Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 98
98 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi To make this claim more forceful, Watt adds that ‘this story comes from an impeccable Muslim source’ (p. 114) and that ‘it is unthinkable that any Muslim would have invented such a story, or that al-Tabari, who was a careful scholar, would have accepted it from a dubious source. ’ (p. 115). Montgomery Watt uses the same argument in almost all his books; it is as if this particular incident carries the most weight in attributing moral lapses on the part of the Holy Prophet(sa) and thus taint his ‘perfect’ image that the Muslims boast about. It is no wonder then that most western writers revert to this episode time and time again; and it is equally not surprising when this subject was chosen as the main title for a novel. K A RE N A R MST RONG In her book, Muhammad, A Western Attempt To Understand Islam, Karen Armstrong devotes a whole chapter to the subject of ‘The Satanic Verses’ and, in my view, gives a more balanced and neutral argument by quoting the different versions of the story and by expressing doubts of some of the sources and letting the readers decide for themselves the authenticity of the whole episode. While discussing this episode, Armstrong observes that ‘this story is in conflict with other traditions and with the Qur’an itself. ’ She goes on to remind us ‘that a Muslim historian like Tabari does not necessarily endorse all the traditions he records; he expects the reader to compare them with others and to make up his or her own mind about their validity. ’ (p. 113). This clearly shows up Tabari’s source and narration to be totally unreliable. Armstrong also discloses that Tabari has more than one version of the story : ‘In his history Tabari also preserves a tradition which gives a very different version of the story. ’ (p. 113). This clearly shows up Tabari’s source and narrations to be totally unreliable. In another part of the chapter Karen Armstrong gives the argu- ment of the majority of the Muslims in refuting this story and also