Moslem and Western ideals clashed last night in a panel debate over absolute versus limited freedom of expression, centered on Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses."

Dilnawaz Siddique, professor of communications from Clarion University, told an audience of about 300 people that Muslim beliefs allow a freedom of expression "with responsibility, within limits." But when the words expressed create an intense hurt to people's fundamental beliefs, Siddique said, negative and extreme reactions are "natural."

But local author James Morrow, a panel member presenting Western beliefs, said freedom of expression is an absolute freedom "because it expands everybody's freedom."

"We owe a great deal to blasphemy," Morrow said, adding that without "heretics" speaking unpopular ideas, people might still believe the earth was flat or slavery was justified.

M. Zakiuddin Sharfi, director of Sawtul Islam and a bookstore owner from New Jersey, said Western laws protecting against obscenity, slander and defamation "show that nobody believes in an unlimited freedom of expression."

Sharfi also said if the problems raised by Rushdie's book remain unresolved, the resulting consequences could be on the level of a third world war. Sharfi said that because most of the 50 Moslem nations have recently freed themselves from imperialism and oppose the United States' support of Rushdie, international relations could be strained to a point of warfare.

"Moslems are generally not more fanatical than anyone else," Sharfi said, "But I think . . . a great majority of the Muslim world would think this is the line."

The Western side of the panel, maintained its position in light of Sharfi's statement.

"The historical effects of banning speech . . . seems to me to impose dangers that might nearly be as great as world war three," said panel member Michael Svoboda, owner of Svoboda's Books, 129 W. Beaver Ave.

Morrow -- who organized a marathon reading of "The Satanic Verses" at Svoboda's bookstore -- said he identified with Rushdie and his predicament because they both satirize religion using fantasy.

"I believe in an inalienable right to imagine anything I want and put that vision into words and have those words published," Morrow said.

Siddique said "what has been written in the book is the key issue," adding that it is nearly impossible for Westerners to identify with the intensity of hurt Rushdie's book has caused Moslems.

"People can afford to be insensitive to words if they do not affect them directly," Siddique said, "But to say that words do not have any impact is naive."

But Leslie Hazelton, a professor of English at the University, said she supports unlimited freedom of expression for pro-Nazi literature even though it insults her Jewish heritage.

When Hazelton asked the Moslem side of the panel, "Do you deplore the death sentence on Salman Rushdie?," Siddique said he believed the media misinterpreted the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni's statement.

"Khomeni is one person," Siddique said. "We do not know if what Khomeni said is what our media has reported he said. My information is that he did not place any amount of money on anybody's head."