Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 127
Rushdie: Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts 127 their views public are applauded by the Western media and are then obliged to be used almost as mercenaries to betray their faith in different forms; for instance, in the form of books, theatrical and TV plays, and films. A prime example, apart from the obvious Rushdie, would be Hanif Kureshi, another British Muslim writer, who also faced the wrath of the Muslim community for offending against the tenets of Islam in his works which include writing a film called My Beautiful Launderette. The film, with strong homosexual elements in it, was about the Pakistani community in London and it created a lot of controversy both in England and America. The film contained the phrase ‘our country has been sodomised by the religion’, which was the main theme and tone throughout. Hanif Kureshi wrote for another TV series called The Buddha of Suburbia in which Pakistani culture and the laws in Islam are ridiculed once more; the language used is also vulgar and offensive at times. But this is all excused in the name of art and free expres- sion ! It seems that Muslim writers with controversial views on the Muslim way of life alone are given the opportunity to have their work exposed to the general public and are given prime time on television and are then given rave reviews and published in all the tabloids. But programmes and discussions on the true beauty of Islam are rarely shown; and when they are shown, it is at those times when most decent people are asleep. Television projected The Satanic Verses debate through a number of programmes. Many Muslims who had never before been asked found themselves being called upon to articulate their views on TV. But the overall projection was only to prove that the secularists were right. Programmes like Hypotheticals shown on ITV on 30 May 1989 sucked Muslims into a trap to ridicule them. It did not give them a chance to be fully articulate. It merely wanted them to say what the co-ordinator wanted.