Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 131
Rushdie: Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts 131 despite the risk, as Chancellor puts it, of ‘provoking the Muslim world. ’ ( The Times, 4 December 1993 ). And this has been the crux of the matter; hurting the sensibilities of millions and millions of Muslims has not even vexed the minds of Rushdie’s supporters and accomplices; what has been imputed the greatest of importance is the right for ‘freedom of speech’ of one individual who has deliberately and maliciously set out to injure the feelings of those very millions of Muslims. A similar case, to a lesser degree, is that of Taslima Nasreen, a Bangladeshi feminist writer who also triggered Muslim fury after saying that ‘the Koran should be revised thoroughly’. She went into hiding on June 4 1993 after ‘the Bangladeshi government ordered her arrest for violating religious sentiment, and Islamic militants issued death threats. ’ (The Times 14 July1993). As if bound by the unwritten code of outlaws, Rushdie was obliged to rally support for Nasreen. He had become quite influen- tial in drumming up world-wide support for his own case and he used this for two ends. Firstly, by highlighting Nasreen’s predica- ment, there would be safety in numbers; and secondly, his ‘noble’ effort would make him out to be ‘a knight in shining armour’. With these artful qualities Mr. Rushdie would have done well as a politi- cian ! Nevertheless the fact remains that Rushdie is a wanted man and has been described by some as possibly the most famous liv- ing writer (or, more appropriately, the most infamous) thanks to the Iranian fatwa imposed after The Satanic Verses was published. Was this all fully intended, or was it just part of the plan that went terribly wrong ? No matter what has been written in the defence of the contro- versial and blasphemous novel, there is no doubt, as the following evidence shows, that Salman Rushdie knew exactly what he was doing and what he was letting himself in for and that he had been forewarned by eminent members of the literary world of the dire consequences.