Thread:Comments:'Stop being so damn respectful' say free speech supporters in London/"unlike Islamic scholars, a true 'scholar' studies more than one book"

This joke by Dawkins somewhat annoyed me. Quick search in Google or Wikipedia would disprove this and make it a silly joke, so why make it in the first place? Don't Atheists, secularists and supporters of free speech know this bit about Islam? Perhaps the whole point is to 'offend' those who we disagree with? Anyone with answers?