Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 35
Rushdie: Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts 35 Hattersley, a well-respected and popular British Parliamentarian, wrote an article in the Sunday Times (6 June 1993) in which he chal- lenged the views of Winston Churchill on Britain’s multi-racial mix and concluded with this observation : ‘One thing is certain. . . . the Muslim British are here to stay- stay in Britain and stay steadfastly Muslim in custom and attitude. They will not be assimilated into a secular British society or disappear under a veneer of bogus conformity. We can either celebrate their virtues, build on their strengths and accept their differences, or we can encourage a climate of suspicion, distaste and fear. Common sense, as well as compassion, demands that we rejoice in our new diversity. ’ COM PA R ISON Let us now put the shoe on the other foot and look at the role of the West, and how far they went to adapt to the customs and beliefs of the countries that they went to and ruled over, and in particular, the role of the Christian missionaries. The Western missionaries moved into Islamic lands under the protection of the imperial ‘umbrella’. This system initially proved to be a great advantage and it enabled missions to take root in Islamic soil. In more recent times however, it has become a definite liability as Western missionaries are often identified with the now-hated imperialism of the West. It has always been and still is a characteristic of many Western missionaries, that they tend to congregate in cultural ghettos and make little effort to really get to know the culture of the country that they live in. As Dr. Ali freely admits, and he should know as he is also a Christian missionary who started off in a Muslim country : ‘Even though they (Christian missionaries) live in a Muslim country, they continue to behave as if they were still in Western Europe or North America. ’ (Islam, A Christian Perspective, p. 154).