http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/nov/25/bookscomment.religion
Chris Morris – of all people – takes on Martin Amis’ trend towards racist insanity, and does it with his own distinct style.
Like Hamza, Amis could only make his nonsense stand up with mock erudition, vitriol and decontextualised quotes from the Koran. To risk a familiar example, it won’t do for Amis (or Hamza) to state flatly that the Koran exhorts Muslims to kill Jews without even asking whether this means all Jews or some particular group of Jews with whom the Muslims were fighting in the seventh century, or indeed, whether there are other verses that modify the message by deploring killing of any kind, or describing how ‘people of the book [Christians and Jews] shall have nothing to fear or regret’.
I claim no great knowledge on this subject – level-three SATs perhaps – but Amis couldn’t pass the test for morning playgroup. If my Shetland pony looks like a high-horse it’s only because Amis is trotting round the paddock on a chihuahua.