Author Archive

Raheel Dhattiwala

Raheel Dhattiwala is a third-year DPhil at the Department of Sociology, Oxford University. Her research interests comprise ethnic violence, particularly Hindu-Muslim violence in India; electoral politics; extra-legal institutions.

I am a Muslim and I condemn the rampant and widespread violent protests over a badly made anti-Islamic film. I believe one needs to have a very high bar when it comes to getting offended. If everything is offensive to you, then it is perceived that something is wrong with you. The Indian government proved it recently with its tantrum against cartoonist Aseem Trivedi’s mediocre caricatures. Now a section of radical Muslims is proving it over an insignificant film. I saw “Innocence of Muslims” a couple of days ago on YouTube. It is a laughable attempt at insulting Muslims and sooner rather than later would have met its fate at the hands of a Ricky Gervais or a Jay Leno. …