Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 126
126 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi in the past 100 years. (This has been discussed in an earlier part of the book ). It is true to say that all nations and cultures have had their ups and downs and have their good and bad points. The media in the West has gone overboard in condemning one of the unacceptable faces of Muslim fanaticism and equated it as the general view of all Muslims. Kilroy-Silk would have done well to choose his arguments more carefully rather than the smug attitude that he had employed, for in the present-day Western culture there are too many warts to mention. A personality like Robert Kilroy-Silk, who is a high-profile pub- lic figure and extremely influential with a popular regular TV debate programme, should show more tolerance himself, which he says is lacking in Muslims, and choose words more carefully when passing judgement on others. Keith Ward, a Professor of History and Philosophy of Religion at King’s College, London University, has also fallen into the trap of over-generalising and not presenting the views of orthodox Muslims who are in the majority, but rather highlighting the more sensational and head-line winning opinions of the trouble-makers who are in the minority. In The Independent of 18 February 1989, he talks of ‘the decadence’ and ‘the violent gifts of modern Islam. ’ Clifford Longley, in The Times (8 July 1989) subscribes to an amazing theory that defies belief with the logic that ‘the burning of books leads inexorably to the burning of book shops; talk of killing leads to actual killing. ’ He also is scathing about Muslim ‘separatism’ tendencies to living within their own sphere of life and points out that the only way that Muslims are going to be accepted into society is if they compromise some of their beliefs and culture. And it would be true to say that quite a number of Muslims have become victims of this almost coercive compromise, some willingly and some due to peer or other pressures. Those that dare to make