Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 160
160 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi ‘For those of us who are not Muslims, this may mean respect for the daily practice of the Islamic faith and a decent care to avoid actions which are likely to cause deep offence. For the Muslims in our society, there is the need to respect the history, culture and way of life of our country, and to balance their vital liberty to be themselves with an appreciation of the importance of integration. ’ (The Times, 28 October 1993). Whereas most people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, saw this as a positive way forward, this seemed to have an adverse affect on Rushdie who wrote to The Times in a letter dated 4 November 1993 and published on 8 November where he disapproved of Prince Charles’ warning against ‘giving offence’ to people of different faiths. Rushdie was still playing the same old tune wishing that the whole world would revolve around him. Gladly Prince Charles remained positive and undeterred and true to his word he continued the theme of reconciling the two great faiths of the world. He echoed his Oxford speech on a visit to Egypt in March 1995 in which he said that ‘the West had formed a mistaken view of the Islamic world. ’ In an interview with Al-Ahram, he questioned the notion of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West, and came up with a very perceptive theory that ‘what binds our two worlds together is much more powerful than what divides us. ’ He further elaborates on how the dissensions had been created and how to rectify them : ‘Misunderstandings easily arise when we fail to understand how others look at the world and our respective roles in it. In the West, our judgement of Islam has been distorted by taking the extreme as the norm. That is a serious mistake when looking at the Islamic world or at the West. ’ (The Daily Telegraph, 13 March 1995). Surely, this is the way forward. The western media should show Islam in a clear and positive light in the way that Prince Charles continues to do so. In a conference held in London in March 1995 on Britain’s role in the world, Prince Charles extended his admira-