ISLAMIC ARCHIVESFree Speech, Blasphemy, and Secular CriticismTalal Asad

Published: 2009
Published in: Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury, and Free Speech, Townsend Papers in the Humanities No. 2, UC Berkeley, 2009, pp. 20–63
Language: English
Type: Essay
Rights: Read at the source · In copyright; linked to a free copy online, not hosted.

Free Speech, Blasphemy, and Secular Criticism

Talal Asad

Uses the 2005 Danish cartoon controversy to examine blasphemy in secular liberal societies, questions the claim that free speech is distinctively European, and traces the history of secular critique.

Keywords: blasphemy, free speech, Danish cartoons, secular criticism, Is Critique Secular?

Archived 15 October 2026 · Source: eScholarship (University of California)

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Asad, Talal. Free Speech, Blasphemy, and Secular Criticism. Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury, and Free Speech, Townsend Papers in the Humanities No. 2, UC Berkeley, 2009, pp. 20–63. Archived 15 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/works/talal-asad-free-speech-blasphemy-and-secular-criticism/