Douglas Murray (author) - Views On Islamic Fundamentalism

Views On Islamic Fundamentalism

Murray is a frequent critic of Islamic fundamentalism, and has identified what he sees as, "a creed of Islamic fascism – a malignant fundamentalism, woken from the dark ages to assault us here and now". He views cultural relativism as exacerbating the issue. Murray has labelled "Islamophobia" a "nonsense term", as "there are a considerable number of reasons to be fearful of some – though certainly not all – aspects and versions of Islam". His comments about Islamic extremism in Holland mean that he has to have a police guard when travelling there.

In March 2009, Murray wrote to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith warning that he was planning to instruct his lawyers to issue an international arrest warrant against Ibrahim Mousawi if he entered Britain; the Home Office eventually refused Mousawi a visa. In 2009, Murray was prevented from chairing a debate at the London School of Economics between Alan Sked and Hamza Tzortzis. The move drew strong criticism from some journalists.

In 2010, Murray argued against the motion in an Intelligence Squared debate titled "Is Islam a Religion of Peace?" alongside Ayaan Hirsi Ali opposite Zeba Khan and Maajid Nawaz .