Islam & Freedom of Expression from Europe to the Middle East
From terrorist attacks to Charlie Hebdo to draconian laws about ¿apostasy¿ or ¿blasphemy,¿ various current events in Islamic contexts raise a question: Is Islam compatible with freedom of speech? Mustafa Akyol, an advocate for ¿Islamic liberalism,¿ offers an answer.Turkish journalist and author Mustafa Akyol writes regular opinion columns for Turkish publications like Hurriyet Daily News, and most recently, for the Middle East focused Al-Monitor.com. Akyol has published five books in Turkish, including Rethinking the Kurdish Question (2005). His latest book, Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty (2011 in English), offers an argument for Islamic liberalism. This book was praised by The Financial Times as ¿a forthright and elegant Muslim defense of freedom.¿ Since fall 2013, Akyol has been a regular contributing opinion writer for The International New York Times. Akyol studied political science and history at Bo¿aziçi University, and teaches politics at Fatih University, both in Istanbul. Mr. Akyol is also a public speaker who has given numerous lectures and talks, including TED, where he spoke on ¿Faith vs. Tradition in Islam.¿ He has been a commentator on public affairs programs including the BBC¿s ¿Hardtalk¿ and CNN¿s ¿Fareed Zakaria GPS.¿