Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 84
84 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi in fact been fleeing from one country to another like a frightened jack-ass, and his state is such that he still expresses no shame at all at what he has done. His assault on all things Islamic is continued in this novel also. For example, even the Muslim form of worship is ridiculed: ‘Muhammad Ibadalla, who bore upon his forehead the ‘gatta’ or permanent bruise which revealed him to be a religious fanatic who pressed brow to prayer-mat on at least five occasions per diem, and probably at the sixth, optional time as well. ’ (p. 41-42). To pray five times a day is the minimal requirement for a Muslim, and is the normal practice of most ordinary Muslims, but Rushdie regards this as being the practice of a religious fanatic. This clearly shows how alienated Rushdie is from Islam and also how con- temptuously he regards it. His hatred of Pakistan resurfaces when he gleefully admits that as Shame is a ‘fictional’ novel, he need not write the truth of the ‘goings on’ in the politics and the general way of life in Pakistan. He stupidly tries to disguise his motives by pre- supposing the obvious. As he writes, (pp. 69-70) : ‘But suppose this were a realistic novel! Just think what else I might have put in. The business, for instance, of the illegal installa- tion, by the richest inhabitants of ‘Defence’, of covert, subterranean water pumps that steal water from their neighbours’ mains. . . . And would I also have to describe the Sind Club in Karachi, where there is still a sign reading ‘Women and Dogs Not Allowed Beyond This Point’?. . . . the execution of Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. . . . . or about anti- Semitism. . . . or about smuggling, the boom in heroin exports, mili- tary dictators, venal civilians, corrupt civil servants, bought judges. ’ and he sarcastically ends by saying : ‘Imagine my difficulties!’ Rushdie has tried to be smug in clearly and unequivocally ex- pressing all his anger and anti-Pakistani thoughts by saying that he could not mention them because ‘this is not a realistic novel’. He has openly referred to the corruption in Pakistan at all levels and has insinuated at the supposed third-class status of women in society by equating them to dogs.