Viewpoint: Can the Islamic Faith Tolerate Criticism?

The violent response to an anti-Muslim movie has cast the subject of religious tolerance into the limelight. Is Islam a religion that can tolerate criticism? Can Muslims bear up gracefully when their religion is insulted? As I wrote last week, when it comes to Islam as practiced and understood in much of the Middle East, the short answer to these questions appears to be "no." Read more

The article's author does not take into consideration how fundamentalist Muslims view their secularized or Westernized brethren. He appears to be unacquianted with the eighteenth century Wahhabist movement's persecution of Muslims who did not share its beliefs, in particular those whose practices its adherents viewed as innovations and impurities in Islam. Wahhabism is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia and has adherents around the world. The Salafists in Egypt are Wahhabists. The Sunni Muslim persecution of  Shiite Muslims has its origins in the Wabbahist revival.