Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 140
140 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi of what is broadly known as secular humanism. ’ He continues: ‘I am certainly not a good Muslim. But I am able now to say that I am a Muslim; in fact it is a source of happiness to say that I am now inside, and a part of, the community whose values have always been closest to my heart. ’ He then feebly tries to defend his novel : ‘For over two years I have been trying to explain that The Satanic Verses was never intended as an insult and that the assaults on religion are representative of (the) process of ruination of the central character of the book, and not representative of the point of view of the author. ’ The irony is that he admits to there being offensive material in the book and disowns it as not being his viewpoint. Perhaps it is representative of the ‘point of view’ of his manipulators who paid him in advance to write this novel. The more one reads his statement, the more one becomes aware of Rushdie desperately clutching at straws. On the one hand he is making flimsy excuses, defending his literary work and its ‘fictional’ content and asking to be accepted back into the Muslim brother- hood, while on the other hand he wants the book to be accepted for what it is. The article is full of contradictions, especially two state- ments which appear almost side by side : Statement 1 - As a contribution to that new atmosphere of goodwill, I have agreed not to permit new translations of The Satanic Verses, nor to publish an English-language paperback edition, while any risk of further offence remains. Statement 2 - I believe the book must continue to be available, so that it can gradually be seen for what it is. I will discuss with Penguin Books the possibility of adding to the existing hardback editions a statement