----- Writers Freedom : What Should Be Islamic Stance Recently there was a debatein the Middle East about the issue and extent of freedom of writers and what is view about it of Islamist movement there. The Lebanese Menassat news agency imputed that Brotherhood has called for prosecution of feminist writer Nawal Saadawi on charges of blasphemy and contempt for religion. The brotherhood denied this and said that the news agency made serious error in translation which will encourage false allegations by opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood that it adopts a hard-line stance against freedoms of thought and expression. Brotherhood in its statement said that prosecuting writers contradicts with the Muslim Brotherhood ideology which has always been staunch supporter of freedom of thought and expression "We promote freedom of thought," said MB Secretary General Mahmoud Ezzat, "and never in the history of the Muslim Brotherhood we prosecuted or called for the prosecution of writers." "But is important that writers and thinkers use their talents in a way that respects the creeds and beliefs of others; in another word seek to reconcile between principles of freedom and the respect to the rights of others, so that one’s opinion will not be a violation of the other’s freedom of belief," he told Ikhwanweb.com.
This is a touchy issue and Brotherhood has done well in explaining its position. Brotherhood is a major Islamic movement on a global basis and we hope this will be a guideline for all other Islamic movements. It is a different matter that any government has right under law to proscribe a seditious or blasphemous book.
