Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 134
134 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi Islam alone, and nothing against Judaism and Christianity, it does not take a genius to work out the treachery behind it all. Rushdie was the ideal go-between who could easily be bought, at a price of course. He knew how to hurt Muslims the most as John Ezard of The Guardian observed : ‘Salman Rushdie, who was brought up in Islam, knows exactly where to put the needle in. ’ (15 February 1989). AU T HOR OF H IS OW N DE ST I N Y Much of what has been said and quoted has been to prove that Rushdie was a willing tool that the Christian nations of the West had employed to continue its assault on Islam. Rushdie will of course deny this but his behaviour and excuses reported in the media are all proof that he was the author of his own destiny. Professor Michael Dummett of New College, Oxford, in an open letter published in The Independent (11 February 1989) addressed to Salman Rushdie clearly exposes how Rushdie had changed loyal- ties to go with the highest bidder. Addressing Rushdie, Professor Dummett writes : ‘Before ‘The Satanic Verses’ was published , you were a hero among members of the ethnic minorities, far beyond the circle of those who had read your books, for your forceful television broad- cast denouncing British racism. . . . It was your status as a hero that made your book appear so great a betrayal. Much as you might want to, you can never again play that role: you can never again credibly assume the stance of denouncer of white prejudice. For now you are one of us. You have become an honorary white: merely an honorary white intellectual, its is true, but an honorary white all the same. ’ Professor Dummett also makes the accusation against Rushdie that : ‘if you really did not grasp the offence you would give to believ- ing Muslims, you were not qualified to write upon the subject you chose. In any case, no one escapes responsibility for the consequenc-