Back in April 2006, when I was blogging about the brouhaha over the Ayn Rand Institute’s panel on the Danish cartoons at NYU, I received about eleven awful e-mails from “Shamyl” — a vicious, Jew-hating Muslim — in response.

The e-mails mostly consisted of bizarre texts and links on Jewish conspiracy, the Israel lobby, the evils of Judaism, and so on. Some were directed at me, e.g. “STOP HARASSING ISLAM AND THE MUSLIMS YOU FACIST ZIONIST SOW!!”

Although some of the e-mails were seriously disturbing, I wasn’t too concerned about my safety, as the e-mail address and sending IP were out of the UK. However, I didn’t want to receive more, so I stopped them by blocking the e-mail address on my server. In retrospect, I probably should have reported them to the authorities.

I’ve decided to post two of those e-mails now — in the wake of the fatwa against Wafa Sultan — to make crystal clear the thoroughly disgusting nature of threats against critics of Islam. It is quite frightful to have such sentiments personally directed against you — and I can only admire the bravery people like Wafa Sultan, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, Yaron Brook, and John Lewis who’ve been subject to serious harassment, threats, and worse for daring to criticize Islam. My brief encounter with “Shamyl” was nothing in comparison.

So, without further comment: Vicious E-mail #1 and Vicious E-mail #2. Beware of the second, as it contains some particularly revolting anti-Semitic cartoons.