Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 128
128 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi But it would be fair to say that a few programmes did give the opportunity for Muslims to explain their true views. Programmes like Islamic Answers shown on Channel 4 (4 May 1989). It would also be fair to say that some areas of the press did present a sympathetic picture of the Muslims who had suffered great hurt due to the publication of the obnoxious novel. It also has to be said that these comments were few and far between and I had to sift laboriously through the ever-increasing pile of vindictive material. FA I R COM M E N T BY T H E M E DI A Conor Cruise O’Brien, the correspondent of The Times wrote a well-balanced article (22 February 1989) entitled Banning, right and wrong in which he refers to a letter written by Salman Rushdie to Rajiv Gandhi in protest at the Indian Government banning the importation of The Satanic Verses. Rushdie had protested in the letter that was published in The New York Times that ‘the book isn’t actually about Islam. ’ O’Brien argues that although ‘the book isn’t entirely about Islam, large parts of it quite clearly are, and even contain quotations from the Koran. ’ He goes on to say that ‘Rushdie makes the point that the prophet in ‘The Satanic Verses’ is not called Mohammed’. O’Brien sees through the facade and calls the ploy ‘just a shade disingenuous’ and further explains that Muhammad is “called Mahound. And if you look up Mahound in the OED you will find: ‘The false prophet Mohammed. . . A false god, an idol. . . A monster, a hideous creature. . . Used as a name for the devil. ’ Hardly expressions that would have a sedative effect on those mobs in the bazaars. ” O’Brien is also understanding of the reaction of Khomeini and other Muslims who are only acting according to the beliefs of their faith much in the same way as Jews and Christians did in the past. He says that the ‘Ayatollah’s death sentence on Rushdie. . . ought not to be incomprehensible to a Christian, or to a Jew. In the Old Testament, God tells Moses: ‘And he that blasphemeth the name of