20T06:05:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba"},"description":"When Michel Houellebecq let it be known that he thought Islam was \"the stupidest religion,\" he thought being a Frenchman in France would protect him. He was wrong.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/french_author_on_trial_for_anti_islam_comments\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":": French Author On Trial For Anti-Islam Comments"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba","name":"zahedamanullah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"zahedamanullah"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/zahedamanullah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}