Freedom of Speech and Islam

Erich Kolig is a former Senior Lecturer (Reader) in Social Anthropology at Otago University and Visiting Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Vienna University. He was also a Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia and a government anthropologist in Western Australia. Erich has done fieldwork in Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Indonesia, New Zealand and Vanuatu. He has published several books (authored and edited) and many articles on Australian Aboriginal culture and religion, on indigenous politics in New Zealand, Vanuatu and Australia, on the historical exploration in New Zealand, and in more recent years on Muslims and Islam in New Zealand, radical Islam in Indonesia, Islamic law in Western liberal democracy and several other topics.

• Foreword by Rex Ahdar 1 Introduction: This Book, Its Mission and Its Essays Erich Kolig 2 Why Is Freedom of Speech a Problem for So Many Muslims? Christopher J. van der Krogt 3 Balancing Freedom of Speech and the Rights of Muslim Minority Groups in the Australian Context Ghena Krayem 4 Muslim Sensitivities and the WestErich Kolig 5 The Rushdie Affair: Cultures at Cross Purposes William Shepard 6 Being an Unbeliever and the Power of Fatwa in Iran Negar Partow 7 Free Speech: Creating the ‘Us and Them’ Debate Nahid Afrose Kabir 8 The Instrumental Accusation of Islamophobia and Heresy as a Strategy of Curtailing the Freedom of Speech Bassam Tibi and Thorsten Hasche 9 Parameters of Teaching Islam ‘Freely’ Katharina Völker