Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 167
Rushdie: Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts 167 But could his ego let him be happy staying out of the limelight for long? Definitely not! For someone who had courted and subsequently found and tasted fame and fortune this was something that would be very dif- ficult to stay without for long. Rushdie started to attract attention to himself once again, but this time by using his influence in the media by offering advice to Muslims on how to modernise Islam to keep up with modern trends even though if it meant that principles and tenets of Islam had to be compromised. He tried using his influence in the press by calling the “silent majority” of believers to take on the radicals, hoping to incite a civil war amongst the Muslims. (The Times, 28/08/05) It is an undeniable fact that the so called “fundamentalist” movement had taken root with previously moderate Muslims in the aftermath of the “Rushdie Affair” and that it did give vent to the rise of tragic international incidents that tarnished the already sensitive image of Islam. The now-infamous 9/11 and 7/7 incidents in New York and London respectively destroyed any little chance that Islam/West relations had of coming to any reasonable under- standing or compromise. Certainly Salman Rushdie played his role to the full (and beyond) ensuring that the objective of his benefactors was accomplished. Even though he distanced himself from these tragedies, he still liked to be linked, in some perverted sort of way, of having contrib- uted to changing some of the pages of history. The latent and sim- mering fires of Islam and the West relations that had been rekindled with the writing of The Satanic Verses became latent again some years after the Fatwa against him was lifted. However, Rushdie’s contin- ued effort to keep in the limelight, regardless of the consequences, keeps rekindling these latent fires. He sees his own story, I am sure, as the harbinger of the stories we are now living.