Sudanese Writer Hajj Al Warraq: "Cancerous Religious Zeal" Is Killing Creativity and Freedom of Thought; This Will Lead to the Slitting of Throats

Sudanese writer Hajj Al-Warraq, the editor-in-chief of the Sudanese newspaper, Horiyat, said in a July 23, 2019 interview on Alghad TV (U.K.) that "cancerous religious zeal" has been growing and that it has been trying to kill creativity, arts, politics, and science. He criticized the religious leaders for banning freedom of thought, freedom of conscience, and public discourse. Al-Warraq gave the example of Season of Migration to the North, a book by Sudanese author Tayeb Salih, saying that it is banned in Sudan, and he warned: "People who start burning books always end up burning people... They think they have a monopoly over religious truth... [This] will eventually lead to the slitting of throats." Al-Warraq added that the issue is much more dangerous than it seems.

Hajj Al-Warraq: "With time, what I call 'cancerous religious zeal' develops. This 'cancer cell' is not satisfied with its defined territory, and spreads to other aspects of life. It invades the arts, politics, and science, and it tries to conquer them all. The 'cancerous religious zeal' corrupts the vitality of the other domains, thus killing them. This sick and cancerous religious zeal is hostile to creativity in the arts, in politics, and in the sciences. No renaissance can take place without creativity.

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"In Sudan, the book [Season of Migration to the North] was banned. They do not teach it in the literature faculties. People who start burning books always end up burning people. This is why this is not a simple issue of banning the 'arts.' They ban music, singing, photography, and sculpting. They also ban freedom of thought, freedom of conscience, and public discourse. At the end of the day, because they think they have a monopoly over religious truth and over the entire discourse... This is what will eventually lead to the slitting of throats. This issue is very dangerous, even though it doesn't look like it is. The denial of the freedom to create in the arts, in science, and so on... Note that the people who ban music are the same people who accuse those who believe the Earth is round of being infidels."