The French massacre and Richard Dawkins

It was sad to read about the death toll in the latest revenge of Allah against anybody who dares to deride Islam or its people.¹ Twelve people were killed and seven injured when at least two masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office of the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris. ¹

The latest tweet on their account was a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghadi. The magazine was fire bombed in November 2011 after it carried a caricature of the prophet Muhammad.

Nobody trifles with Allah. Let us compare it with what Richard Dawkins wrote about the God of the Bible, ‘The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous, and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a mysogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.’ ²

Of lately Islamic State, Boko Haram and others have been in the news. We read about some of the atrocities, like beheading people, abducting schoolgirls, etc. Will Richard Dawkins now write something about Allah?

The chances are pretty slim. The followers of Allah don’t take kindly to insults. They act, behead, burn down and riot. Dr Dawkins insulted God without fear, because there is no command in the Bible to take revenge on somebody who insults Him. With Allah and the Muslims it is different.

In case people object that the atrocities are done by fanatical groups, the Islamic State and others take the cue for their actions from the Koran. They claim that they are true to the teachings of Mohammed

So to summarise: It is highly unlikely that Richard Dawkins will dare to publicly insult Allah.  Don’t expect bravery from him.

References

1. BBC News, Charlie Hebdo: Gun attack on French magazine kills 12, 7 January 2015
2. R Dawkins, The God Delusion, Bantam Press, 2006, p 31