Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 166
166 CONCLUSION R E V ISED RUSH DI E ’S R A ISON D ’ Ê T R E As 8 years have lapsed since publication of this book, it seemed appropriate to revise the Conclusion in order to find out what has transpired during this period. Certainly as far as Islam and the West are concerned, so much has happened in this period to further upset an already fragile ap- ple cart that it will prove difficult to focus on any single event or incident. In context with the theme of the book, as far as Rushdie is concerned, he was afforded 24-hour protection by the British Government at the taxpayers’ expense and was allowed to continue to write and publish more books, make more public appearances than ever before and only recently was invited as a guest on the renowned BBC television discussion programme Question Time where he ridiculed Islam yet again claiming that it was “backslid- ing into bigotry” and described Muslim leaders in Britain as “a joke, because no one follows them. There is no genuine organisation representing the Muslim community” (There is, ironically, some truth in his last statement as we all know that those Muslims, who are still awaiting the coming of the Messiah and Mahdi, are totally lost and in dire need of a single voice and a single leader to express their views). When Rushdie: Haunted by his unholy ghosts was published in 1997, in the Conclusion I offered Rushdie advice on being better off as a “forgotten man”. And for a period of time he did go into seclusion and there was hardly any news about him in the press and media; so much so that the fatwa was lifted from his head in 1998.