Here in the UK, Muslim fundamentalists have been protesting against a movie called The Lady of Heaven. They consider it blasphemous, because it depicts early Islam and its figures from a Shia perspective (fanatical Sunnis hate Shia Muslims, just as they hate Ahmadi Muslims, Quranists, and other minority sects). Cinema owners have capitulated out of fear of violence, and stopped showing it. Another win for fundamentalism.

Those of us who value free speech and religious freedom should find this unacceptable. And one of the best ways we can fight back is to normalise blasphemy against Mohammed.

To that end, here's a rispetto about Zaynab. According to Islamic legend, she was a Jewish woman whom Mohammed seized as his concubine, after he slaughtered her family. To avenge them, Zaynab cooked him some lamb and poisoned it. Supposedly, the damage from that poison contributed to Mohammed's eventual death years later.

In a just world, everyone would hail her as a heroine.

Courage at Khaybar

She couldn't meet the prophet's eyes,
Her world had blurred in blood and tears,
He groped the slaves and picked his prize,
His clothes still bore her family's smears.

But whispers from another age,
The voice of Yael, Judith's rage,
Emboldened Zaynab, honed her hate,
She opened poison, sealed her fate.