Understandably, Rushdie is strongly critical of Islam, but he also knows that the extremists don't represent all Muslims: "Traditional Islam is a broad church that certainly includes millions of tolerant, civilised men and women..."
Gillian Gibbons has shown the most extraordinary grace. "I don't want any resentment towards Muslim people", she told her son. She's also spoken about the Muslim parents who had no problem with the naming of the teddy bear, the school director to whom it was pretty much a non-issue. "I went into court and I saw one of the parents of one of my children and she was smiling at me and people don't understand how much something like that means to you when you're in such a desperate state because I was terrified."
It was two British Muslims who negotiated Gibbons' freedom and brought her home; the British PM said, Gordon Brown praised them both: "Through the course of Ms Gibbons's detention I was glad to see Muslim groups across the UK express strong support for her case. I applaud the particular efforts of Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi in securing her freedom."
Re: on moderation
Gillian Gibbons has shown the most extraordinary grace. "I don't want any resentment towards Muslim people", she told her son. She's also spoken about the Muslim parents who had no problem with the naming of the teddy bear, the school director to whom it was pretty much a non-issue. "I went into court and I saw one of the parents of one of my children and she was smiling at me and people don't understand how much something like that means to you when you're in such a desperate state because I was terrified."
It was two British Muslims who negotiated Gibbons' freedom and brought her home; the British PM said, Gordon Brown praised them both: "Through the course of Ms Gibbons's detention I was glad to see Muslim groups across the UK express strong support for her case. I applaud the particular efforts of Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi in securing her freedom."