Is VS Naipaul a Freedom Fundamentalist?

Often described within literary circles as being happy to be provoked, VS Naipaul (Author of 27 books and nobel prize winner in 2001) is more often than not the one conducting the provocation. His latest tirade against Muslims and Islam took the form of prescribing the destruction of Saudi Arabia and Iran for formenting religious war. Rich comments from a commentator who was once described by a fellow Islamaphobe (Rushdie no less) as a cheerleader for the BJP in India.

Despite his lengthy career and erudite analysis of colonialism, misconceptions of Islam and Muslims first publicly surfaced in 1981 with his book ‘Among the believers: An Islamic journey’ where he described Islam as sanctifying rage and accused Muslims of convulsive behaviour. Thus, his narrow and selective vision of Islam is certainly not a case of jumping on the current Islamaphobic bandwagon.

VS Naipaul represents an intellectual malaise, which by default views Islam as an unwelcome alternative to the modern way of life. Viewing the world with one eye rather than two he confuses Islam and its natural solutions for the problems of mankind with the actions of some frustrated individuals who operate out of the norms of Islam, only for him to yell, “I told you so”.

Further confusion is created when he talks about the increase of Islamic States throughout the world when in fact a single one doesn’t exist. What he fails to acknowledge is that Muslims globally are rapidly becoming more Islamically aware and are crying out for an alternative. It’s just that the alternative they seek is from Islam whereas he wishes to discredit that move before it viably emerges. Hence, his description that they are Islamic States, thereby offering the perception that whatever they are doing is characteristic of an Islamic State, (when nothing can be further from the truth) they are abominable and lets get rid of them. It is of course just ironic that these so-called Islamic States are unflinchingly co-operating with the West in identifying and rooting out the would be culprits.

It is of course convenient to omit that, as a framework Islam’s emphasis on maintaining peace and bearing witness to justice runs as a theme throughout the Quran, if only he were to acknowledge that. However, when statements such as, "There probably has been no imperialism like that of Islam and the Arabs" and “The destructiveness of the Moslem Conquest is at the root of India's appalling poverty today”, VS Naipaul is probably suggesting a lot more than the destruction of two sovereign countries. In fact, I would suggest he is even going further than those who demand that Islam should be reformed and modernised.