Several of the books written by Taslima Nasreen have been banned in her native Bangladesh because religious leaders have found them objectionable, but that isn't the only country where she has encountered problems. Police in India have had to provide her with security and, recently, " S.M.N. Rahman Barkati, chief cleric of Calcutta's main mosque, has issued threats against her.

Reuters reports that he has offered a reward of 20,000 rupees to anyone who blackens her face:

To blacken someone's face -- most commonly with ink or shoe polish -- is viewed as a major insult on the Indian subcontinent. ... "Her writings are against humanity and Islam," S.M.N. Rahman Barkati, the chief cleric of Calcutta's main mosque, told a crowd of more than 10,000 attending Friday prayers. "Her face can be blackened with ink, paint or tar. Or she can be garlanded with shoes."

I can understand where some writings would upset some Muslims, but I think that it may be indicative of extreme insecurity when a person has to make threats like this over what someone has written. If Barkati were at all secure in his beliefs and his identity as a Muslim, he should dismiss Nasreen as an irrelevant and worthless writer. He can only justify reacting like this if he considers her and her ideas a threat.

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