Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 88
88 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi The Western scholars’ theories on fundamentalist Islam are also exposed in Rushdie’s writing and the subject is dealt with equal disdain. He talks of the Islamic state of Pakistan as ‘hapless’ due to its mythological ideas regarding its religion, which he explains is the reason for its apparent decline in popularity : ‘Few mythologies survive close examination, however. And they can become very unpopular indeed if they’re rammed down people’s throats. What happens if one is force-fed such outsize, indigestible meals? - One gets sick. One rejects their nourishment. Reader: one pukes. So-called Islamic ‘fundamentalism’ does not spring, in Pakistan, from the people. It is imposed on them from above. . . This is how religions shore up dictators; by encircling them with words of power, words which the people are reluctant to see discredited, disenfranchised, mocked. . . In the end you get sick of it, you lose faith in the faith. ’ (p. 251). And just as in his previous books, the end of Shame also de- scribes, in his own words, the pending doom that is destined for him. It would certainly not be too long before his proverbial high- fl ying bubble would burst : ‘the Power of the Beast of shame cannot be held for long within any one frame of flesh and blood, because it grows, it feeds and swells, until the vessel bursts. ’ (p. 286). It seemed now after the publication of Shame that Salman Rushdie was ‘ripe for the killing’. He was now in a state of total insobriety, intoxicated with the lure of riches and fame at any cost, with no ‘shame’ whatsoever. He had now truly acquired Mephistophelean qualities. He had sold himself lock, stock and barrel and was very much in the stranglehold of his manipulators. There was a lull of almost five years before Salman Rushdie was unleashed onto the world scene with one of the most infamous pieces of literary work in history. And perhaps, one of his wishes