This is the Kato Daily Podcast for Monday, August 29, 2022.

I'm Caleb Brown.

In the wake of an assault and the author Salman Rushty, it's worth remembering that even

mainstream Muslims take a relatively hard line on blasphemy

and other disrespect to Islam.

So what do more liberal Muslims have to say to their fellow Muslims about tolerance and the freedom

of expression.

Cato's Mustafa Akio, author of reopening Muslim minds, comments.

Well, there are almost 2 billion Muslims around the world and they have different opinions about freedom of expression.

Most of them will probably tell you that of course there should be some freedom of

expression. People can express their ideas, but they will say there are certain limits and blasphemy that is disrespect to God, the prophet or the Quran, would be a limit.

Again, that's I think a mainstream view and I'm a critic of this

mainstream view but I should say that at least this mainstream view and doesn't

as go far as giving death that was on authors like Salman Rushti as

vigilante violence or acts of terrorism that's an extreme position.

But still, this mainstream view thinks

that people should be taken to courts

if they write books or say things

that are disrespectful to Islam, which of course

routinely happens in not all but many Muslim majority societies.

And there is a more liberal position, that a liberal in the classical sense that I myself as pals which is well we Muslims have

values of course we don't want to see our values being disrespected but people

...