Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 159
Rushdie: Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts 159 Rather than lauding him with praise and awards Rushdie should be ‘tarred and feathered’, for all to see what he really is - a vindictive, deceitful, dangerous, unscrupulous mercenary, who has wilfully re- ignited the latent fires of anti- Islamic feeling in the West. The pieces must be picked up quickly to get back on the right track once again. Happily, there are still a lot of influential people in the West who are judicious and compassionate enough to do exactly that by taking every opportunity to try and create a mutual pact of peace and understanding between Muslims and the West. A step in the right direction was taken by Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales when he gave a speech at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies on 27 October 1993 which won him widespread admiration across the Arab world. This was of great symbolic importance as Prince Charles is heir to the British throne and so, consequently, will be the Defender of the Faith of Britain. He was brave enough to venture into areas which could easily make him unpopular in the eyes of the majority of the indigenous popula- tion who have scant regard for their own faith, let alone the ‘alien’ faith of another people. This step seems an even more courageous one when you add to it the Prince’s own personal problems that have diverted the affections of the population more towards his glamorous wife. TOLE R A NC E IS A T WO -WAY ST REE T Prince Charles called for respect between the two great cultures of Islam and the West, who he said could ‘join forces for the sake of our common humanity. ’ In his speech he also commended British Muslims whom he considers as ‘an asset to Britain’ because of their ‘contribution’ to Britain’s ‘economic well-being and. . . cultural rich- ness. ’ Prince Charles was also right in pointing out that ‘tolerance and understanding must be two-way’. He goes on to clarify the roles of both members of society :